Since 2013, the Happiness & Health Study has aimed to understand the connection between mental health and substance use among adolescents and young adults.

About the Happiness & Health Study

The H&H Study aims to understand why some adolescents and young adults use tobacco, cannabis, alcohol, and other drugs, and why some do not. The study surveyed 3,300 students across 10 public high schools in the Los Angeles area, collecting information on a range of health factors including concern for social issues, social and emotional health, substance use, social and digital media use, risky behaviors, and more. Since graduating in 2017, participants have continued to complete online surveys every 6 months, allowing us to stay up to date with current trends that young adults experience. Out of the 3396 participants who have been enrolled for the H&H Study for Wave 1, 3383 participants completed the study, resulting in a completion rate of 99.6%. At the most recent wave, ten years later, 2155 participants completed the H&H Study for Wave 14, resulting in a completion rate of 85%.

The H&H Study provides over 10-years of data on substance use and mental health trends among adolescents and young adults with the goal of driving local and national policy change. H&H has made a difference in raising awareness, correcting misperceptions, counteracting stigma, and informing policies that support the health of youth and young adults.

H&H Study Timeline, Enrollments & Completions

USC H&H number of enrollment (ENR), survey sample size (N), and completion rate (CR) from Wave 1 to Wave 14.

Our Partners

Our study is funded by our partners:

    • NIH/NCI, R01CA229617, 2019-2025

    • NIH/FDA, U54CA180905, 9/1/2018-8/30/2023

    • NIH/NCI, Pilot Project, 9/1/2019-8/31/2023

    • NIH/NIDA, K01DA042950-04S1, 4/15/2021-8/31/2022

    • NIH/NIDA, K01DA042950, 9/1/2017-8/31/2022

    • Tobacco Related Disease Research Program (TRDRP), 27-IR-0034, 4/1/2018-3/31/2022

    • USC Tobacco Center of Regulatory Science (TCORS), 09/01/2016-08/31/2018, NA

Collaboration

Are you a researcher, interested in looking and using data collected from this study? Please click below to fill in the form! We will get back to you as soon as possible.

Publications

For a list of publications on the H&H Study, click below!