82% of American adults own a cell phone, Blackberry, iPhone or other device that is also a cell phone.

Texting by adults has increased over the past 9 months from 65% of adults sending and receiving texts in September 2009 to 72% texting in May 2010. Still, adults do not send nearly the same number of texts per day as teens ages 12-17, who send and receive, on average, 5 times more texts per day than adult texters.

• Adults who text typically send and receive a median of 10 texts a day; teens who text send and receive a median of 50 texts per day.
• 5% of all adult texters send more than 200 text messages a day or more than 6,000 texts a month. Fully 15% of teens 12-17, and 18% of adults 18 to 24 text message more than 200 messages a day, while just 3% of adults 25 to 29 do the same.
• Heavy adult texters – those who send and receive more than 50 texts day — also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange 1 to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more. Instead, they are light users of both calling and texting.

The original purpose of the cell phone is still the most universal – nearly every cell phone user makes calls on their phone at least occasionally.

• The average adult cell phone owner makes and receives around 5 voice calls a day.
• Women tend to make slightly fewer calls with their cell phones than men – while 53% of women make and receive 5 calls or fewer per day, 43% of men say the same. Men are a bit more likely to make slightly more phone calls in a day; 26% of men send and receive 6 to 10 calls a day, while 20% of women exchange that many calls.  Men and women are equally likely to be represented at the extreme high end of callers with 8% of men and 6% of women making and taking more than 30 calls a day.

Americans especially appreciate that their cell phones make them feel safer (91% of cell owners say that) and help them connect to friends and family to arrange plans (88% agree).  Still, some users express irritation with their phone for the disruptions it creates, though the heaviest users of the phone are no more likely to express irritation with their phone than lower level users. Two in five (42%) cell-owners say they feel irritated when a call or text interrupts them. Cell phones are such a vital part of American’s lives that many users will not be parted from their device, even as they sleep:

• 65% of adults with cell phones say they have ever slept with their cell phone on or right next to their bed.
• Adults who have slept with or near their phones are also more likely to feel positively about their phone. They are more likely to appreciate the way the phone helps them to make plans (94% vs. 78% of those who don’t sleep with their phone) and to see the phone as a source of entertainment (52% vs. 14%). Phone sleepers are just as likely to express irritation with the phone as those who don’t sleep near their handset.

Spam isn’t just for email anymore; it comes in the form of unwanted text messages of all kinds – from coupons to phishing schemes – sent directly to user’s cell phones.

• 57% of adults with cell phones have received unwanted or spam text messages on their phone.

African American and Hispanic cell users are more intense and frequent users of all of the phone’s capabilities than whites. Minorities send more text messages and make more calls on average than their white counterparts.

• African American and English-speaking Hispanic adults are slightly more likely than whites to own a cell phone, with 87% of African-Americans and English speaking Hispanics owning a phone, compared with 80% of whites.
• African American and English-speaking Hispanic cell phone owners are more likely than whites to initiate and receive large numbers of calls each day. One in eight (12%) African-American phone owners and 14% of Hispanic cell users make and receive more than 30 calls on a typical day, while just 4% of white cell phone users make and receive the same number of calls.
• African American and Hispanic texters typically text more on average than white texters, with a median of 10 texts a day for African-Americans and Hispanics and 5 texts a day for whites. White adults are a bit more likely than English-speaking Hispanic adults to say they do not send or receive any texts on a typical day (10% vs. 4% respectively).

Parents with children under 18 in the home are also keen users of the cell phone. Parents are more likely to own a cell phone than non-parents, and more likely to make 5 or more calls per day than non-parents (63% vs. 44%), though they do not text more overall. They are more likely to have slept with their phone on or near their bed, and to use the phone for talking for all types of purposes. Texting is less definitive – mostly parents use it for the same reasons and similar frequencies as non-parents. Parents are also more likely than those without minor children at home to appreciate the way the phone allows them to check in, plan on the fly and stave off boredom.

• 90% of parents are more likely to have a cell phone than adults without children under 18 at home (78%).
• 72% parents have slept with their phone, compared to 62% of non-parents.
• Parents are more likely to use their cell phone’s voice capabilities several times a day for work calls, (32% of parents vs. 19% of non-parents) to check in with someone (28% vs. 17%), to say hello and chat (31% vs. 24%) and to have long personal conversations (13% vs. 7%). Parents are more likely than non-parents to coordinate a physical meeting (18% vs. 13%) daily.

Cell ownership in the United States remains steady since 2009

Cell phones have moved beyond fashionable accessory and into the realm of life necessity – just as many adults have a cell phone as have a computer. Cell phones are now toted by more than four in five American adults (82%). Cell phone ownership is up from 65% of American adults in November 2004, but has remained steady since 2009.  More adults have a cell phone than have an iPod or mp3 player (46%) or e-Book reader (4%), and just as many adults have a computer (79% have a laptop or desktop) as have a mobile phone.  One third (35%) of those who do not own a cell phone live in households where someone else has a cell phone.

Black and English-speaking Hispanic¹ adults are slightly more likely than whites to own a cell phone, with 87% of African-Americans and Hispanics owning a phone, compared with 80% of whites. Young adults are much more likely than older ones to own a cell phone – with the youngest most likely to own a cell phone and the oldest adults the least likely to own one. Those with higher levels of education and annual household income are also more likely to possess a cell phone. Parents, with their logistics-heavy lives, are more likely to have a cell phone than adults without minor children in the home (90% vs. 78%).  People who live in rural areas (72%) are also less likely to have a cell phone than those who live in suburban (82%) or urban areas (85%).  Further, internet users and those with home broadband are substantially more likely to use cell phones than those who do not go online and do not have broadband at home.  Nevertheless, more than half (53%) of adults who do not use the internet at all have a cell phone.

Uses of the phone: Calling and texting

Two of the main uses of the cell phone are voice calling and text messaging.² While nearly all adult users of the cell phone make phone calls, 72% of adults 18 and older with cell phones send and receive text messages, up from 58% of phone-owning adults who texted in December 2007.

Adults send and receive about 10 texts a day.

Among the nearly three quarters of adults with phones who text, the average user sends and receives 10 texts a day, up from an average of 5 texts a day just 8 months earlier in September 2009. Breaking it down by number of texts, half (51%) of adult texters send between 1 and 10 texts a day. Another 25% of adults send 11 to 50 texts a day, and 10% send between 50 and 200 texts a day. Just 4% of adults send more than 200 text messages a day or more than 6,000 texts a month.

Younger adults who text report sending more text messages a day than older adults.  While 88% of adults 50 and older send 10 or fewer texts a day, just 50% of adults younger than 50 say the same. The very youngest adults text most similarly to their teenage counterparts — having just left their teen years themselves. Fully 18% of adults 18 to 24 text message more than 200 messages a day, as do 15% of teens 12-17, while just 3% of adults 25 to 29 do the same.

There are no gender differences in numbers of text messages sent daily – men and women do this equally.  There are also modest differences by race or ethnicity in text messaging.  African-American and Hispanic texters typically text more on average than white texters, with a median of 10 texts a day for African-Americans and Hispanics and 5 texts a day for whites. White texters are a bit more likely than English-speaking Hispanic adults to say they do not send or receive any texts on a typical day (10% vs. 4% respectively).

Heavy texters – those who send and receive more than 50 texts day — also tend to be heavy users of voice calling. Light texters, who exchange 1 to 10 texts a day, do not make up for less texting by calling more; instead they are light users of both communicative aspects of the cell phone – making fewer calls and sending fewer texts.  Fully 63% of cell owners who don’t text make and receive 1 to 5 calls a day, while just 21% of heavy texters engage in the same amount of voice calling. On the other side, 26% of heavy texters make and receive 31 or more calls a day, while just 1% of phone owners who do not text make and receive the same large number of calls.

The average adult cell phone owner makes and receives around 5 voice calls a day.

Overall, the largest segment (44%) of cell-owning adults makes 1 to 5 calls on a typical day. Only 5% of adults say they do not make or receive any calls on their cell phone on an average day.

Women report making fewer calls with their cell phones on average than men.

Women make slightly fewer voice calls than men – while 53% of women make and receive 5 calls or less per day, 43% of men say the same.  One fifth (21%) of men make or receive 11-30 calls per day, while 17% of women say the same. African American and English-speaking Hispanic cell phone owners are more likely than whites to initiate and receive large numbers of calls each day. On average, African American and Hispanic cell phone users make and receive 10 calls on a typical day,³ while White cell owners average 5 calls placed and received daily. One in eight (12%) of African American phone owners and 14% of Hispanic cell users make and receive more than 30 calls on a typical day, while just 4% of white cell phone owners make and receive the same number of calls.

In a typical behavior pattern for all manners of cell phone use, younger adults are more likely than older adults to make and receive a large number of calls per day. Fully 12% of adults between 18 and 29 years old engage in more than 30 cell phone calls per day, while just 7% of 30 to 49 year olds do so. By comparison, just 3% of 50 to 64 year olds and 1% of those 65 years old and older make more than 30 calls per day on their cell phone. More than half of adults 50 and older initiate and receive 5 or fewer calls per day, while the majority of users under 50 make and receive 6 or more calls a day. Parents are also more likely to make more phone calls on a typical day; 63% of parents make more than 5 calls a day compared with 44% of adults without children under 18 at home.

Two-thirds of adults sleep with their cell phone

As the cell phone becomes more central to lives of American adults and teens, users are increasingly reluctant to be parted from their device, even at night. Fully two-thirds (65%) of adults say they have slept with their cell phone on or right next to their bed. Those who send text messages, and in particular heavy texters (sending and receiving more than 51 texts a day) and medium texters (11 to 50 texts a day) are more likely to sleep with their phones than lighter texters or those who do not text. Heavy users of voice calling on the cell phone, and daily users of the cell phone for internet access are also more likely to sleep with their phones.

Why adults call on cell phones

No longer just for communicating and planning while away from home or the workplace, the cell phone is increasingly a landline substitute. Recent research by the Pew Research Center suggests that 23% of Americans have only a cell phone available for making calls⁴ and another 17% have a landline but receive most of their calls on their mobile phone. For some subgroups, the findings are even more dramatic; nearly one-third (30%) of Hispanics and 49% of adults 25-29 are cell-only.⁵

Even as cell phones become landline substitutes, adult cell users continue to use voice calling predominately for saying hi, checking in and on-the-go planning. Nearly nine in ten cell phone users (88%) say they make voice calls just to say hello and chat with someone else, and 81% of phone owners use voice calling to report where they are or to check someone else’s location. A similar percentage (81%) of cell phone users use voice calls to coordinate where they are physically meeting someone, though users are less likely to make calls for this purpose daily (26% coordinate meetings over voice calls daily, while 45% of cell phone users call to check in or to check someone’s location daily.)

Still, cell phones are not just for quick check-ins. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of cell phone owners use their cell phone to have long personal conversations with someone, though these conversations generally happen less frequently than coordinating, checking in or friendly chatting. Just 19% of cell users say they have these types of spoken conversations on their cell phone at least once a day or more often, compared with 53% of those who say they have long exchanges less often.

Fewer cell phone owners make voice calls for work: 58% of cell users make voice calls to accomplish work tasks, while a substantial number either never use their cell phone for work purposes (32%) or say the question does not apply to them (9%). Those who use their cell phone for work tend to use it relatively frequently. One third (32%) of cell phone owners make voice calls on their cell phone for work every day or more frequently, while 26% say they make those types of calls less often.

Men and women differ in the frequency with which they make different types of calls. Women are slightly more likely to place frequent calls to just say hello and chat and to report on where they are or find out where someone else is. Men are more likely to place frequent calls about coordinating where to meet others, and to make and receive calls about work. Men and women are just as likely to have long conversations to discuss important personal matters on their cell phone, though overall this is a low frequency activity for both men and women.

Adults ages 50 and under with cell phones are more likely to use their mobile phone to make voice calls for all purposes. The youngest users are generally the most likely to say that they make calls just to chat, to check in, to monitor or share their location, or to have long personal conversations. Work-related conversations on a cell phone are fairly equally shared by age, until retirement age, when the likelihood of making these types of calls declines substantially.

African-Americans and English-speaking Hispanics are also more likely to use the cell phone for all types of conversations more frequently than their white counterparts. The one exception is calls about work, where there are no differences by race or ethnicity.

Parents are also substantial users of voice calling for all reasons when compared with non-parents. They are more likely to use their cell phone several times a day for work calls, to coordinate a physical meeting, to check in with someone, to say hello and chat and to have long personal conversations.

Cell phone owners with lower education levels and from households with lower incomes are more likely than higher income users and those with greater levels of education to use the phone frequently to just say hello and chat and to have long personal conversations. Cell owners of greater income or education level are more likely to use their phone to talk about work.

Why adults text

Similar to voice calling, adults most often use text messaging to “just say hello and chat” with others. More than 4 in 5 (84%) text messaging adults send and receive texts just to say hello, and nearly half (49%) send these types of messages every day or more often. Text messaging adults are nearly as likely to use texts to report their location or check on someone else’s location as they are to say hello, with 79% of texters doing so, and nearly 2 in 5 (39%) saying they text to check in daily or more often.

Using texts to coordinate where you are meeting someone is another popular use of text messaging by adults, with three quarters (76%) of texters using texts for this purpose. But coordinating a physical meeting with someone is not done as frequently as checking in or saying hello – only a little more than a quarter (27%) of texters coordinate a meeting at least once a day or more often, and another quarter (24%) say they never do so via text message.

Sending and receiving text messages has one particular advantage over voice calling – with the proper phone settings engaged, text messages can transfer information silently between two or more people. Two thirds of texters (65%) say they take advantage of the ability to silently create and send text messages. A little less than a quarter (23%) of texters say they do this daily or more often, while another third (34%) say they never send messages under these circumstances.

As with voice calling, a comparatively smaller percentage of texters send and receive text messages for work on their cell phone, with just under half (49%) saying they have ever sent a work-related text message. Just about one in five texters say they send work-related texts every day or more frequently, while the bulk of texters (44%) say they never send work-related messages.

Texting is less likely to be used for long conversations on personal matters than voice calling. While 80% of text message users make long voice calls to discuss important personal matters, just about half (51%) of texters have long, personal text message exchanges. But half of texters (49%) never have long personal exchanges by text, and just 15% of texters have these kinds of exchanges daily or more often.

African Americans who send and receive text messages are more likely than their white counterparts to text several times a day for every reason queried in the survey. African Americans are more likely than whites to say they text several times a day just to say hello and chat, to check in on someone or report their own whereabouts, to coordinate meeting someone, to do things related to work, to exchange information quietly and to have long exchanges on important personal matters. In a similar vein young adults who text are more likely than older adults to text frequently for all the reasons probed, with the very youngest adults (18-24) the most likely to report these behaviors, except for texting about work and long exchanges. Lower income and lower education texters are more likely than those with higher incomes or education levels to text for social reasons – to say hello, to check in and to have long personal exchanges on important issues.

Where a person lives also relates to the frequency with which they use text messaging for different purposes. Texters who live in urban areas are more likely than suburbanites to say they report on where they are or check in with someone else by text, coordinate physically meeting someone, exchange messages quietly and have long exchanges of texts on important personal issues. Rural dwellers are more likely than suburbanites to use text messaging to say hello and chat.

Texting on your cell phone as an internet replacement?

Adults with cell phones who text, but who use the internet infrequently, are more likely to use text messaging to have long conversations. Adults who use the internet less than once a week are more likely than those who use the internet more frequently to say they have long message exchanges on important personal topics several times a day – 22% of infrequent internet users report this, while 8% of daily internet users and 6% of those who use the internet several times a week report having frequent, long text exchanges. These infrequent internet users are also more likely than weekly users to use text messaging to coordinate meeting up with someone (21% vs. 8%) and to use text messaging to communicate silently with someone (19% vs. 7%). Taken together, these findings suggest that some cell phone users may be using their phone’s texting capabilities as a substitute for internet access on a computer.

Not surprisingly, those who send and receive large numbers of texts each day, are more likely to say that they text frequently for all reasons than those who send and receive fewer messages. In a similar vein, those who make and receive large numbers of voice calls on their cell phone each day are also more likely to send and receive text messages for a variety of reasons. However, a subset of cell phone owners say that on a typical day they do not send and receive voice calls on their phones and the bulk of these users don’t text as much as heavier callers and for most reasons, report that they are less likely to text daily than even light texters. Still, another one in 5 of those who say they don’t call on a typical day do say that they send and receive texts just to say hello and to do things related to work several times a day. This suggests that infrequent voice callers may be divided into two groups – those who use text in place of voice calling to have personal and professional exchanges and those who simply do not communicate with others on the cell phone by any method very often.

Cell owners feel safer, but disrupted by the mobile phone.

With more than 4 in 5 American adults in possession of a cell phone, how do users feel about their handsets? Overall, nearly every adult with a cell phone feels safer because of the device; 91% of cell phone users agree that their phone makes them feel safer because they can always use it to get help. Women are more likely to say they feel safer because of their cell phone than men. Nearly nine in ten cell phone users (88%) also believe that the phone makes it easier to arrange plans with other people, corroborated by the findings detailed earlier in this report that adults with cell phones are very likely to use voice and text to coordinate meeting in person and to check in with others.  Heavy text and cell voice users (more than 50 texts or more than 30 calls per day) are more likely to agree that their cell phone makes it easy to arrange plans with others. Similarly, parents and adults with a college education or greater are more likely to agree that they appreciate the ability to check in and arrange plans that their cell phone offers.

But users still experience substantial frustrations around the incoming contacts they receive as well as others’ use of the cell phone. Another 86% of cell phone users agree that it is rude when someone repeatedly interrupts a conversation or meeting to check their cell phone, and two in five cell owners say they’re irritated when a call or text interrupts them. Women and white cell phone owners and those with higher incomes and education are more likely to say it’s rude to interrupt a face-to-face conversation to repeatedly check your phone, while English-speaking Hispanics are more likely than white phone owners to report irritation when a message or text on their phone interrupts them. The very youngest adult users (ages 18-24) are more likely than those 25-29 to say they find a call or text that interrupts them irritating – possibly because a larger percentage of this age group sends and receives a very large quantity – upwards of 200 — text messages a day. However, there are no significant differences between heavy and light texters overall in their likelihood of expressing irritation with cell phone interruptions, and heavy voice callers are more likely to say that they disagree that cell phone interruptions are irritating. Still, it may be that young adults are less inured to the cellphone’s disruptive capabilities.

Unlike cell phone users under 18, adults as a group are not particularly likely to use the cell phone to amuse themselves when they are bored –39% of adults say they fight boredom with their phone, while nearly seven in ten teens say the same. Young adults show a similar pattern to teens – 72% of 18-29 year olds use their phones to beat boredom. Low income users are also more likely to use their phone to fight boredom, with 50% of those earning less than $30,000 annually saying they use the phone for that purpose. Black and Hispanic cell owners, and parents with cell phones are also more likely to say they use the phone to keep themselves amused. Heavy cell phone users (those who text 50 or more messages a day, make or receive more than 30 calls or access the internet through their phone daily) are more likely than their less enthusiastic counterparts to agree that they use their phones to combat boredom. Those with wireless internet access and broadband at home as well as those who live in urban areas are all more likely to use the phone to stave off boredom.

Teens are bigger users of text messaging than adults

Conventional wisdom suggests that teens are more enthusiastic users of the cell phone than adults. In practice, teens ages 12 to 17 are indeed more intense users of text messaging than older cell phone users, while they use voice calling in similar manner to adults.

Teens send and receive text messages in numbers that are orders of magnitude greater than what is sent and received by adults. The average teen (even including teens without cell phones) sends and receives five times more text messages a day than a typical adult. A teen typically sends or receives 50 text messages a day, while the average adult sends or receives 10. Fully 31% of teens send more than 100 texts a day and 15% send more than 200 a day, while just 8% and 5% of adults send that many, respectively.

While more than half of all adults with cell phones who text send 1 to 10 text messages a day, just one fifth (22%) of teens send that many messages each day. Even though discrepancies remain between the age groups, adults have seen substantial increases in texting over the past months. Today, the median number of texts sent by adult texters is 10, up from 5 in September 2009. Looked at through a different statistical lens, the mean number of texts sent by adults as of May 2010 is 39.1 up from 29.7 in September 2009.

Teens also differ from adults in some of the purposes behind cell phone usage choices, particularly text messaging. More than half of teen texters (51%) text several times a day “just to say hello and chat” while only about a third (34%) of adults who text send “hello and chat” messages with that frequency.

Teens are also more likely than older adults to have slept with their cell phone on or right next to their bed – fully 84% of teens do this, while 65% of adults 18 and older with a cell phone have done so.  Like adults, teens who sleep with their cell phone tend to have a more positive attitude towards the cell phone overall than their counterparts who do not take the phone to bed, and to express beliefs that suggest that the phone is a substantially important tool in their lives. Teens who sleep with their phones are more likely to appreciate the ways it keeps them in touch, makes them feel safer, and are more likely to enjoy the way their cell phone makes it easier to change plans on the fly. They are less likely to turn their phones off when they don’t have to and are just as likely to express irritation with interruptions from their cell phone as those who don’t sleep with their phone. Teens who sleep with their cell phone also do not find it particularly difficult to remember to keep their phone with them.

Teens and adults are just as likely to have received unwanted to spam text messages, with 57% of adult and 54% of teen cell phone users receiving spam texts.

Adults and teens share similar calling patterns

Adults and teens share similar calling patterns, except adults call more often just to say hello and teens call more to check in and report their whereabouts

Adults and teens are much more alike in their use of voice calling from a mobile phone than their text messaging behavior might suggest. The largest segment of each group – 58% of teens and 44% of adults – make and receive 1 to 5 mobile phone calls a day.  However, cell-owning adults are more likely than teens to initiate and receive more than 20 calls a day, with 12% of adults making that many calls, compared with just 6% of teens. Consistent with these findings, teens and adults make and receive a median of 5 calls a day, while the mean number of teen calls is 10.7 and the mean for adults is 13.1.

Overall, adults and teens are just as likely to have used their mobile phone to call someone just to say hello and chat, though adults are a bit more likely to do this more frequently, with 26% of cell-owning adults calling to say hello several times a day, compared with 18% of teens with cell phones.  Adults and teens show similar calling patterns when they use the phone to have long conversations on personal topics and when they use their cell phone to coordinate an in-person meeting.

Teens are more likely to use the phone to call and report where they are or check someone else’s location; 90% of teens have done so as have 81% of adults. Teens are also more likely to use the phone for school work than adults are to use their phone for professional work. However, of those adults that do use their phone to make and receive calls for work, they use it for that purpose more frequently than teens use their handsets for school.

Teens and adults agree that phones keep them safe and occasionally annoy

Teens and adults agree that phones keep them safe and occasionally annoy, but teens are more likely to fight boredom with their phone.

For the most part, teens and adults share similar attitudes towards their cell phones. Both adults and teens nearly unanimously state (91% of adults and 93% of teens) that their cell phone makes them feel safer because they can always use it to get help.  Teens and adults are also just as likely to say that they feel irritated when a call or text on their phone interrupts them – with 42% of adults and 48% of teens expressing irritation.

The one place where teens and adults diverge is over attitudes towards the phone as a stop gap entertainment platform for fighting boredom. Just about 2 in 5 adults (39%) say they use their cell phone to entertain themselves when they are bored. By contrast, nearly 7 in 10 teens with cell phones (69%) say they use their phone to beat back boredom.

Methodology

This report is based on the findings of a daily tracking survey on Americans’ use of the Internet. The re­sults in this report are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International between April 29 and May 30, 2010, among a sample of 2,252 adults, age 18 and older. Interviews were conducted in English. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 2.4 percentage points. For results based Internet users (n=1,756), the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting telephone surveys may introduce some error or bias into the findings of opinion polls.

The teen data in this report is based on the findings of a telephone survey on teens’ and parents’ use of mobile phones. The results are based on data from telephone interviews conducted by Princeton Survey Research International between June 26 and September 24, 2009, among a sample of 800 teens ages 12-17 and a parent or guardian.  For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 3.8 percentage points for the complete set of weighted data. For methodological information about data collected prior to 2009, please visit our data page to find the information at the back of the questionnaire file for each data set.

For both surveys, a combination of landline and cellular random digit dial (RDD) samples was used to represent all adults in the continental United States who have access to either a landline or cellular telephone. Both samples were provided by Survey Sampling International, LLC (SSI) according to PSRAI specifications. Numbers for the landline sample were selected with probabilities in proportion to their share of listed telephone households from active blocks (area code + exchange + two-digit block number) that contained three or more residential directory listings. The cellular sample was not list-assisted, but was drawn through a sys­tematic sampling from dedicated wireless 100-blocks and shared service 100-blocks with no directory-listed landline numbers.

New sample was released daily and was kept in the field for at least five days. The sample was released in replicates, which are representative subsamples of the larger population. This ensures that complete call procedures were followed for the entire sample. At least 7 attempts were made to complete an interview at a sampled telephone number. The calls were staggered over times of day and days of the week to maximize the chances of making contact with a potential respondent. Each number received at least one daytime call in an attempt to find someone available. For the landline sample, half of the time interviewers first asked to speak with the youngest adult male currently at home. If no male was at home at the time of the call, interviewers asked to speak with the youngest adult female. For the other half of the contacts interviewers first asked to speak with the youngest adult female currently at home. If no female was available, interviewers asked to speak with the youngest adult male at home. For the cellular sample, interviews were conducted with the person who answered the phone. Interviewers verified that the person was an adult and in a safe place before administering the survey. Cellular sample respondents were offered a post-paid cash incentive for their participation. All interviews completed on any given day were considered to be the final sample for that day.

Non-response in telephone interviews produces some known biases in survey-derived estimates because participation tends to vary for different subgroups of the population, and these subgroups are likely to vary also on questions of substantive interest. In order to compensate for these known biases, the sample data are weighted in analysis. The demographic weighting parameters are derived from a special analysis of the most recently available Census Bureau’s March 2009 Annual Social and Economic Supple­ment. This analysis produces population parameters for the demographic characteristics of adults age 18 or older. These parameters are then compared with the sample characteristics to construct sample weights. The weights are derived using an iterative technique that simultaneously balances the distribu­tion of all weighting parameters.

Following is the full disposition of all sampled telephone numbers:

Topline

The topline is available to download as a PDF here. You can also explore the questions online on the report overview page.

An Excel spreadsheet with the specific data behind the charts in the report is available for download here.