Recanting substance use over time

ABSTRACT

Objectives

To examine whether recanting exists, and if it varies for alcohol, smoking and marijuana use. We also examine the role of memory and salience of memories in recanting.

Methods

Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health are utilized in this secondary analysis. This is a longitudinal nationally representative study of U.S. individuals who have participated in five waves of interviews, starting in adolescence in 1994–1995 (Wave 1) and ending with the most recent wave (2016–2019) where respondents were aged 33–44 (Wave 5). We assess recanting from waves 4 to 5.

Results

We found substantial recanting across years. All three substances studied, alcohol use, smoking and marijuana use were recanted over time. Significant demographic variables associated with recanting are race-ethnicity, education and memory. Prior alcohol use also has impact.

Conclusions

The present study shows that recanting of substance use is substantial, and that race-ethnicity, education and memory measures are correlates of recanting. This has implications for survey studies that use substance use measures, as on any given cross-sectional survey, some respondents will underestimate or not report use of a substance used in the past.

KEYWORDS:

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

Acknowledgments

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. Special acknowledgment is due Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining Data Files from Add Health should contact Add Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Carolina Population Center, 206 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 ([email protected]). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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).