NLSY79 Children

• Child
• Young Adult

Child

Friends and dating. From 1988 to 2014, children aged 10 and older were asked about their friendships, whether they felt lonely, and how much pressure they felt from friends to engage in anti-social behavior. These questions can be found in the CHILD SELF-ADMINISTERED SUPPLEMENT area of interest.

Data on respondents' usual earnings (inclusive of  tips, overtime, and bonuses but before deductions) have been collected during every Young Adult survey year for each employer for whom the respondent worked more than two weeks and more than 9 hours a week since the last interview date. The amount of earnings, reported in dollars and cents, is coupled with information on the applicable unit of time, such as per day, per hour, per week, or per year.

Since 2000, information has been collected on all jobs held since either the date of the last interview or January 1, 1994, whichever is more recent. From 1994 through 1998, the reference date for collecting job information was set to January 1 of the year preceding the fielding year. For respondents aging up as first-time young adults, their mother's date of last interview is used. Respondents are asked for the start and stop dates for all employers.

The Young Adult survey has routinely collected information on the occupation of respondents' jobs since last interview, most recent job if none since the date of last interview, and the first job held out of high school, as well as what occupation each certificate, license or journeyman's card was for. In addition to this respondent-specific information, data on occupations are also available for the spouse/partner and the father of the respondent.

Prior to 2000, the Current Labor Force Status (CPS) questions in the Young Adult were very similar to those asked of the NLSY79 main Youth, as Young Adults not currently serving in the active military were asked about work activities during the last week. The survey determined if the respondent did any work for pay or profit, or unpaid work in a family business or farm.

Verbatim responses to questions such as "What kind of business or industry is this?  What do they make or do?" have been recorded within the Young Adult questionnaire in the Employer Supplements during each year's survey. These verbatims are then coded into various versions of the Census Bureau's industrial classification system which consists of 14 industry groups, representing more than 19,000 industries.

Young Adult respondents provide the number of hours they usually work for each job reported, as well as the number of hours their spouse/partner usually worked per week at all jobs in the past 12 months.

Shift and Times Worked 

Between-Job Gaps

Young Adult respondents provide dates for the beginning and ending of each job reported in a survey round or carried over from a previous round. From 1994 through 1998, the Young Adult survey included a section called "Gaps When Not Working or in Military." Respondents were asked the main reason they did not work during any gaps in employment: on strike, on layoff, quit job but returned to same employer, job ended for a period of time but began again, or some other reason.