Inconsistency in Self-Reporting the Use of Substances over Time

Abstract

Background: The reliability of reporting the use of substances has important implications for researchers, policymakers, treatment providers, and other stakeholders. Recanting, defined as endorsing use of a particular substance initially and later denying it, threatens such reliability. Methods: Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health are utilized. This is a longitudinal nationally representative study of the U.S. individuals who have participated in five waves of interviews, starting in adolescence in 1994 and 1995 (Wave 1) and ending with the most recent wave (2016–2019) where respondents were aged 33–44 (Wave 5). Results: We found substantial recanting across years. From 2 to 17% of respondents recant over time. Misuse of prescription drugs is the most commonly recanted substance use behavior, at 16.8%. After this, alcohol use, and smoking are the most recanted substances. Race–ethnicity and education have a widespread association with recanting the various substances, and age and gender are also of importance. Conclusion: In the present study, we examined the issue of recanting of substance use over duration of up to 18 years. This extends the previous work on recanting by examining this phenomenon over a considerably longer period of time. We found substantial recanting across years, and that race–ethnicity and education are of significance in association with recanting.

Keywords:

• Substance reporting
• recanting substance use
• race and substance use
• measurement error in surveys

Acknowledgements

Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging cooperative agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I-V data are from the Add Health Program Project, grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Additional information

Funding

Shikha Bista, Ph.D., research activities were supported by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) award ID RP170259, Shine Chang, Ph.D. and Sanjay Shete, Ph.D., Principal Investigators, the MD Anderson’s Cancer Center Support Grant (CA016672; Peter Pisters, M.D., Principal Investigator). This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies.