Changes in MYDAUS/YTS

MYDAUS/YTS - Changes In 2008

1. OSA’s 3 Regions are replaced by the 8 Department of Health and Human Services’ Public Health Districts:
   • York (York County)
   • Cumberland (Cumberland County)
   • Western Maine (Androscoggin, Franklin and Oxford Counties)
   • Mid-Coast (Knox, Lincoln, Sagadahoc and Waldo Counties)
   • Central Maine (Kennebec, and Somerset Counties)
   • Penquis (Penobscot and Piscataquis Counties)
   • Downeast (Hancock and Washington Counties)
   • Aroostook (Aroostook County)
   The creation of these districts was based on four considerations: population, geographical spread, county borders, and hospital service areas. They were created to facilitate the coordination of the delivery of public health services.
   
   
2. As in 2006, MYDAUS 2008 results are available as easily-printed Local Summary Reports for each participating school, school district, county and for the State of Maine, but in 2008, the 8 Public Health District reports replace those for the 3 OSA regions.
   
   
3. There was one minor change in question 24:
   ”During the last school year did you have any lessons about tobacco use?”
   was replaced by
   “During the last school year were you taught in any of your classes about the dangers of tobacco use?

MYDAUS/YTS-Changes in 2006

In 2006 we develop a 27-page summary report for each participating school and district, which can be easily printed as a single document. These reports are also available for Maine counties and the three OSA regions. Each report compares the local data with the corresponding data for Maine, and indicates when the local response to a question, such as the proportion of students using marijuana in the past month, is significantly higher or lower. The report gives the prevalence of use of selected substances in 2006, along with how use has changed since 2000. It also shows the prevalence of other antisocial behaviors as well as desired behaviors, and the Risk and Protective Factors that influence whether or not a student will engage in these behaviors. The results for 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 are also available in the original 64-report format.

Confidence Interval vs. Margin of Error

In the Local Summary Reports for 2006, a Confidence Interval for each data item replaces the single Margin of Error estimate that was given earlier reports. The Confidence Interval not only gives an indication of how good the survey participation rate was at the local level (the better the participation, the narrower the interval, and the more confidence you have that the results represent the entire population of eligible students at the school, district, etc.). It also allows us to easily see if the local results are significantly different from the results state-wide.

Question Changes

Six (6) questions were added: (For the results for individual questions, click here.)

1. During the last school year, was the information you received in school helpful in making decisions about tobacco use?
   Response options:
   • Yes
   • No
   • I don't know/I'm not sure
   
   
2. How much do you think people risk harming themselves (physically or in other ways) if they have five or more drinks of an alcoholic beverage in a row once or twice a week?
   Response options:
   • No Risk
   • Slight Risk
   • Moderate Risk
   • Great Risk
   
   
3. During the past 30 days, on how many days did you smoke cigars, cigarillos, or little cigars?
   Response options:
   • 0 days
   • 1-2 days
   • 3-5 days
   • 6-9 days
   • 10-19 days
   • 20-29 days
   • All 30 days
   
   
4. Has a doctor or someone in a doctor's office talked to you about the danger of tobacco use, in the past 12 months?
   Response options:
   • I have not visited a doctor's office
   • Yes
   • No
   
   
5. Has a dentist or someone in a dentist's office talked to you about the danger of tobacco use, in the past 12 months?
   Response options:
   • I have not visited a doctor's office
   • Yes
   • No
   
   
6. Do you think you will smoke a cigarette anytime during the next year?
   Response options:
   • I definitely will
   • I probably will
   • I probably will not
   • I definitely will not
   
   

Four (4) questions were deleted:

1. Have you ever tried cigarette smoking, even one or two puffs? (The MYDAUS question “Have you ever smoked cigarettes?” was considered to be sufficiently similar)
   
   
2. How many times, if any, have you tried to quit smoking?
   
   
3. Would you ever use or wear something that has a tobacco company name or picture on it, such as a lighter, t-shirt, hat or sunglasses?
   
   
4. Do you think you will be smoking cigarettes five years from now?
   

In two (2) questions, examples were added for clarification:

1. On how many occasions (if any) have you used prescription drugs (for example, Vicodin, OxyContin, Ritalin, Valium, Xanax) not prescribed for you by a doctor in your lifetime?
   
   
2. On how many occasions (if any) have you used prescription drugs (for example, Vicodin, OxyContin, Ritalin, Valium, Xanax) not prescribed for you by a doctor in the past 30 days?
   

MYDAUS/YTS - Changes In 2004

Merging the MYDAUS and the YTS

The most significant change in 2004 was merging the Office of Substance Abuse's Maine Youth Drug and Alcohol Use Survey (MYDAUS) with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS). This was done to ease the burden on schools posed by multiple surveys.

In order not to increase the overall size of the final survey, 22 questions were dropped from the MYDAUS. This resulted in the loss of the following 6 Risk Factors and 1 Protective Factor, which were deemed least likely to be improved by interventions or least strongly associated with prohibited behaviors:

1. Low Neighborhood Attachment
2. High Community Disorganization
3. Transitions and Mobility
4. High Family Conflict
5. Early Initiation of Prohibited Behavior
6. Gang Involvement
7. Religiosity (Protective Factor)

Of 117 questions in the 2001 high school version of the YTS, nineteen (19) questions were added to the 2004 MYDAUS/YTS. The topics covered included:

1. Cigarette use and passive smoking
2. The students' attempts at trying to quit smoking
3. The source of cigarettes for the under aged smoker
4. Exposure to advertising both for or against tobacco use

Two additional questions were added to determine the student's time spent watching television and the amount of soda consumed. These were added for the Maine Cardiovascular Health Program (MCVHP).

Weighting the Data

In 2000 and 2002, only the state, county and regional data were weighted to adjust for non-response within schools. The current website shows 2000, 2002 and 2004 school and district data weighted as well. This provides a more representative estimate of the results in schools with less than 100% participation, and will allow these schools to more accurately compare data from year to year. We also used a more sophisticated method of weighting state, county and regional data, so these results may vary somewhat from earlier versions of the data.

CYDS Communities

The version of the MYDAUS/YTS that was administered to the schools participating in the University of Washington's Community Youth Development Study (CYDS) did not include questions on the use of heroin or prescription drugs. This potentially affects not only the results of these questions for Knox County, but could influence the proportion of students in Knox County and the CYDS schools responding that they had used Other Illegal Drugs (since the meaning of "other" depends on what specific drugs are also included on the survey). Although Penobscot, Kennebec and Waldo Counties also have schools participating in CYDS, the proportions are not as high as in Knox County.

Differences between OSA and BOH Published Data

To keep survey responses that are untruthful from biasing the results, an Honesty Profile has been run to flag for exclusion surveys with obviously dishonest responses. Those surveys are excluded from OSA's analyses and are not included on this website. However, these results may differ from data published by the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, which retain those surveys. Any published reports should note whether or not their results include data flagged as dishonest.

Number of Participating Schools

A total of 75,165 usable surveys from 342 schools in 140 districts were received statewide, representing 63% of eligible students in Maine. This is the highest number of students ever participating in the MYDAUS and a 33% increase in student participation over 2002.