The Investigator contains the most recent release of each NLS cohort with corrections made to items noted in the Errata of prior releases. Known problems with the current release of the NLSY79 are found below. Users are urged to access the NLS cohorts through the Investigator, if they are not already doing so. For further questions, please contact NLS User Services.
Important note: NLSY urban/rural residence variable
Users are cautioned that we have discovered an error in the NLSY urban/rural residence variable. This error affects variables in the following rounds:
- NLSY79: rounds 21-22 (2004-2006)
- NLSY79 young adult: rounds 21-22 (2004-2006)
The NLSY97 urban/rural variables for rounds 8-11 will be corrected on the next public data release, scheduled for July 2010. The revised NLSY79 urban/rural variables will be released on this errata page as soon as they are created. We suggest that researchers using this variable obtain the revised data before concluding their research.
The error stems from a change in the Census Bureau's definition of an urban area. The 1990 Census criteria used in creating the NLSY urban/rural residence variable used the population of a place to determine the correct classification. People who lived in urbanized areas or places with a population of 2,500 or more were considered urban; everyone else was rural. The 2000 Census criteria changed the method of determining whether a particular point was urban or rural to one that relied on population density within an area. Areas of higher population density are called Urbanized Areas (UA) and Urban Clusters (UC). Residence in either is now considered urban.
From 2003 (the first year the new definition could be implemented), the NLS geocoders used a hybrid approach that considered respondents living in either an Urbanized Area (but NOT an Urban Cluster) or a place with a population of 2,500 or more to be urban. Otherwise the code is rural. A preliminary estimate of the differences between using this hybrid code and the 2000 Census definition indicates that 6% to 7% of respondents may be affected.
The Census Bureau website provides additional explanation about the Difference Between Urbanized Area Criteria from the 1990 Census and Census 2000.
R23-2008 Young Adult Release
The current data release for the NLSY79 Child data through 2006 and Young Adult data through 2008 has a systematic error in the codebook pages. A child who had previously been included in the database was determined to be a nonbiological child and removed from the database. The codebook, however, still has this child reflected in the counts but as missing on all variables, including C00001.00. When the codebook is rerun for the final release of the Child 2008 data, this anomaly will no longer be present in the codebook.
R22-2006 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Release
An error in the construction of the information sheet flag indicating whether or not the father of the respondent is deceased led respondents whose last Young Adult interview was in 2004 to have this flag indicate incorrectly that their father was deceased. These respondents were subsequently skipped over questions concerning their contact with and closeness to their fathers. Users should note that respondents who were first-time Young adults in 2006 were unaffected by this problem and were branched correctly into questions concerning their biological fathers, as were older Young Adults who were noninterviews in 2004 but interviewed in 2006. Users should also note that some of the affected questions would only have been asked of respondents under age 21; users are encouraged to consult the questionnaire to determine ship patterns surrounding these questions. The affected questions, which will show a higher than expected level of missing values, are as follows:
| Question | Variable Title |
| Q2-26 | IS FATHER OF R LIVING AT THIS TIME? |
| Q2-28 | DO MOTHER AND FATHER OF R LIVE IN SAME HOUSEHOLD? |
| Q2-29 | WHEN DID R LAST LIVE WITH FATHER? |
| Q2-29A | TIME UNIT OF WHEN R LAST LIVED WITH FATHER |
| Q2-29B | LEFT HOUSEHOLD BEFORE BORN/NEVER LIVED WITH US |
| Q2-31 | HOW LONG AGO DID FATHER LEAVE HOUSEHOLD OF R? |
| Q2-31A | HOW LONG AGO DID FATHER LEAVE HOUSEHOLD OF MOTHER? |
| Q2-31B | TIME UNIT FOR HOW LONG AGO FATHER LEFT HOUSEHOLD OF R/MOTHER |
| Q2-33 | DID FATHER WORK FOR PAY ALL OF 2005, PART, OR NOT AT ALL? |
| FATHOCC | OCCUPATION OF FATHER AT LONGEST JOB (CENSUS 3 DIGIT) [not in preliminary release] |
| Q2-33C | DID FATHER WORK > 35 HOURS PER WEEK AT MOST RECENT JOB IN WEEKS WORKED |
| Q2-33CC | DID FATHER WORK > 35 HOURS PER WEEK AT MOST RECENT JOB WHEN HE LAST WORKED |
| Q2-34 | HIGHEST GRADE COMPLETED BY FATHER |
| Q2-34A | NUMBER OF MILES R LIVES AWAY FROM BIOLOGICAL FATHER |
| Q2-35 | HOW OFTEN R SEES FATHER |
| Q2-35A | HOW OFTEN HAS R HAD CONTACT WITH FATHER IN PAST YEAR |
| YASR-4D | HOW CLOSE DOES R FEEL TO FATHER? |
R22-2006 NLSY79 Child: Errata/Documentation Update
1) NLSY79 Child HOME recode items for ages 6-9 and 10-14
The documentation for items HOME-C09, HOME-C10, HOME-D08, and HOME-D09 is listed incorrectly in Appendices A-2c & A-2d of the NLSY79 Child Young Adult Data Users Guide. The correct recoding of values for these items appears below:
| Q Name | Scale | Question Text | Recode to 1 | Recode to 0 |
| HOME-C09 | C | How often has a family member taken or arranged to take child to any type of museum? | 2-5 | 1 |
| HOME-C10 | C | How often has a family member taken or arranged to take child to any type of musical or theatrical performance within the past year? | 2-5 | 1 |
| HOME-D08 | C | How often has any family member taken or arranged to take child to any type of museum? | 2-5 | 1 |
| HOME-D08 | C | How often has a family member taken or arranged to take child to any type of musical or theatrical performance within the past year? | 2-5 | 1 |
2) Appendix B in the 2004 and 2006 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides
Appendix B in the 2004 and 2006 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides does not specify the precise question names of the items that comprise the Sociability scale for survey years 1986-1998. In the 1986-1992 survey years, the questions are named according to deck and column from the paper questionnaires. From 1994-1998, the naming convention for these three items is as follows: CSYYEV-1A, CSYYEV-1B, CSYYEV-1C, where "YY" refers to the survey year. The correctly documented items for 1986-1998 are as follows:
Appendix B. Temperament Scales - Sociability: Qnames for 1986-1998
Attitude: C0525200 CS863131 CHILD'S ATTITUDE 1986 C0715300 CS883330 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1988 C0926000 CS906021 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1990 C1115500 CS926135 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1992 C1222900 CS94EV-1A TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1994 C1539800 CS96EV-1A TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1996 C1784900 CS98EV-1A TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1998 Rapport: C0525300 CS863132 CHILD'S RAPPORT 1986 C0715400 CS883331 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1988 C0926100 CS906023 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1990 C1115600 CS926137 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1992 C1223000 CS94EV-1B TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1994 C1539900 CS96EV-1B TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1996 C1785000 CS98EV-1B TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1998 Cooperation: C0525500 CS863134 CHILD'S COOPERATION 1986 C0715600 CS883333 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1988 C0926300 CS906027 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1990 C1115800 CS926141 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1992 C1223200 CS94EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1994 C1540100 CS96EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1996 C1785200 CS98EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1998
Appendix B in the 2000 and 2002 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides incorrectly specifies "perseverance" (instead of "cooperation") as an item in the composition of the Temperament "sociability" subscale. The following “cooperation” item (documented with the Child question names and reference #s for each survey year) is part of the Sociability scale, not the perseverance item:
Cooperation (NOT perseverance): C0525500 CS863134 CHILD'S COOPERATION 1986 C0715600 CS883333 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1988 C0926300 CS906027 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1990 C1115800 CS926141 TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1992 C1223200 CS94EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1994 C1540100 CS96EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1996 C1785200 CS98EV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1998 C2295800 CSEV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2000 C2575100 CSEV-1D TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2002
Please note that Appendix B in the Child/Young Adult Data Users Guide after 2002 correctly specifies the composition of the sociability scale. NLSY79 Child/YA guides prior to 2000 did not contain this appendix.