Introduction to the NLSY97 Created Variable Appendices

The main file NLSY97 data set contains a number of created variables. These created variables will be included on each public release of the NLSY97. With very few exceptions, these variables are either commonly used items that are derived from a number of different NLSY97 survey questions or longitudinal items that require updating in each round. If they were not provided, creating either the longitudinal or the cross-sectional variables might present difficulties for some NLSY97 users. In general, the created variables present information in five topical areas: Education, Employment, Family Background, Geographic Information, and Income and Assets.

Here is a list of the appendices included in the NLSY97 Codebook Supplement:

• Appendix 1: Education Variable Creation
• Appendix 2: Employment Variable Creation
• Appendix 3: Family Background and Formation Variable Creation
• Appendix 4: Geographic Variable Creation
• Appendix 5: Income and Assets Variable Creation
• Appendix 6: Event History Creation and Documentation
• Appendix 7: Continuous Month Scheme and Crosswalk
• Appendix 8: Instrument Rosters
• Appendix 9: Family Process and Adolescent Outcome Measures
• Appendix 10: CAT-ASVAB Scores
• Appendix 11: Collection of the Transcript Data

The first five appendices present SAS statistical programs that were used to create the NLSY97 variables. In the interest of space, five created variables were not included in these appendices: CV_INTERVIEW_CMONTH, CV_INTERVIEW_DATE, CV_AGE_INT_DATE, CV_AGE(MONTHS)_INT_DATE, and CVC_RND. These variables are either directly picked up from the data set or relatively easy to compute. In the case of CV_INTERVIEW_CMONTH and CV_AGE(MONTHS)_INT_DATE, a simple formula of {([variable year-1980]*12)+variable month} was used to translate the dates into a continuous month scheme (see Appendix 7 for a further explanation of the continuous month scheme). CVC_RND simply indicates the round in which the respondent was last interviewed; this is the round which is represented in CVC variables for that respondent (except when noted on the codebook page of a CVC variable).

Appendices 6 and 7 provide detailed information about the creation of the event history variables, a special set of variables included with the main data set. Although programs are not reproduced here, the text of Appendix 6 describes the various status arrays available and discusses the creation and editing process. Appendix 7 explains the continuous month and continuous week systems used in the creation of event history variables and provides a crosswalk of continuous month/week and actual dates so that researchers can associate event history variables with other information about the respondents.

Appendix 8 describes the construction of "rosters" during the administration of the interview. Combined with the created variables, these organized lists are often the best source of information about a respondent's household, jobs, family, and schooling.

Appendix 9 provides information about the creation of various measures relating to adolescent family life and outcomes. These special variables were created by Child Trends, Inc. and are available for rounds 1-4.

Appendices 10 and 11 describe the variables created from two special data collections: the administration of the computer-adaptive version of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and the Transcript Survey, which gathered transcripts from high schools attended by selected NLSY97 respondents. Providing additional information about the educational experiences, abilities, and aptitudes of NLSY97 respondents, these data collections required specialized coding and variable creation procedures.