Protocol - Substances - 30-Day Frequency

Description

Measurement of respondent’s 30-day frequency of use of drugs.

Specific Instructions

The Working Group acknowledges that the following question may gather sensitive information relating to the use of substances or illegal conduct. If the information is released, it might be damaging to an individual’s employability, lead to social stigmatization, or result in other consequences.

For information on obtaining a Certificate of Confidentiality, which helps researchers protect the privacy of human research participants, please go to the National Human Genome Research Institute’s Institutional Review Board website.

Respondents are asked the 30-day frequency question only if they answered "yes" to a drug in the Substances - Lifetime Use measure. For example, if a respondent said he or she had ever used marijuana, he or she will be asked the 30-day question for marijuana. Investigators should refer back to the substance(s) indicated in the Substances - Lifetime Use measure when asking the below question. The drug categories are provided below:

Sedatives or tranquilizers
Painkillers
Marijuana
Cocaine or crack
Stimulants
Club drugs
Hallucinogens
Inhalants or solvents
Heroin
OTHER

Respondents can refer to the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III) flashcard that provides examples of each.

FLASHCARD 40

TYPES OF MEDICINES/DRUGS

1 Sedatives or tranquilizers, for example…barbs, downers, Ambien, Lunesta, phenobarbital, pentobarbital, Halcion, Tuinal, Nembutal, Seconal, Librium, Valium, Xanax, benzodiazepines, tranks, Ativan.

2 Painkillers, for example…methadone, codeine, Demerol, Vicodin, OxyContin, opium, oxy, Percocet, Dilaudid, Percodan, morphine

3 Marijuana, including THC, for example…weed, pot, dope, hashish, Mary Jane, joint, blunt

4 Cocaine or crack, for example…blow, rock, snow

5 Stimulants, for example…Adderall, Concerta, Cylert, Provigil, Ritalin or Dexedrine, speed, amphetamine, methamphetamine, uppers, bennies, pep pills, crystal, crank

6 Club drugs, for example…MDMA, ecstasy, GHB, Rohypnol, ketamine, Special K, XTC, roofies

7 Hallucinogens, for example…LSD, acid, PCP, mescaline, peyote, psilocybin, mushrooms, angel dust, cactus

8 Inhalants or solvents, for example…nitrous oxide, lighter fluid, gasoline, cleaning fluid, glue, poppers, whippets

9 Heroin, for example…smack, black tar, poppy

10 Any OTHER medicines

Availability

This protocol is freely available; permission not required for use.

Download PDF

Protocol

Think specifically about the past 30 days, from [DATEFILL**] up to and including today. During the past 30 days, on how many days did you use…?

# OF DAYS: _________ [RANGE: 0-30]

[ ] DK/REF

SHOW 30 DAY CALENDAR

Personnel and Training Required

Interviewer must be trained and found competent to conduct personal interviews with individuals from the general population. The interviewer should be trained to prompt respondents further if a "don’t know" response is provided.

Equipment Needs

While the source instrument was developed for administration by computer, the PhenX Expert Review Panel acknowledges that these questions can be administered in a noncomputerized format.

Requirements

Requirement Category	Required
Major equipment	No
Specialized training	No
Specialized requirements for biospecimen collection	No
Average time of greater than 15 minutes in an unaffected individual	No

Mode of Administration

Self-administered questionnaire

Lifestage

Adult

Participants

18 years of age or older

Selection Rationale

The protocol from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) was chosen because it is a large nationally representative study. The measures from this survey have been validated and psychometrically tested.

Language

English, Other languages available at source

Standards

Standard	Name	ID	Source
caDSR Form	PhenX PX031302 - Substances 30day Frequency	6910301	caDSR Form

Derived Variables

None

Process and Review

The Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Substances reviewed this protocol on May 08, 2025. Changes include:

Minor edits
- This affects the following fields: Process and Review;

Protocol Name from Source

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2015

Source

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2015, February). National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 2015. Rockville, MD: Author. CAI Specifications for Programming, English Version.

General References

None

Protocol ID

31302

Variables

Export Variables

Variable Name	Variable ID	Variable Description	dbGaP Mapping
PX031302_Frequency_Substances
	PX031302010100	Think specifically about the past 30 days, more from [DATEFILL**] up to and including today. During the past 30 days, on how many days did you use...? show less	Variable Mapping

Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Substances

Measure Name

Substances - 30-Day Frequency

Release Date

November 21, 2016

Definition

Questions asking the respondent how many days in the past 30 days he or she used a drug.

Purpose

This measure can be used to assess the participant’s recent consumption of a substance. The potential of recall bias can be reduced by assessing the respondent’s recent use.

Keywords

Drugs, substance use, illicit substances, cannabis, marijuana, THC, hashish, LSD, acid, PCP, angel dust, phencyclidine, peyote, mescaline, psilocybin, ecstasy, MDMA, sedative, tranquilizer, pain reliever, stimulant, prescription drug, cocaine, crack cocaine, hallucinogen, inhalant, solvent, heroin, methamphetamine, substance use disorder and addiction, SAA, National Survey on Drug Use and Health, NSDUH, gerontology, aging, geriatrics

Measure Protocols

Protocol ID	Protocol Name
31302	Substances - 30-Day Frequency

Publications

Harvey, A. G., Agnew, E. R., Hache, R. E., Callaway, C. A., Patino, E. O., Milner, A., Spencer, J. M., Diaz, M., Dong, L., Kilbourne, A. M., Buysse, D. J., Stice, E., and Sarfan, L. D. (2025) A randomized trial of adapted versus standard versions the transdiagnostic intervention for sleep and circadian dysfunction (TSC) implemented via facilitation and delivered by community mental health providers using train-the-trainer Implementation Science. 2025 November; 21(1): 21. doi: 10.1186/s13012-025-01467-y

Motley, R. O., Jr., Williamson, E., McTernan, M., Beeler, S., and Salas-Wright, C. P. (2025) Perceived racism-based police violence and substance use among black and hispanic emerging adults: Evidence from a national sample Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports. 2025 October; 17: 10. doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2025.100388

Short, N. A., et al. (2025) Pre-trauma insomnia and posttraumatic alcohol and cannabis use in the AURORA observational cohort study of trauma survivors. Journal of Psychiatric Research. 2025 September; 189: 415-423. doi: 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2025.06.027

Jung, H. J., et al. (2025) Spacetop: A multimodal fMRI dataset unifying naturalistic processes with a rich array of experimental tasks. Scientific Data. 2025 August; 12(1): 1465. doi: 10.1038/s41597-025-05154-x

Harvey, A. G., et al. (2025) A randomized trial of adapted versus standard versions of the Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction implemented via facilitation and delivered by community mental health providers: improving the fit of psychological treatments by adapting to context Implementation Science. 2025 July; 20(1): 32. doi: 10.1186/s13012-025-01440-9

Ally, D., et al. (2025) A pilot study of an online group-based Internal Family Systems intervention for comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder and substance use Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2025 March; 16: 1-10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1544435

Bart, G., et al. (2024) Exemplar Hospital Initiation Trial to Enhance Treatment Engagement (EXHIT ENTRE): protocol for CTN-0098 an open-label randomized comparative effectiveness trial of extended-release buprenorphine versus treatment as usual on post-hospital treatment engagement for hospitalized patients with opioid use disorder Addiction Science & Clinical Practice. 2024 December; 19(1): 11. doi: 10.1186/s13722-024-00510-5

Garrison-Desany, H. M., et al. (2024) Post-traumatic stress and future substance use outcomes: leveraging antecedent factors to stratify risk Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2024 March; 15. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1249382

Cioffi, C. C., et al. (2023) A randomized controlled trial to improve fathering among fathers with substance use disorders: Fathering in recovery intervention Journal of Family Psychology. 2023 December; 37(8): 1303-1314. doi: 10.1037/fam0001134

El-Toukhy, S., et al. (2023) Decision Trade-Offs in Ecological Momentary Assessments and Digital Wearables Uptake: Protocol for a Discrete Choice Experiment JMIR Research Protocols. 2023 September; 12: e47567. doi: 10.2196/47567

Callaway, C. A., et al. (2023) The Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction (TranS-C) for serious mental illness in community mental health part 2: study protocol for a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation cluster-randomized trial using train-the-trainer. Research Square. 2023 August; doi: 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2943787/v1

Sarfan, L. D., et al. (2023) The Transdiagnostic Intervention for Sleep and Circadian Dysfunction (TranS-C) for serious mental illness in community mental health part 1: study protocol for a hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation cluster-randomized trial. Trials. 2023 March; 24(1): 198. doi: 10.1186/s13063-023-07148-9

Sanchez-Roige, S., P. Fontanillas, S. L. Elson, J. C. Gray, H. de Wit, J. MacKillop, and A. A. Palmer (2019) Genome-Wide Association Studies of Impulsive Personality Traits (Bis-11 and Upps-P) and Drug Experimentation in up to 22,861 Adult Research Participants Identify Loci in the Cacna1i and Cadm2 Genes. J Neurosci. 2019 March; 39(13): 2562-72. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2662-18.2019

Sanchez-Roige, Sandra, Pierre Fontanillas, Sarah L Elson, 23andMe Research Team, Anita Pandit, Ellen M Schmidt, Johanna R Foerster, et al (2018) Genome-Wide Association Study of Delay Discounting in 23,217 Adult Research Participants of European Ancestry. Nature neuroscience. 2018 January; 21(1): 16-18.

Phillips, K. A., et al. (2017) Current drug users and women have higher rates of risky sexual behaviors. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2017 February; 171: e165-e166. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.08.455

Pattaro, C., et al. (2015) The Cooperative Health Research in South Tyrol (CHRIS) study: rationale, objectives, and preliminary results. J Transl Med. 2015 November; 13: 348. doi: 10.1186/s12967-015-0704-9

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Mapping for PX031302_Frequency_Substances

dbGaP Study	dbGaP Variable	dbGaP Variable Description
CARDIA Cohort	phv00114769	DAYS USED MARIJUANA: PAST 30 DAYS
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120112	TIMES USED HEROIN: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 10
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120102	DAYS USED COCAINE: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 6
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120098	DAYS USED CRACK: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 4
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120097	TIMES USED CRACK IN LIFETIME. Q 3
CARDIA Cohort	phv00120096	DAYS USED MARIJUANA: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 2
CARDIA Cohort	phv00119013	TIMES USED HEROIN: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 11
CARDIA Cohort	phv00118998	DAYS USED COCAINE: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 7
CARDIA Cohort	phv00118997	TIMES USED OTHER FORM OF COCAINE IN LIFE. Q 6
CARDIA Cohort	phv00118991	DAYS USED CRACK: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 5
CARDIA Cohort	phv00118990	TIMES USED CRACK IN LIFETIME. Q 4
CARDIA Cohort	phv00118987	DAYS USED MARIJUANA: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 2
CARDIA Cohort	phv00117164	TIMES USED HEROIN: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 11
CARDIA Cohort	phv00117155	DAYS USED CRACK: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 5
CARDIA Cohort	phv00113563	# OF DAYS USED MARIJUANA, PAST 30 DAYS. Q 2
CARDIA Cohort	phv00114772	TMS USED COCAINE/CRACK IN LIFE
CARDIA Cohort	phv00114773	DAYS USED COCAINE/CRACK: PAST 30 DAYS
CARDIA Cohort	phv00114779	TIMES USED HEROIN: PAST 30 DAYS
CARDIA Cohort	phv00115763	DAYS USED MARIJUANA: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 2
CARDIA Cohort	phv00115765	TIMES USED CRACK IN LIFETIME. Q 3
CARDIA Cohort	phv00115769	DAYS USED COCAINE: PAST 30 DAYS
CARDIA Cohort	phv00115775	TIMES USED HEROIN: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 10
CARDIA Cohort	phv00117151	DAYS USED MARIJUANA: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 2
CARDIA Cohort	phv00117154	TIMES USED CRACK IN LIFETIME. Q 4
CARDIA Cohort	phv00117158	DAYS USED COCAINE: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 7
CARDIA Cohort	phv00115766	DAYS USED CRACK: PAST 30 DAYS. Q 4
Sensitivity to the subjective effects of amphetamine	phv00221237	Number of times cannabis used in the last 30 days
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174444	Frequency of illicit use of tranquilizers or anti- anxiety drugs during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174445	Frequency of illicit use of painkillers during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174446	Frequency of illicit use of stimulants during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174447	Frequency of illicit use of marijuana or hashish during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174448	Frequency of use of cocaine or crack during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174449	Frequency of use of hallucinogens during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174450	Frequency of use of any inhalant for kicks or to get high during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174451	Frequency of use of heroin during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174452	Frequency of illicit use of other medicines, drugs, or substances during the past 30 days.
The Detroit Neighborhood Health Study (DNHS)	phv00174443	Frequency of illicit use of sedatives during the past 30 days.