Berlin Youth Longitudinal Study (BYLS) "Youth development and substance use". Primary data from the first wave (adolescent sample) 1982.

The primary investigators of the series "Reports from the Working Group TUdrop Youth Research" characterized this survey as follows:
The use and abuse of drugs by young people is an expression of the general processes of youth development, a feature that can only be understood in the context of the divergence of youth and adult cultures. Here, the key role of empirical verification is put into action in prospective longitudinal studies of normal populations. With the exception of a Swiss study, all the studies were conducted in the U.S.
Even leading studies by U.S. researchers such as Kandel, Jessor, and Jessor or Bentler do not meet the necessary requirements. Specifically, theoretical deficits (youth sociology and psychology approaches are seldom incorporated) and weaknesses of the empirical implementation (measurements of situation-specific action skills and experience are consistently inadequately collected) are apparent. Drug research and youth research have one thing in common: person-oriented and situation-oriented approaches are left unrelated to each other due to the use conflicting paradigms.
Therefore, assuming that drug use is one of many coping strategies, this study aims to develop a theoretical model with which to analyze how adolescents seek to overcome and cope with the ever-mounting stress and opportunities of their youth. The focus is, therefore, on the analysis of coping with age-appropriate development tasks and a youth's participation in youth culture. In addition to a wide range of juvenile behavior topics, leisure activities, and juvenile delinquencies, typical environmental settings-and not only those related to the drug scene-are considered.
The study implemented a complex prospective longitudinal design which included data from more than 2,000 young people aged 11-17 years from Berlin, originating from 3 cohorts of the normal population. The surveys have been repeated at least once a year since 1982. In order to avoid dichotomies of youth research, such as considerations of person-oriented vs. situation-oriented or quantitative vs. qualitative aspects, development patterns are recorded on 3 levels. These levels help distinguish how the interaction of person and setting is analyzed. Individual characteristics are measured individually using covariant levels. Information about the settings is limited to aggregated mass statistics. On the other hand, the interdependent level settings will be individually recorded through field observations and interviews, while the individual characteristics are aggregated. Finally, on the transaction level, both sides (person and setting) will be observed in their real interaction using case studies. It should be noted that the longitudinal character at all levels of analysis is fully guaranteed.
The results of the Berlin Youth Longitudinal section will provide contributions on the etiology of the use and abuse of addictive substances, for the planning of preventive measures primarily in social and welfare youth work, and assist in general issues of youth development in relation to contemporary youth culture.
The Berlin Youth Longitudinal study is summarized as follows (Dr. Matthias Reitzle):
A guideline of the Berlin Youth Longitudinal design "youth development and drugs" was the realization that individual development is not independent of contextual influences. The individual is seen as the acting operator of his or her own development. A key project goal was the explanation of adolescent problem behavior, primarily adolescent substance use.
Unlike prevailing approaches to date, the use of substances was not attributed unilaterally to a medical etiology, nor was this use explained in terms of personal characteristics in the sense of differential psychology. Rather, substance use was considered a behavioral characteristic of youths in the development process, to which there exist-for example in terms of developmental tasks such as peer integration, identity formation and the stabilization of self-esteem-other less risky functional equivalents. Therefore, in addition to substance use, about 40 youth-relevant personality development features were examined. The study followed a cohort sequence design, in which an 11.5-year-old cohort was interviewed at yearly intervals from 1982-1988. At the same time a 14.5-year-old cohort was interviewed from 1982-1985. In 1985, a new survey of 11.5-year-olds was begun with yearly interviews lasting until 1988. The characteristics of the 3 samples are representative of West Berlin school youths for the social structure of the school's district, the city district, and the percentage of foreigners in the district. Following the theoretical guideline of "development in context", the youth standardized interviews were supplemented by parallel surveys of parents, semi-structured qualitative interviews, and analysis of extensive observations collected at typical, favorite recreational settings frequented by young people (setting analysis). The sample loss between 2 consecutive waves of the survey could be held at 12-15% as long as the adolescents could be reached through the school system. For the cohort interviewed beginning in 1985, the 4 waves of surveys yielded a 65% completion rate. To ensure long-term participation, comprehensive measures to keep track of the sample subjects were applied. In addition to the theoretical background and technical details of the study, selected results are presented concerning the constructive role of substance use in adolescent development, development in context with a focus on leisure locations, and the impact that a family's economic loss has on the children's development. Finally, preparatory work on a planned follow-up is reported.
In the present PsychData record, the primary data of 1,434 subjects, 379 comprehensive youth sample variables, and the first wave of data collection from 1982 is provided, including the associated code books and a checklist that provides information on the use of individual items across all survey waves.
The dataset is part of a longitudinal study comprising 7 waves of data collection. All records are published under the following labels in PsychData: rems82be29, rems83be10, rems84be20, rems85be22, rems86be09, rems87be09, rems88be09.