The Understanding America Study - Drug Use Supplement (UAS-DUS) is a longitudinal panel survey public data resource that tracks monthly variation in drug use patterns and related-characteristics in a nationally-representative sample of U.S. adults. Spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic and rapidly changing drug markets and social conditions, UAS-DUS addresses the need to detect changes in drug use that occur on a month-to-month basis and cannot be captured by standard annual surveys.
The USC Institute for Addiction Science commissioned the UAS-DUS resource, which integrates repeated measures data collection that began in March 2020 during the Understanding Coronavirus in America Study and has subsequently continued with ongoing tracking surveys. Surveys were first collected on a bi-weekly basis and subsequently monthly. Key measurements during each tracking survey include past-week use frequency/intensity for alcohol, cannabis, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and other drugs, depression symptoms, and anxiety symptoms. Demographic measure variables are imbedded in the UAS-DUS data file alongside substance use and mental health measures. More than 100 additional psychological, social, economic, and health related measures that can be linked to the UAS-DUS data file were also administered to the UAS sample.
All existing UAS panel members and those who newly join the UAS panel were invited to participate in the UAS-DUS monthly tracking surveys (for more information about the UAS panel see here). Ending at the end of May 2022, 37 total survey timepoints have been completed with approximately 10,000 participants. Pending the availability of funding, continued tracking for the UAS-DUS with an expanded set of measures is planned.
Check back for regular updates to the data as more survey timepoints are collected. For additional questions about the UAS-DUS resource, feel free to contact the UAS at uas-l@maillist.usc.edu or Dr. Junhan Cho at junhan.cho@usc.edu.
DATA ACCESS
Data collected in the Understanding America Study, including the data collected as part of the UAS-DUS, are available for download by any registered UAS data user. However, we are asking that researchers who wish to download this data set describe their analysis plan in a couple of sentences before downloading the data. These brief descriptions are available for others to browse, to encourage collaboration on similar projects, and reduce the risk that several researchers are pursuing identical goals.
For this reason, we ask that you provide an email address so that researchers with related interest can get in touch with you. Conversely, you should feel free to write to any of the other teams that have posted ideas on the web-site.
Requesting access to UAS-DUS data requires two steps:
- As for the use of any UAS dataset you need to be a registered data user. If you are not yet registered, please do so here. If you have an account, log in to your account before you click the link below to fill out the form
- Fill out the UAS Drug Use Supplement form with a brief description of the research you are planning to undertake with the data. Once you have filled out the form, you will have access to download the data using the link below. If the research team consists of more than one person, please enter the email addresses of all team members on the form. Each team member must be a registered UAS data user in order to access the data. A list of current proposals can be found here (login required).
Once you have completed the above steps you can download the UAS Drug Use Supplement here. The UAS Drug Use Data Description can be downloaded here.
For more information or if you have any questions, contact us at uas-l@maillist.usc.edu.