Introduction

Official Title. National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), part of the National Longitudinal Surveys (NLS) program

Age of cohort. Born between 1957 and 1964. At the time of first interview, respondents' ages ranged from 14 to 22. The respondents were 55 to 64 at the time of their 2020 interviews (the most recent survey year).

Number of respondents in survey. 12,686 individuals initially interviewed in 1979.

Gender. 6,403 (50%) males and 6,283 (50%) females in initial survey

Race/ Ethnicity (in initial survey)

• Non-black/non-Hispanic: 7,510
• Black: 3,174
• Hispanic or Latino: 2,002

Subsample design. Three subsamples comprise the NLSY79 cohort (see variable denoted as R01736 in NLS Investigator). With a few exceptions, all members of the cross-sectional sample have been eligible for interview during each round of the NLSY79.

• a cross-sectional sample of 6,111 respondents designed to represent the noninstitutionalized civilian segment of people living in the United States in 1979 and born between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1964 (ages 14-21 as of December 31, 1978)

• a supplemental sample of 5,295 civilian Hispanic or Latino, black, and economically disadvantaged nonblack/non-Hispanic respondents living in the United States in 1979 and born between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1964

• a sample of 1,280 respondents designed to represent the population serving in one of the four branches of the U.S. military as of September 30, 1978, and born between January 1, 1957, and December 31, 1961 (ages 17-21 as of December 31, 1978)

Following the 1984 interview, 1,079 members of the military sample were no longer eligible for interview; 201 respondents randomly selected from the military sample remained in the survey. Following the 1990 interview, none of the 1,643 members of the economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic sample were eligible for interview.

Types of information gathered in survey

• Labor market behavior
• Educational experiences (high school, college, training)
• Family background (including data collected from parent in round 1)
• Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (measures knowledge and skills including reading and mathematics)
• High school information received from respondents' schools and from respondents' school transcripts
• Government program participation
• Family life (marital status, fertility, and child care)
• Health issues
• Assets and income

Table 1. NLSY79 Sample Sizes by Subsample, Race/Ethnicity & Gender

Funding Sources for the NLSY79

Funding to collect data on labor market experiences, human capital investments such as education and training, and information that affects or is affected by labor market behaviors is through the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Throughout the survey, various agencies have funded special sets of questions. Funding has been provided by several agencies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Education, and the U.S. Department of Justice. Examples of other topical areas include:

1. Military participation-Support from the Department of Defense made possible the 1979-84 interviews of 1,280 youth enlisted in the military. 
2. Vocational aptitude-The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), a study which was jointly sponsored by the Departments of Defense and Labor, was administered to the civilian and military youth samples in 1980.  
3. High school performance-Beginning in 1979, a five-year cooperative effort of the National Center for Research in Vocational Education and The Ohio State University's Center for Human Resource Research (CHRR) resulted in a survey of the high schools of civilian NLSY79 respondents and the collection of detailed transcript information on potential high school graduates.
4. Time use-In 1981, the National Institute of Education sponsored a set of time-use questions.
5. Alcohol and substance use-Funding from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and the National Institute on Drug Abuse has made possible expanded sets of alcohol and substance use questions.  
6. Department of Justice-A self-report supplement to the 1980 survey collected data on the respondent's participation in and income from various delinquent and criminal activities. 

NLSY79 Children

The child sample includes children born to female NLSY79 respondents. The child sample began in 1986, and the expanded mother-child data collection occurred biennially through 2014. Beginning in 1994, data collection was expanded to include a separate survey for children 15 and older, called the Young Adults. 

• The number of children known to have been born to NLSY79 mothers has increased from 8,336 in 1986 to 11,545 in 2018. 
• Interviews were completed during 2018 (the most recent data collection year) with 4,965 young adult children, over 80% percent of the young adult children fielded in that round.  
• 10,494, or 91% of, children ever born have at least one Child interview point, with 3, 884, or 37% of, ever assessed children having data for all possible rounds between birth and age 14.
• Of the 9,161 children ever fielded as Young Adults, 8,624 (94%) have completed at least one YA interview, and 5248 (61%) of those ever interviewed have completed every round in which they were fielded.