Reports & Data

The Core Survey data collection has occurred every other spring semester since approximately 1997. The data collection is one of the responsibilities of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug (ATOD) Prevention Center, which is supported through grant funds provided by the Maryland Alcohol and Drug Abuse Administration (ADAA), Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The Towson University ATOD Center is one of four centers in the State, funded via ADAA grant funds. The data obtained through this initiative is reported to Towson University’s Substance Education and Concerns Committee which meets monthly to oversee alcohol and drug prevention activities, monitor substance use trends on campus and review substance abuse policies and enforcement practices.

The instrument used is the Core Survey, a nationally recognized survey described by its developers at the Core Institute, Southern Illinois University, as a “a valuable tool for determining how to target populations for prevention programming, designing social marketing and media advocacy campaigns, and assessing the impact of these prevention efforts.” 

The data collection project has been reviewed by the Towson University IRB and approval has been granted. A cluster sampling approach is used to collect the data, randomly selecting courses from each of the colleges.

Faculty may choose not to participate just as students in the selected course, when given access, may choose not to complete the survey. Student anonymity is preserved; no identifiers are used that can link a student to survey responses.

In our experience conducting the survey throughout the years, both students and faculty have largely been supportive of the effort and response rates are high.

Core Survey Results

• National Collegiate Health Assessment, Spring 2022
• Randomized Undergraduate Sample, Core Survey Spring 2020
• Incoming Freshmen Only, Spring 2022 Core Survey Results
• Biennial Review 2022