Skip to main content
National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men (NLSM)

Alcohol and Cigarette Use (Older Men cohort only)

Questions on the use of alcohol and cigarettes were asked only in the 1990 Older Men survey. This interview first collected information for both surviving and deceased respondents on the frequency and quantity of alcoholic beverages consumed during both the past year. If the respondent had consumed at least 12 drinks during his years as an adult, data were also gathered on the frequency and quantity of the respondent's lifetime consumption.

The 1990 survey also asked respondents about lifetime cigarette use. Data are available for both current and past users on age when first started smoking regularly and number of cigarettes/packs smoked on a usual day. In addition, the survey asked respondents who had stopped smoking as of the interview date to report their age when they last smoked regularly. Table 1 reports the ages at which respondents who smoked first began using cigarettes and stopped using cigarettes.

Table 1. Number of respondents by age at first and last use of cigarettes (unweighted): 1990 Older Men

Age at First Use
Note 1.1

 Age at Last Use Note 1.1 Row Total
1-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70+ Don't Know Currently Smoking

1-14

 9 17 20 41 91 143 74 8 103 506

15-19

 13 31 79 120 202 262 145 12 115 979

20-24

   18 35 55 93 95 34 2 47 379

25-29

   2 8 9 28 25 15 1 12 100

30-39

     2 5 9 14 9   4 43

40+

         6 5 4   4 19

Don't Know

 2 6 24 40 187 234 170 259
Note 1.2		   922

Column Total

 24 74 168 270 616 778 451 282 285 2948

The universe is restricted to respondents who reported currently smoking (R06277.) or having ever smoked (R06281., R07196.).

Note 1.1: Ages reported by living sample members (R06280., R06284., R06285.) or by the widows of deceased respondents (R07197., R07199.). Most "don't know" responses for age at first use were reported by widows.

Note 1.2: Includes four cases where the reported age at last use was less than the reported age at first use.
Survey Instruments The "Health" section of the 1990 Older Men interview and the "Information on Deceased Sample Person" section of the 1990 widows' questionnaire collected these data.