Errata for 2016 Child/Young Adult Release

Newest Errata

Note about sampling weights

POSTED 10/7/2019

The NLSY79 Child and Young Adult 1994-2016 data set includes revisions to several Young Adult sampling weights as well as the replacement of two revised Child sampling weights.

Young Adult sampling weights

Beginning in 2010, young adults over age 30 are only interviewed every four years. The interviewed sample is selected by age as of December 31 of the survey year, so that approximately half of the older young adults are eligible each round. Since 2010, young adults age 31-32, 35-36, 39-40, 43-44, etc. as of December 31 of the target year have not be fielded.

The algorithm creating the round-specific sampling weights did not adequately account for this change in fielding, leading older YAs in the age groups that were fielded (33-34, 37-38, 41-42, etc.) to receive disproportionately high weights. The algorithm has been readjusted and the round-specific sampling weights for the interviewed YAs over age 30 have been replaced in the following variables:

• Y26159.00    [YA10WEIGHT]
• Y29663.00    [YA12WEIGHT]
• Y33318.00    [YA14WEIGHT]

Child sampling weights

An error in the code creating the revised round-specific sampling weights that were released in 2002 led to the 1986 and 1988 Child Sampling weights to be incorrectly calculated. The following weights have been replaced for all affected children:

• C05812.01 [CSAMWT1986_REV]
• C08007.01 [CSAMWT1988_REV]

Other Errata

Incorrect codebook notes

POSTED 9/24/2019

The codebook notes on the following variables should read “2 IMPLIED DECIMALS."

Uncorrectable data errors

Round 22 (2006) NLSY79 Young Adult

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 skip patterns surrounding these questions. The affected questions, which will show a higher than expected level of missing values, are as follows: