The Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort (MACC) Study is a population-based, observational cohort study that includes 4,295 teenagers aged 12-16 when enrolled in 2000-2001 (3,677 from Minnesota and 618 from comparison states), and an additional 668 Minnesota 12-year-olds enrolled in 2001-2002. The MACC Study is designed to allow multilevel analysis of the influences at the individual, family, community, and state level on tobacco use and the trajectory of tobacco uptake.

The Minnesota participants were sampled using Random Digit Dial methodology, and are nested in 60 geo-political units (GPUs). The GPUs are a stratified random sample that was selected from the entire state. About 720 participants are surveyed each month to provide a time-series of tobacco prevalence for Minnesota. The study is scheduled to collect information about smoking behaviors, attitudes and environments from each cohort member at 15 points in time (90 statewide observations).

Currently we are in the middle of the twelfth data collection point for individuals. This cohort study allows us to address important questions about changes in smoking patterns through the transition to young adulthood, long-term effects of tobacco control policies and intervention efforts directed at youth, and cohort differences in smoking patterns and response to tobacco control efforts.

Contact Information

Jeanne Forster, Ph.D., (forster@epi.umn.edu)