Please note: This website has recently moved from www.health.gov to odphp.health.gov. www.health.gov is now the official website of ODPHP’s parent organization, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). Please update your bookmarks for easy access to all our resources. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS)

Supplier
Census, DOL/BSL, NIH/NCI, FDA/CTP
Years Available
1992-1993, 1995-1996, 1998-1999, 2000, 2001-2002, 2003, 2006-2007, 2010-2011, 2014-2015, 2018-2019
Periodicity
Periodic
Mode of Collection
Sample Survey: self-responses and proxy responses.
Description
Since 1992, the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey (TUS-CPS) has served as a key source of national, state, and sub-state data on tobacco use behavior, attitudes, and policies in the United States. Sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, the TUS-CPS is conducted every 3 to 4 years as part of the CPS, a monthly survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor and Statistics (DOL, BLS). In each cycle, TUS-CPS collects nationally representative data from about 240,000 adults aged 18 and older. About two-thirds of respondents complete the questionnaire by telephone; responses for the remaining third are obtained through in-person interviews. The survey is regularly conducted in English and Spanish, and other languages when needed. The TUS-CPS is used to track long-term trends in tobacco use and tobacco-related policies, evaluate national and sub-national tobacco-control programs, study tobacco-related health disparities, link tobacco control data to cancer incidence and survival, and other related research.
Selected Content
The TUS-CPS addresses the following topics: current cigarette smoking status, amount smoked, and smoking history; cigar pipe and smokeless tobacco current use and history of use; quit attempts and intention to quit (including medical and dental advice to quit); nicotine dependence; cost of cigarettes and purchase location; e-cigarette use; workplace and home smoking restrictions; attitudes toward smoke-free policies in public places. Questions may be added to each wave to match the current tobacco landscape. The following additions were made for the 2018-2019 survey: purchasing loose tobacco for roll-your-own cigarettes; categorizing e-cigarette device type; purchasing behaviors and costs for buying e-cigarettes, e-cigarette cartridges, or e-liquid; policies toward e-cigarette use in the workplace and rules inside the home; and exposure to federally mandated tobacco company corrective statements (anti-smoking) advertising.
Population Covered
Civilian, non-institutionalized population ages 18 years and older (data for the 1992 to 2006 TUS-CPS are for persons ages 15 years and older).
Methodology
The TUS-CPS is administered every 3 to 4 years as part of the Current Population Survey. It uses the CPS' large, nationally representative sample to obtain information from 240,000 adults during each iteration. Each wave of the TUS-CPS is a cross-sectional survey conducted in three nonconsecutive months. Each month's data is weighted and can be analyzed as an independent survey. The 3 months' data are combined to form the overall sample of TUS-CPS for each wave. About two-thirds of respondents complete the questionnaire by telephone; responses for the remaining third are obtained through in-person interviews. The survey is regularly conducted in English and Spanish, and other languages when needed.
Response Rates and Sample Size
The 2014-2015 TUS-CPS was conducted in three waves: July 2014, January 2015, and May 2015. For all waves combined, 163,920 adults completed the interview as self-respondents for a response rate of 54.2%.
References

Objectives using data from this source (1)