Older Men cohort
Marital status
Questions on marital status have been asked of respondents in each survey year, except for the 1968 mail survey. In general, the resulting 'Marital Status' variable includes six coding categories: married--spouse present, married--spouse absent, widowed, divorced, separated, and never married. In some years, the raw variable contains only five categories (combining married--spouse present and married--spouse absent). Researchers are encouraged to use the revised marital status variables available for these years; these revised variables provide a six-category distribution comparable to other years.
A single question in 1990 assessed the sample person's attitude about his marriage. This interview asked the respondent whether he thought of himself and his wife as "two separate people" or "a couple."
Marital transitions
Limited marital transition information was collected in the later Older Men surveys. In 1976, the respondent reported the date of his first marriage and, if applicable, the date he was widowed or divorced. In 1981, the survey first asked if the respondent had been married more than once. He then provided the dates of his first and most recent marriage, as well as the date he was most recently divorced or widowed. The 1990 interview of sample persons was the same as the 1981 survey, except that the date of first marriage question was dropped. All of the marital history variables can be located in the data set by searching for the phrase "Marital Status & Background."
In 1990, if the widow of a deceased sample person was interviewed, she was asked to report the marital status of the respondent at the time of his death (e.g., whether she and the sample person were married, divorced, separated, etc.), as well as the year she and the sample person were first married.
Characteristics of the respondent's spouse
Information on the respondent's spouse was collected in the household roster during all interviews except the 1968 mail survey; these data are described in detail in the Household Composition section. In several of the early surveys, created variables are available that summarize the information on respondents' wives collected in the household record so that researchers do not need to sort through the roster data. In addition, the 1981 survey included a special set of questions about the work experience of the respondent's wife. Data collected include whether the wife had ever worked; the start and stop years, industry, and occupation of her longest job; whether she had worked in the previous 12 months; her plans for retirement; and whether she expected to receive retirement income from Social Security or an employer pension.
A large amount of information is available for widows of Older Men respondents interviewed in 1990. This questionnaire collected information about the widow's work experience, current marital status, household composition, income, assets, and residence in a long-term care facility.
Important information: Limited partner information
No specific questions on partners were asked of the Older Men; the household roster is a possible source of limited partner information. Although the list of possible relationships to the respondent on the "Household Roster" section of the questionnaire did not include "partner" in the early years, the relationship codes were revised in later years to include this category.
Children
If the respondent's children resided in his household, data were collected in the household roster section of all questionnaires except 1968 regarding their age, education, and employment. This information is described in detail in the "Household Composition" section of this guide. In 1966-75, survey staff used the information from the household record to create variables providing the total number of the respondent's children in the household; in some years, additional created variables break this total down into groups based on age, education, and employment status. A second series of questions in the 1971 interview asked about the respondent's educational expectations for the youngest son and daughter living in his household and currently enrolled in school.
Every survey except 1968 asked the respondent how many dependents he had, excluding his wife. In personal interviews, the respondent stated his relationship to dependents outside his household. An additional series of questions in the 1981 survey asked the respondent if anyone was likely to become dependent on him in the future and, if so, their relationship to him.
More limited information was gathered about children who did not live with the respondent. The initial survey asked for the total number of such children, whether each was a son or daughter, and the highest grade completed by each child. A detailed data collection in 1976 recorded information about all children outside the household in a roster format. The respondent provided each child's age and relationship to the respondent. If the child was age 16 or older, the survey collected his or her highest grade completed, labor force status in the past year, and occupation. The respondent also reported the marital status of each daughter, as well as her husband's occupation.
The 1981 and 1990 interviews collected information about the frequency of contact between the respondent and children living outside his household. In 1981, the survey first recorded the total number of children living elsewhere; the 1990 survey gathered the total number of living children, regardless of residence. Both of these interviews asked a series of questions about how often the respondent visited, called, or corresponded with his children. In 1990, the respondent also stated how long it would take the closest child to get to the respondent's residence.
| Related Variables | Data were regularly gathered regarding the health of the respondent's wife; these questions are discussed in the Health section. The Pensions, Social Security & Retirement section contains additional information about the respondent's contact with his children, as well as a description of questions asking to whom he would turn for help with a financial or emotional problem. |
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Young Men cohort
Marital status
Questions on marital status have been asked of respondents in every survey. In most years, the resulting variable uses the same six coding categories as the Older Men. The Young Men marital status variables for 1973 and 1975 contain only five categories, not differentiating married--spouse absent from married--spouse present. Additionally, a 'Marital Status and Family Status' variable, created during several early survey years, combined information about marital status and the presence of children.
Marital transitions
Marital history data were collected from the Young Men during the final four surveys of that cohort. The 1976 survey, the first to include marital history questions, recorded the total number of marriages the respondent had, the date (month and year) of his first marriage, how and when the first marriage ended, the date of his current or most recent marriage, and the date he was divorced, separated, or widowed after his most recent marriage. In 1978 and 1980, married respondents reported the date of their current marriage and respondents who were divorced, widowed, or separated provided the date that event occurred. The final survey of the Young Men recorded the dates and types of up to four changes in the respondent's marital status since the 1980 interview date (or the 1978 interview date if the respondent was not interviewed in 1980).
Characteristics of the respondent's spouse/partner
As with the Older Men, most information on the wives of Young Men was collected in the household roster. These data are described in the Household Composition section. Additionally, the 1981 interview contained a separate series of questions referring to the respondent's wife or partner. Data collected include birth date; whether the wife or partner had been enrolled in school since the 1980 interview date (or the 1978 interview date if the respondent was not interviewed in 1980); for enrolled wives and partners, the highest grade completed; weeks worked in the past 12 months; hours per week usually worked; occupation; and weeks spent looking for work. Researchers should note that the wife was not included on the household roster in 1981, so this series of questions replaces her roster data.
Important information: Review questionnaires for details
Users are urged to examine the original questionnaires to determine exact wording, context, universe, and coding categories. In addition to the differences already mentioned, there are many related variables such as marital status collected retrospectively for noninterview years and interviewer check items that use different categories than those described above. When marital transitions were updated from a midpoint of a previous year rather than from a previous interview, certain vital information may be missing. For instance, if a respondent from the Young Men cohort was interviewed in 1976, not in 1978, but was interviewed again in 1980, his marital history was updated since a specified date in 1978 (not 1976). If he was married in 1976 but divorced and remarried before 1980, his marital status would be married for both 1976 and 1980 and he would have no marital transitions recorded. His wife, however, would be a different person with different characteristics than in 1976. It is imperative to examine the questionnaires to determine exactly what information is recorded.
For surveys before 1981, the "Household Roster" is a possible additional source of partner information. Although the list of possible relationships to the respondent on the "Household Roster" section of the questionnaire did not include "partner" in the early years, the relationship codes were revised in later years to include this category.
Children
If the respondent's children resided in his household, age, education, and employment data about each were collected in the household roster section of each questionnaire. This information is discussed in the Household Composition section. In 1966, survey staff used the information from the household record to create variables providing the total number of the respondent's children in the household and the number in various age groups.
Very limited information was gathered about children who did not live with the respondent. The 1981 survey asked for the total number of children the respondent had ever had and the birth date of each child not residing in the household. Additionally, every survey asked the respondent how many dependents he had, excluding his wife. In all surveys except 1973 and 1975, the respondent stated his relationship to dependents outside his household; these answers can be used to obtain some information about the number of children supported by the respondent. The questions about dependents were not asked of respondents still living with their parents during the 1966-68 interviews.
The 1981 Young Men survey contained several questions related to fertility expectations and attitudes. The questionnaire first asked for the number of children respondents thought would be ideal and the number they wanted. After reporting how many children they had already, respondents stated how many more children they expected to have and when they expected to have their next child.
Household chores
The 1981 interview included a detailed series of questions regarding the respondent's participation in various household activities. The respondent was presented with a list of common chores (e.g., cooking, laundry, grocery shopping, household paperwork, child care) and asked whether he had none, some, about half, most, or all of the responsibility for each chore. He then stated the total number of hours per week that he spent performing household tasks.
Important information: Household chores
The series of questions on household chores was also asked of both Mature and Young Women in multiple surveys. Researchers can use these data to compare perceptions about household responsibilities across genders and generations.
| Related Variables | Information on the health of the respondent's wife was gathered in several surveys; these data are described in the Health section. |
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| Survey Instruments & Documentation | Current marital status of the respondent was generally transcribed from the updated Household Record Cards to page one of the questionnaire or to the Information Sheet. In some survey years, however, current marital status is collected in other sections of the questionnaire, such as "Health" or "Work Attitudes." The derivations of the revised versions of marital status for the Older Men are listed in the codebook. Marriage and fertility information for respondents in the Older Men cohort was collected in the "Marital History" or "Family Relationships" sections. Marital transitions and child data for the Young Men were collected in the "Marital History," "Family Members," "Family Background," or "Marital Status" questionnaire sections. |