The primary purpose of the Recruitmcnt and Retention Core is to develop and maintain a cohort ofadolescents and their parents for use in all projects, and to ensure the smooth flow of subjects across projectsand over time. The specific functions of the core are to: 1) recruit 18 high schools to participate in the studyby allowing the core to screen and identify eligible 9 th and 10 th graders for participation; 2) to maintain goodrelationships with the high schools throughout the course of the study; 3) to conduct informed consents andcoordinate IRB matters across projects; 4) to conduct initial screenings of adolescents at schools to identifystudents eligible for the longitudinal study; 5) to recruit eligible adolescents and their parents into theprojects; 6) to administer and collect all common paper and pencil questionnaire measures (baseline through36 months), as well as cotinine samples from adolescents at 30 months; 7) to track and locate missingadolescents and parents as they move; 8) to coordinate the subject flow and timing of subject participationfor those involved in more than one project; 9) to help maintain smooth coordination of data flow from thiscore to the Data Management, Measurement, and Statistics Core; and 10) to implement panel strategies toreduce attrition over the course of the study. We will use a combination of recruitment and retentionprocedures developed from our current work with an adolescent sample (in which we have successfullyachieved all recruitment goals and retained more than 90% of a cohort through an 18-month follow-up),which requires good relationships with schools, parents, and adolescent-sensitive procedures.
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