Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of approximately 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991). In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation. The Monitoring the Future Study has been funded under a series of investigator-initiated competing research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the National Institutes of Health. MTF is conducted at the
Survey Research Center in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

For additional information regarding the Monitoring the Future study, please e-mail us at mtfinformation@umich.edu.

Comments by the Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse

In this video, NIDA Director Dr. Nora Volkow discusses findings from the Monitoring the Future survey.

Recent Publications

National Survey Results on Drug Use, 1975-2012, Volume I is now available. Volume I provides data and trends on 8th, 10th, and 12th graders

2012 Overview of Key Findings is now available. This report presents a summary of the national results on adolescent drug use, with emphasis on recent trends in the use of licit and illicit drugs.

New 2012 Press Release "American teens are less likely than European teens to use cigarettes and alcohol, but more likely to use illicit drugs."

New 2012 Press Release "The rise in teen marijuana use stalls, synthetic marijuana use levels, and use of 'bath salts' is very low." Text and associated tables and figures are available.

New 2012 Press Release "Decline in teen smoking continues into 2012." Text and associated tables and figures are available.

2011 HIV/AIDS: Risk & Protective Behaviors among American Young Adults, 2004-2011 is now available. This report focuses on a range of behaviors of young adult high school graduates ages 21–30 in the general population related to the spread of the HIV virus responsible for the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). For the first time, data on 35- and 40-year-old respondents is included. The full text of this volume is available.

Monitoring the Future: Questionnaire Responses From the Nation's High School Seniors. Monitoring the Future 12th-grade descriptive results for nearly 2,000 items are now available in annual volumes for 1975 through 2010. Comparison between volumes allows readers to understand the changes in viewpoints, attitudes, and experiences of young people over the past 36 years. Questions include drug use and views about drugs, delinquency and victimization, changing roles for women, confidence in social institutions, concerns about energy and ecology, and social and ethical attitudes.

The Education-Drug Use Connection is now available. This book focuses on the fact that adolescents who do well in school are less likely to smoke, drink, or do drugs. It addresses the question: Which comes first -- drug use or school failure? See a description of the book or the related press release.

The European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) completed its fifth data collection in 2011 in a collaborative effort in nearly 40 European countries. Modeled largely after Monitoring the Future, this series of surveys reports national survey results on 15- and 16-year olds and MTF data from 10th-graders are included. The goal is to compare and track substance use among countries. A report of the study's 2011 results is available. Visit the ESPAD website for information on securing the full report. Comparisons with results in the U.S. are in a short press release from MTF.

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Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA. Updated: 31 May 2013.