Bach Harrison
Arizona Community Data Project
Data Sources

This Website
Data Sources for the Arizona Community Data Project
For a printable PDF version of this list, please click here. (Note: Requires Adobe Reader.)
National Data Sources:
United States Census Bureau Population Projections
Description: In order to calculate rates based on population, estimates of the populations for the state as well as each county and region were necessary. The U.S. Census Bureau provides population projections by county that serve as the basis for the rates provided through the website.
Sponsoring Organization/Source: United States Census Bureau
Data Used in Report: County population estimates
Geographic Level: state and county
Years Available: 1990-2009
Demographic Categories: NA
Limitations: These population projections are estimates only. Projections are based on census data collected every 10 years as well as estimation algorithms. Estimates are updated once a year by the U.S. Census until the next full census is conducted (e.g., 1990, 2000, 2010, etc.). Estimates for this project were matched with concurrent data (i.e., 2008 data for violent crime rates used 2008 census population data). However, because the estimates are updated once a year (including revising all of the years within that decade), the population estimates used in the Arizona Community Data Project system may differ slightly with the current estimates provided by the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.

Arizona Specific Data Sources:
Arizona Department of Education
Description: The Arizona Department of Education provides data related to substance abuse-related disciplinary actions that occur in Arizona’s schools by the type of offense committed.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Arizona Department of Education
Data Used in Report: Disciplinary actions (i.e., expulsions, transfers, and suspensions) for possession and distribution of alcohol and illegal drugs.
Geographic Level: coalition, county, state
Availability: not publicly available
Years Available: 2008/2009 academic years
Demographic Categories: none
Limitations: Information available for disciplinary actions is not representative of the problems that drugs and alcohol cause on school campuses. Rather, it is a measure of the administrative response to these substances as they are discovered on campuses. Pairing AYS consumption data with the disciplinary data may provide a more comprehensive picture than using either data source alone.

Arizona Department of Health Services, Health Status and Vital Statistics
Description: The Arizona Health Status and Vital Statistics Report is an annual compilation of data for various vital events, including mortality, diseases, hospital inpatient discharges and Emergency Department visits, marriages and dissolutions of marriage; these data are broken down by gender, race/ethnicity, age, and county of residence.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Health Status and Vital Statistics Section of the Bureau of Public Health Statistics, Arizona Department of Health Services
Data Used in Report: Drug and alcohol related mortality, Emergency department visits for alcohol and drug related diagnoses
Geographic Level: coalition, county, state
Years Available: 2000-2008
Demographic Categories: gender, age, race/ethnicity

Arizona Department of Health Services, Treatment Capacity Database
Description: The Arizona Department of Health Services, Treatment Capacity Database is an annual compilation of data that provides basic counts for the number of substance abuse treatment facilities by type. These data are helpful in assessing a geographic area’s capacity to provide substance abuse treatment services to those in need of such treatment.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Arizona Department of Health Services, Division of Behavioral Health Services
Data Used on the Website: Outpatient clinics, specialty providers, residential substance abuse beds, detox inpatient beds, detox sub-acute beds, and stabilization services are available for adults. General outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential substance abuse facilities are available for youth.
Geographic Level: coalition, county, Geographic Service Area, state
Years Available: 2008-2009
Demographic Categories: none
Availability: not publicly available

Arizona Department of Health Services, Treatment Facility Database
Description: The Arizona Department of Health Services, Treatment Facility Database is an annual list of treatment facility locations by type of services offered. These data provide a helpful resource list for locating specific types of treatment facilities in a specific geographic area. These data can also be used in conjunction with consumption severity and population size to determine the need for increasing the number of treatment facilities in a specific area.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Arizona Department of Health Services, Division of Behavioral Health Services
Data Used on the Website: Outpatient clinics (2008), residential clinics (2009), detox inpatient clinics (2009) are available for adults. General outpatient, intensive outpatient, and residential substance abuse facilities are available for youth (2009)
Geographic Level: By specific address location
Years Available: 2008-2009
Demographic Categories: none
Availability: not publicly available

Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts
Description: Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts is an annual report of the motor vehicle crashes occurring in the state of Arizona. The information contained in the report comes from Traffic Accident Reports submitted by state, county, city, tribal, and other law enforcement agencies.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT)
Data Used in Report: Fatal alcohol related crashes, alcohol related crashes resulting in injury
Geographic Level: city, county, state
Years Available: 2005-2008
Demographic Categories: none; gender, age, race/ethnicity may be available at the state level from the source website
Limitations: Numbers and rates provided in the Arizona Motor Vehicle Crash Facts reports cannot be directly compared to national or state estimates provided through the national FARS database. This is due to different counting methods utilized by the state and the national systems. Counts for previous years are modified by current data. Therefore data presented for a given year may change in subsequent years. The method for counting alcohol related crashes was made more inclusive in 2007 to include crashes where a pedestrian or cyclist who had consumed alcohol involved in a crash were considered alcohol related. Comparisons with previous years should take this into consideration.

Arizona Youth Survey (AYS)
Description: AYS is designed to assess student’s involvement in a specific set of problem behaviors, as well as exposure to a set of risk and protective (i.e., contextual) factors. Surveys are administered to 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students every other year to more than 50,000 students enrolled in public school. In 2008, 54,734 students were included in the survey. The survey is designed to build an understanding of substance use priorities in Arizona communities.
Sponsoring Organization/Source: Arizona Criminal Justice Commission
Data Used in Report: Youth 30 day substance use, youth lifetime substance use, average age of 1st substance use, where youth obtained alcohol, consequences of substance use, risk and protective factors related to substance use.
Geographic Level: coalition, county, state
Years Available: 2002-2008 (biennially)
Demographic Categories: grade, gender, race, ethnicity
Limitations: Sample sizes and responses rates vary across coalition areas and counties. As a result some data are not available or must be interpreted with caution when response rates are too low – these data are marked with an * to indicate low sample size. Other data may not be available for all years and is marked with an n/a to indicate this. As with other survey data presented in this epidemiological profile report, the AYS is subject to potential bias due to the self-report nature of the data.

Crime in Arizona Reports
Description: Crime in Arizona is an annual report that includes a summary of state crime data (e.g., the relative occurrence of crimes in Arizona, violent crime summary, property crime summary, total arrest summary); data on index crimes committed in Arizona (i.e., murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson); index crimes and arrests by county; state arrest data (by age group, race and ethnic origin, age, gender, and by juvenile or adult status of the offender); assaults on officers; and bias crimes. According to the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, property crimes are partially attributable to illegal drug consumption, and violent crimes are partially attributable to alcohol consumption.
Sponsoring Organization/Agency: Access Integrity Unit of the Arizona Department of Public Safety (ADPS)
Data Used in Report: Index of reported property crimes, index of reported violent crimes
Geographic Level: city, county, state (for offense data); county, state (arrest data)
Years Available: 2006-2008
Demographic Categories: youth and adult for arrest data only
Limitations: The number of reported crimes inevitably underestimates the number of actual crimes given that not all crimes get reported.