Richard A. Miech, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, Monitoring the Future Main Study

Research Professor, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research

Principal Investigator of the MTF Main study, which includes school sampling and recruiting, in-school surveys, and analyses of both the in-school and panel data (he is also co-investigator on the MTF Panel study). He is a Research Professor at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. He received his Ph.D. degree in Sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a MPH degree from Johns Hopkins University. His work focuses on trends in substance use, with an emphasis on disentangling how these trends vary by age, historical period, and birth cohort membership. Other research interests include the rapid growth of vaping in recent years and its long term consequences, as well as the effects of recreational marijuana laws on adolescent substance use.

Recent Publications

Mason, T. B., Leventhal, A. M., Harlow, A. F., Han, D. H., Cho, J. Meza, L., Miech, R. A., & Bae, D. (2026). Trends in weight status and e-cigarette use among U.S. youth from 2017 to 2023. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2026.108335

Han, D. H., Rahman, T., Miech, R. A., Harlow, A. F., Dai, H. D., Cho, J., Sussman, S. Y., Sanchez, L. M., Meza, L. R., & Leventhal, A. M. (2026). Association of tobacco and other substance use with nicotine pouch awareness and use in US adolescents. Drug and alcohol dependence, 279, 113016. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2025.113016

Miech R. A. (2026). The Intensity of Adolescent Substance Use Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic. American journal of preventive medicine, 70(4), 108166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2025.108166

Masonbrink, A. R., Bae, D., Cho, J., Miech, R. A., Dai, H. D., Harlow, A. F., Sussman, S., Han, D. H., Sanchez, L. M., Adjei, A., Meza, L. R., Li, M., & Leventhal, A. M. (2025). Trends in Daily Nicotine Vaping and Unsuccessful Quit Attempts in Youths. JAMA network open, 8(11), e2541061. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.41061

Miech, R., Patrick, M. E., & Leventhal, A. M. (2025). Trends in U.S. Adolescent Use of Vaping and Flavored Solutions for Marijuana Consumption, 2021-2024. The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine, 77(5), 924–930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2025.07.004