Changes in substance use-related health risk behaviors on the timeline follow-back interview as a function of length of recall period

The timeline follow-back (TLFB) interview was adopted to collect retrospective data on daily substance use and violence from 598 youth seeking care in an urban Emergency Department in Flint, Michigan during 2009-2011. Generalized linear mixed models with flexible smooth functions of time were employed to characterize the change in risk behaviors as a function of the length of recall period. Our results suggest that the 1-week recall period may be more effective for capturing atypical or variable patterns of risk behaviors, whereas a recall period longer than 2 weeks may result in a more stable estimation of a typical pattern.