Errata for 2008 Child/Young Adult Release

The Investigator contains the most recent release of each NLS cohort. Known problems with the current release of the Child-Young Adult are found below. Corrections have been made to items noted in the Errata of prior releases. 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 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 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Release

1) ERRATA 2010 (10/15/2010) NLSY79 Child 1986-2008

The following 2008 Temperament subscores (affecting 5 child cases) were inadvertently omitted from the R23-2008 public data release:

2) BPI scores based on trichotomous inputs

In the 1994-2008 NLSY79 Child survey rounds, users are provided with an alternative set of BPI scores based on trichotomous inputs. A set of comparable scores for 1986-1992 is now available.

NLSY79 CHILD, Behavior Problems Index (BPI): Revised Scores for 1986-1992

Each file in this series contains a set of Behavior Problems Index scores that are based on
the non-collapsed BPI items administered for children 4 or older in 1986-1992. As opposed to 
the BPI scores currently available on the public release of the NLSY Child data, the scores 
in these files are computed using the trichotomous item inputs from the Mother Supplement.
 SAS                       Description
 Varname   
           
 BPTOTR86     BPI total raw score, trichotomous items 86
 BPTOTP86     BPI total percentile score, trichotomous items 86
 BPTOTS86     BPI total standard score, trichotomous items 86
 BPEXTR86     BPI externalizing raw score, trichotomous items 86
 BPEXTP86     BPI externalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 86
 BPEXTS86     BPI externalizing standard score, trichotomous items 86
 BPINTR86     BPI internalizing raw score, trichotomous items 86
 BPINTP86     BPI internalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 86
 BPINTS86     BPI internalizing standard score, trichotomous items 86
              
 BPTOTR88     BPI total raw score, trichotomous items 88
 BPTOTP88     BPI total percentile score, trichotomous items 88
 BPTOTS88     BPI total standard score, trichotomous items 88
 BPEXTR88     BPI externalizing raw score, trichotomous items 88
 BPEXTP88     BPI externalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 88
 BPEXTS88     BPI externalizing standard score, trichotomous items 88
 BPINTR88     BPI internalizing raw score, trichotomous items 88
 BPINTP88     BPI internalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 88
 BPINTS88     BPI internalizing standard score, trichotomous items 88
              
 BPTOTR90     BPI total raw score, trichotomous items 90
 BPTOTP90     BPI total percentile score, trichotomous items 90
 BPTOTS90     BPI total standard score, trichotomous items 90
 BPEXTR90     BPI externalizing raw score, trichotomous items 90
 BPEXTP90     BPI externalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 90
 BPEXTS90     BPI externalizing standard score, trichotomous items 90
 BPINTR90     BPI internalizing raw score, trichotomous items 90
 BPINTP90     BPI internalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 90
 BPINTS90     BPI internalizing standard score, trichotomous items 90
              
 BPTOTR92     BPI total raw score, trichotomous items 92
 BPTOTP92     BPI total percentile score, trichotomous items 92
 BPTOTS92     BPI total standard score, trichotomous items 92
 BPEXTR92     BPI externalizing raw score, trichotomous items 92
 BPEXTP92     BPI externalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 92
 BPEXTS92     BPI externalizing standard score, trichotomous items 92
 BPINTR92     BPI internalizing raw score, trichotomous items 92
 BPINTP92     BPI internalizing percentile score, trichotomous items 92
 BPINTS92     BPI internalizing standard score, trichotomous items 92

                Behavior Problems Index (BPI): Revised Scores for 1986-1992
                                   File Record Layout
********************************************************************************************
Here is the record layout for the 4 BPI files containing revised scores based
on non-trichotomized item inputs:
filename data1 'bpirev86.dat' lrecl=43;
filename data2 'bpirev88.dat' lrecl=43;
filename data3 'bpirev90.dat' lrecl=43;
filename data4 'bpirev92.dat' lrecl=43;
****************************************************************************
 infile data1;
   input  @1 (childid) (7.)
          @8 (BPTOTR86 BPTOTP86 BPTOTS86 
              BPEXTR86 BPEXTP86 BPEXTS86
              BPINTR86 BPINTP86 BPINTS86) (4.);
NOTE: The infile data1 is:
      File Name=bpirev86.dat,
      The minimum record length is 43.
      The data set has 4971 observations and 10 variables.
****************************************************************************
 infile data2;
   input  @1 (childid) (7.)
          @8 (BPTOTR88 BPTOTP88 BPTOTS88
              BPEXTR88 BPEXTP88 BPEXTS88
              BPINTR88 BPINTP88 BPINTS88) (4.);
NOTE: The infile data2 is:
      File Name=bpirev88.dat,
      The minimum record length is 43.
      The data set has 6266 observations and 10 variables.
****************************************************************************
 infile data3;
   input  @1 (childid) (7.)
          @8 (BPTOTR90 BPTOTP90 BPTOTS90
              BPEXTR90 BPEXTP90 BPEXTS90
              BPINTR90 BPINTP90 BPINTS90) (4.);
NOTE: The infile data3 is:
      File Name=bpirev90.dat,
      The minimum record length is 43.
      The data set has 5803 observations and 10 variables.
****************************************************************************
infile data4;
  input  @1 (childid) (7.)
         @8 (BPTOTR92 BPTOTP92 BPTOTS92
             BPEXTR92 BPEXTP92 BPEXTS92
             BPINTR92 BPINTP92 BPINTS92) (4.);
NOTE: The infile data4 is:
      File Name=bpirev92.dat,
      The minimum record length is 43.
      The data set has 6509 observations and 10 variables.
		

3) Corrected Ever Married Flag and Month/Year of First Marriage for Young Adults

The algorithm used to update the NLSY79 Young Adult XRND variables for ever married and month/year of first marriage did not pick up respondents who had been living with a partner at a previous interview whom they had subsequently married by the 2008 interview. These variables have been reconstructed using an updated algorithm that incorporates these missed cases.

4) R23-2008 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Release - errata

NLSY79 Child 1986-2008: Corrected Temperament 2008 scores for Compliance and Friendliness

The following two Temperament 2008 subscores were incorrectly computed for several cases in the R23-2008 public data release:

 Updated scores for these two subscales will be in the next release.