Parent information is collected from the responding parent in the round 1 Parent Questionnaire and in the Household Income Update in Rounds 2-5. Parent information is also collected from the youth.

Background of parent

The Parent Questionnaire (round 1) first established the responding parent's origin or descent, birth date, and place of birth. If the parent was born in the United States or a U.S. territory, a follow-up question asked for the state or territory of birth. Parents not born in the United States were questioned on their country of birth and the year they first came to live in the United States.

The public dataset includes variables on the number of parents a respondent has from a particular region of the world. These variables have PAR_ as their prefix (PAR_ASIA, PAR_EUROPE, PAR_AFRICA, and so forth). For a list of the countries assigned to each region, see NLSY97 List of Countries by Region of Parents.

The survey also collected information about the responding parent's number of siblings, the religion in which he or she was raised, and the year of birth and highest grade level completed by his or her parents (the parents' number of siblings was also asked in rounds 13 and 14 of the Youth Questionnaire). Further questions focused on whether this parent lived with both biological parents while growing up, and if not, the parent he or she did live with, the reason he or she did not live with both parents, and the ages that he or she lived apart from one or both parents. The type of community in which the responding parent lived when he or she was 14 was also gathered. The responding parent reported this same information for his or her current spouse or partner. An additional question determined the number of times the responding parent's current spouse or partner had been legally married. If the NLSY97 respondent had had contact with a nonresident biological parent since the age of 10, the same set of questions was asked about that nonresident parent.

Status of parent

The responding parent was questioned about his or her present employment status, marital status, and highest grade completed, as well as whether any language other than English was spoken at home. These data were also provided for the responding parent's spouse or partner.

Attitudes of parent

 In the self-administered section of the Parent Questionnaire (round 1), responding parents of youths born in 1982, 1983, and 1984 expressed their level of agreement with a series of statements about their attitude toward themselves. The same questions were asked of the youth respondent, as described in Attitudes. Data on the responding parent's attitude toward his or her partner or spouse and the youth's view of their relationship are also described in Attitudes.

Questions about religion were addressed to parents of youths born in 1982, 1983, and 1984. In the self-administered section of the questionnaire, these parents responded to the following statements about their religiosity:

• I don't need religion to have good values
• The Bible/Koran/Torah/religious teachings should be obeyed in every situation
• I often ask God to help me make decisions
• God has nothing to do with what happens to me personally
• I pray more than once per day

Health of parent

The NLSY97 collected information on the responding parent's and his or her current spouse's/partner's general health. Data were gathered on the presence of any long-term health problem that limited the type or amount of employment possible. The parent then reported any serious long-standing medical condition (e.g., severe heart problem, cancer, potentially life-threatening disease) since the birth of his or her oldest child. The parent's height and weight were also collected. If the NLSY97 respondent was not currently living with his or her biological parents but had been in contact with them since age 10, the responding parent was asked about the height and weight of those parents. In multiple respondent households, these questions were asked if the oldest respondent who was a child of the biological parents had had contact since age 10.

Income and assets of parent

In round 1, information was gathered on the responding parent's earnings from a job--including military service--and from a farm, business, or professional practice during the 1996 calendar year. Similar data were collected for his or her current spouse or partner. Additional questions gathered information about the combined income received from other sources by the responding parent and the spouse or partner during 1996. Sources listed were interest or dividend income, including any amount that has been reinvested or credited; child support payments; and other income. Finally, data were collected on amounts received from various government programs in 1996.

For a more comprehensive picture of the family's financial situation, the responding parent was also asked about assets and debts. The parent first stated whether the family owned or rented their dwelling (e.g., ranch or farm, mobile home, house or apartment). After determining the percentage of the dwelling and the land owned by the family, a follow-up question asked about the present value of these holdings. The survey then established whether there was a mortgage, land contract, or any other type of loan that used the property as collateral, such as a second mortgage or a home equity loan, and the amount still owed. If the family neither rented nor owned the dwelling, the living situation was determined (e.g., housing part of job compensation, temporary living arrangements while house is under repair).

Additional asset information included the amount that would be received (less any outstanding debts) if any business partnership/professional practice or any real estate, such as a second home or land, was sold. The responding parent also stated whether he or she owned each of the assets listed in Figure 1; a follow-up question ascertained the total dollar value of each asset reported. Finally, to balance information on assets, the responding parent reported the amount still owed on any vehicles, any educational loans for a child, and other debt including credit cards or bank loans.

Household income update

Surveys from rounds 2-5 included a household income update form, administered to one of the respondent's parents, which was designed to gather basic income information concerning the respondent's parent and his or her spouse/partner in the absence of a detailed parent questionnaire. All respondents who lived with a parent at the interview date were eligible to have this questionnaire administered. It collected the parent's total pre-tax income from wages, salaries, commissions, and tips during the past calendar year; the same data for the parent's spouse or partner; and the total pre-tax amount of any other income received (i.e., farm or business income, inheritances, child support, government programs). In round 2, parents of 7,601 respondents answered at least one question from the Household Income Update; parents of 5,488 respondents answered at least one question in round 3; and 5,225 parents of respondents answered at least one question in round 4. In round 5, parents of 4,090 respondents answered at least one question. The Household Income Update was not used after round 5.

Income of parents (from Youth Questionnaire)

Since the beginning round, the youth questionnaire instrument included basic questions about the income of the respondent's parents. These separately referred to the youth's biological mother, biological father, nonbiological mother, and nonbiological father as applicable. The youth was asked for that parent's total income from a job, farm, business, or professional partnership. This information, along with the parent's responses to the Household Income Update, may allow researchers to compare a youth's perception of parental income with the amount the parent reports. The round 1 youth income section universe was determined by independence criteria. Starting in round 10, the parent income questions were asked only if the respondent was under 25.

Employment of parent

The round 1 NLSY97 collected a history of the responding parent's spells of employment since the parent's 18th birthday or the youth's date of birth, whichever was earlier. In this context, a spell was defined as three or more months of employment without a break of six or more months, regardless of employer. After establishing the start and stop dates for each spell, the responding parent reported the usual number of hours worked per week during each spell. The responding parent also provided work history information for each spouse who lived with the oldest NLSY97 youth during his or her marriage to the responding parent. The survey collected information on whether the spouse was working at the time of the marriage or for a period of three consecutive months or more during the marriage. If these conditions were met, the responding parent provided information on the spouse's spells of employment and the average number of hours per week worked during each spell.

Marital history of parent

Questions on the responding parent's marital history collected information on the length of each of the responding parent's marriages. In addition, the survey gathered data on any changes in the marital status (e.g., legal separation) during each marriage.

Program participation

A series of questions recorded the number of years during the previous five years that a responding parent participated in various government programs targeting low income households (e.g., AFDC or ADC, SSI, WIC).

Grandparent information (from Youth Questionnaire)

In rounds 10 through 13, information was gathered on the state and country of the respondent's maternal and paternal grandparents.

Parent health and mortality (from Youth Questionnaire)

In the Health Age 29 section in rounds 13 and up, respondents who had reached the age of at least 29 were asked if their biological mother and father were still alive. If either parent had passed away, respondents provided the parent's cause of death and parent's age at death. Respondents were also asked a series of questions about their family's health history, in which they indicated whether either of their biological parents (or siblings) had ever been diagnosed with diabetes, asthma, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a stroke. If respondents said "yes" to a family member having diabetes, additional information was gathered, including number of siblings who had diabetes, number of mother's and father's immediate relatives who had diabetes, and if a doctor had told the respondent he/she had a higher risk of diabetes due to genetics.

Parental military service, business ownership, andincarceration (from Youth Questionnaire)

In round 16 (or in rounds 17 or 18 if not interviewed in round 16), respondents answered general questions about whether their mother or father had served in the military, owned a business (with either at least one employee or located outside the household residence), or served a prison sentence before respondent turned 16.