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National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult (NLSCYA)

Introduction

The NLSY79 Child surveys contain a wide range of detailed assessment information about the children of female respondents. Beginning in 1986, a battery of child cognitive, socio-emotional, and physiological assessments has been administered biennially for age-appropriate children. Many of the assessments, and much of the supplemental information about each child, have been based on reports from the child's mother. These reports include child demographic and family background characteristics, health history (both pre- and postnatal), and information on the child's home environment, including maternal emotional and verbal responsiveness and involvement with her child. Direct assessment of the children through the Child Supplement was done from 1986 to 2014. Mother-based child assessments, collected through the Mother Supplement, were completed from 1986 to 2016. Each of the child assessment measures is discussed in detail in this and the following sections.

Starting with the 1994 survey, children ages 15 and older were no longer assessed, but instead complete an interview modeled on the NLSY79 main Youth questionnaire administered to their mothers. Users are reminded that, while young adults are no longer administered the child instruments, they possess a child history represented in the child data file. Data obtained in the surveys during the time the young adult children were under age 15 are included as part of the child files and documented in such areas of interest as CHILD BACKGROUND and ASSESSMENT for each survey year. Most young adults have at least one survey round in which they were assessed as a child. See Tables 2a-c in the Retention section for the distribution of the number of child interviews for the NLSY79 Young Adults.

Note that beginning with the 2016 survey round, the children ages 12 to 14 have been included in the Young Adult fielding. Young Adults aged 14 complete the same set of items as 15 and 16 year olds. The 12 and 13 year olds, however, answer a more limited number of questions which include several items from the Child Self-Administered Supplement as well as the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) from the Child Supplement.

What assessments are used and when?

The assessments used in the Child surveys were selected on the basis of their validity, reliability, and suitability for use in a large-scale household survey. The selection was designed to accommodate a range of child ages and a broad spectrum of dimensions in the child's development. In the following section, information is presented on the nature of each assessment and how each one is administered and scored. Issues essential to using the assessment data are highlighted. The following assessments, listed here and then discussed in detail (in separate sections), have been used in the Child surveys:

  1. The HOME-Short Form - items from the HOME (Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment) Inventory, developed by Bradley and Caldwell, designed to measure the nature and quality of the child's home environment from birth to adolescence. This assessment was not administered after 2014.
  2. How My Child Usually Acts/Temperament - items from Rothbart's Infant Behavior Questionnaire, Kagan's Compliance Scale and other items from Campos, which combine to form a set of maternal-report scales measuring temperament or behavioral style over the past two-week period for each child under age seven. The final year of administration for this assessment was 2016; some components ended earlier (see table 1 in this introduction).
  3. Motor and Social Development (MSD) - items drawn from Poe, Bayley, Gesell, and the Denver Developmental Screening Test, which measure motor-social-cognitive development for children under age four. The MSD was not administered in 2004 or after 2016.
  4. Behavior Problems Index (BPI) - items from Zill and Peterson's adaptation of the Child Behavior Checklist, developed by Achenbach and Edelbrock, which elicit mother ratings of children four years of age or older in such areas of problem behavior as hyperactivity, anxiety, dependency, aggressiveness, and peer conflict. This assessment was not administered after 2016.
  5. Parts of the Body - ten items, developed by Kagan, that measure the ability of children aged one or two to identify various parts of their bodies. This assessment was not administered after 1988.
  6. Memory for Locations - an assessment, developed by Kagan, that measures the ability of children eight months of age through three years to remember the location of an object which is subsequently hidden from view. This assessment was not used after 1988.
  7. Verbal Memory - a subtest of the McCarthy Scales of Children's Abilities (Psychological Corporation) that assesses short-term verbal memory of children aged three through six years to remember words, sentences, or major concepts from a short story. Part C, the story, was not used after the 1990 survey. This assessment was not administered after 1994.
  8. What I Am Like/Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) - two scales from Harter's Self Perception Profile for Children that measure perceived self-competence in the academic skill domain and sense of general self-worth for children aged eight and above (12 and above beginning in 1996). Starting in 2016, this assessment is administered as part of the Young Adult survey for Young Adults ages 12 and 13.
  9. Memory for Digit Span - a component of the revised Wechsler Intelligence Scales for Children (Psychological Corporation) which assesses the ability of children seven through eleven years of age to remember and repeat numbers sequentially in forward and reverse order. This assessment was not administered after 2014.
  10. Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) Math - (American Guidance Service), a PIAT subtest that offers a wide-range measure of achievement in mathematics for children ages five or older. This assessment was not administered after 2014.
  11. PIAT Reading Recognition and Reading Comprehension - (American Guidance Service), PIAT subtests that assess the attained reading knowledge and comprehension of children with a PPVT age of five and older. This assessment was not administered after 2014.
  12. The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R), Form L - (American Guidance Service), a wide-range test used to measure the hearing vocabulary knowledge of children ages three and above. Administered to children age 4 and 5 or 10 and 11 starting with the 1996 survey round. This assessment was not administered after 2014.

Changes in the child assessments

Over time there have been changes in the administration of various assessments in the Child surveys. Details on changes in the content, administration, or scoring of particular assessments are discussed in the appropriate assessment-specific sections below. Two assessments, Memory for Location and Body Parts, were administered in 1986 and 1988, but have since been deleted from the data collection effort due to funding constraints. However, the 1986 and 1988 individual items and scores for these two assessments remain in the data file and are available to users.

Not all assessments are fielded in each child survey year. In some instances, assessments are administered only to children for whom no valid score has been obtained during a previous survey.

  • Child Index Group. In 1988 a procedure was introduced by which children ages 10 or 11 were designated to complete any assessment for which they were age-eligible in order to establish a representative index group for future analyses.
  • SPPC age. Starting in 1996, the Self-Perception Profile (What I Am Like) is only administered to children ages 12 and over. Starting in 2016, the SPPC is administered to Young Adults ages 12 and 13.
  • Verbal Memory. The McCarthy Verbal Memory Subscale was administered for the final time in 1994.
  • MSD in 2002 & 2004. In 2002 very young children were not administered assessments, which means that Motor and Social Development scores were not generated for children under age 2 years in 2002. In 2004, Motor and Social Development (previously completed for children ages 0-3 years in the 1986-2000 surveys and 2-3 years old in 2002) was not administered.
  • Temperament age. The minimum age in 2004 for the completion of the Temperament (What My Child is Like) assessment was 3 years. In survey years 1986-2000, mothers completed the Temperament scales for children 0-6 years and ages 2-6 years in 2002.
  • Young Adult eligibility. Beginning with the 2016 survey round, the Child Supplement was not fielded, and children ages 12 to 14 were included in the Young Adult fielding. Young Adults aged 14 complete the same set of items as 15 and 16 year olds. The 12 and 13 year olds, however, answered a more limited number of questions, which include several items from the Child Self-Administered Supplement as well as the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) from the Child Supplement.

Users are urged to examine the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult data collection instruments, which include representations of each assessment, in order to understand the assessments that were administered to various age groups and to learn about variations in administration across survey rounds.

What assessment scores are computed?

The NLSY79 Child data files contain summary scores for each assessment measure. For a subset of assessments, subscores are constructed. Where available, the user is provided with national norms based on the raw scores. Table 1 lists the raw and normed scores that are available for the most recent Child survey year. Summary scores and subscores for 2016, the most recent survey, can be found in the ASSESSMENT 2016 area of interest in the NLS Investigator. For prior survey rounds, summary scores and subscores can be found in the ASSESSMENT yyyy area of interest, where "yyyy" refers to the fielding year for each survey round.

The data file includes individual item responses as recorded in the field as well as interviewer reports of testing conditions for each assessment. Beginning in 2006, individual assessment item responses can be found in the ASSESSMENT ITEMS area of interest. For prior survey rounds, individual item responses can be found using the CHILD SUPPLEMENT yyyy or MOTHER SUPPLEMENT yyyy area of interest, where "yyyy" refers to the fielding year for each survey round. Edit or imputation "flags" are constructed for selected assessments to indicate where prorations were necessary or where alternate scoring schemes were considered. Scoring procedures are addressed below in relation to specific assessments.

Table 1: Most recent assessment scores on the NLSY79 Child file

Assessment

Raw Percentile Standard

Total HOME Note 1.1

  HOMEP2014 HOMEZ2014

Total HOME, 0-2 Years

HOMEA2014    
Total HOME, 3-5 Years HOMEB2014    

Total HOME, 6-9 Years

HOMEC2014    
Total HOME, 10-14 Years HOMED2014    

HOME Cognitive Stimulation Note 1.1

  COGNP2014 COGNZ2014

HOME Cognitive Stimulation, 0-2 Years

COGNA2014    
HOME Cognitive Stimulation, 3-5 Years COGNB2014    

HOME Cognitive Stimulation, 6-9 Years

COGNC2014    
HOME Cognitive Stimulation, 10 -14 Years COGND2014    

HOME Emotional Support Note 1.1

  EMOTP2014 EMOTZ2014

HOME Emotional Support, 0-2 Years

EMOTA2014    
HOME Emotional Support, 3-5 Years EMOTB2014    

HOME Emotional Support, 6-9 Years

EMOTC2014    
HOME Emotional Support, 10-14 Years EMOTD2014    

Temperament -Activity Note 1.2

ACTVTY2010    
Temperament -Predictability Note 1.2 PREDCT2010    
Temperament -Fearfulness Note 1.3 FEAR2012    
Temperament -Positive Affect Note 1.3 AFFECT2012    
Temperament -Compliance COMPLY2016    
Temperament -Insecure Attachment INSECUR2016    
Temperament -Sociability SOCIAB2014    
Temperament -Difficulty Composite - Abbrev. Note 1.3 DIFFIC2012    
Temperament -Neg. Hedonic Tone Composite Note 1.3 NEGATV2012    
Temperament -Friendliness Composite - Abbrev. Note 1.3 FRIEND2012    

Motor & Social Development -All

MOTO2016 MOTOP2016 MOTOZ2016

Motor & Social Development -Same Sex

  MOTOPX2016 MOTOZX2016

Behavior Problems

BPI2016 BPIP2016 BPIZ2016

Behavior Problems -Antisocial

ANTI2016 ANTIP2016 ANTIZ2016

Behavior Problems -Anxious/Depressed

DEP2016 DEPP2016 DEPZ2016
Behavior Problems -Headstrong HEAD2016 HEADP2016 HEADZ2016

Behavior Problems -Hyperactive

HYPR2016 HYPRP2016 HYPRZ2016
Behavior Problems -Dependent DEP2016 DEPP2016 DEPZ2016

Behavior Problems -Peer Conflicts

PEER2016 PEERP2016 PEERZ2016
Behavior Problems -Trichotomous Items BPTOTR2016 BPTOTP2016 BPTOTZ2016
Behavior Problems -External Score BPEXTR2016 BPEXTP2016 BPEXTZ2016
Behavior Problems -Internal Score BPINTR2016 BPINTP2016 BPINTZ2016
Self-Perception -Scholastic SPPCS20184
Note 1.4
   
Self-Perception -Self-Worth SPPCG20184
Note 1.4
   
Digit Span DIGIT2014   DIGITZ2014
Digit Span -Forward DIGITF2014    
Digit Span -Backward DIGITB2014    
PIAT Math MATH2014 MATHP2014 MATHZ2014
PIAT Reading Recognition RECOG2014 RECOGP2014 RECOGZ2014
PIAT Reading Comprehension COMP2014 COMPP2014 COMPZ2014
PPVT-R PPVT2014 PPVTP2014 PPVTZ2014

Question names for Knowledge of Body Parts and Memory for Locations, last administered in 1988, and Verbal Memory, last administered in 1994, are not included in this table. See the Topical Guide for each of these assessments for more information about the scores available in the database.

Note 1.1: Internal norms provided.

Note 1.2: These Temperament subscale scores are only available for survey years 1986-2000, 2008-2010.

Note 1.3: These Temperament subscale scores are available for survey years 1986-2002, 2008-2012.

Note 1.4: SPPC questions were asked in 2020 but composite scores were not created due to the small sample size.

Members of the CHRR staff have examined the assessment data as carefully as possible while preparing the assessment scores for the public use files. Researchers who encounter data or documentation problems with the assessments are encouraged to contact NLS user services. Should a problem be detected, we will inform data users by posting updates to NLSinfo.org and by correcting subsequent public releases.

Other child assessment documentation

Key references related to the assessments are cited in the References section. Users interested in additional research based on the NLSY79 child assessment data are encouraged to access the annotated, online NLS Bibliography.

Detailed information about the validity of the Child data through the 1992 survey round can be found in the NLSY79 Children 1992: Description & Evaluation. Background information on the child assessment data in the initial child survey rounds is discussed in The NLSY Child Handbook. Both documents are available on the Research/Technical Reports page.

Tables that describe the Child assessment scores in each survey round, starting with the 1994 data collection, can be found in a series of reports entitled The NLSY79 Child Assessments: Selected Tables. These reports display distributions of the raw and normed assessment scores by various child characteristics such as age and race/ethnicity. They are also available on the Research/Technical Reports page.

Which children are assessed?

In the initial 1986 Child survey round efforts were made to assess all biological children of NLSY79 mothers, regardless of their residence status. Starting in 1988, the sample of children eligible for assessment was restricted to children living part or full-time with their mothers.

Table 2 displays the number of children interviewed in the final 2016 survey by single year of age and race/ethnicity. Information on the number of children interviewed in earlier survey rounds can be found below. (The age range exceeds 14 years in the table for years prior to 1994, since that marks the first year of the Young Adult interview.)

Table 2. NLSY79 Children interviewed by single year of age and race/ethnicity, 2016

Child Age in Years at Interview

Race/Ethnicity

Hispanic Black White Row Total

2 years

0 0 1 1

3 years

0 0 0 0

4 years

0 0 0 0

5 years

0 2 0 2

6 years

0 0 2 2

7 years

0 0 1 1

8 years

0 0 1 1

9 years

0 2 3 5

10 years

1 2 6 9

11 years

3 5 6 14

12 years

9 5 8 22

13 years

8 2 14 24

14 years

1 1 2 4

Column Total

22 19 44 85

Note: In 2016, mothers completed the Mother Supplement for children in the household at least part-time who would be 13 or younger as of Dec 31, 2016. Some eligible children turned 14 by the date of their mother's interview. Some of these children ages 12 to 14 were also interviewed as Young Adults.

A number of factors help explain the decline in the numbers of children interviewed in recent survey rounds. The primary reason is the diminished child-bearing of the NLSY79 women as they age through their forties and into their fifties and hence out of their childbearing years. In Table 2 above what we see is the distribution of children born to older women, i.e. the tail end of the fertility distribution for the NLSY79 cohort of women. All children ages 12 and older would have been born to NLSY79 women ages 35 and older.

Users should note that the distribution of children interviewed should not be equated with the number of children who completed the assessments. The distributions in Table 2 (and the related past-rounds table below) simply indicate the number and types of children for whom some child interview information, collected in one of the child instruments, is available.

Table 3 shows the decline, starting in 2002, in the number of children (from birth to age 14) who were assessed with the HOME Inventory. This decline in sample sizes is a function of the aging up of the Child cohort into the Young Adult sample in addition to reduced childbearing among older NLSY79 mothers. The "Sample Changes over Time" section in Sample Design has more information about the size of the child sample in each survey round.

Table 3. NLSY79 Children with completed HOME inventories for 2002-2014 survey years
Survey Year
Number of Children (with completed HOME Inventories)
2002
3,077
2004
2,398
2006
1,786
2008
1,200
2010
792
2012
453
2014
241

Some assessments are completed only once by a child at the first time he or she becomes age-eligible. Others are completed at each survey point by all age-eligible children. With the exception of the Self-Perception Profile (SPPC), at each survey, ten- and eleven-year olds complete all assessments for which they are age-eligible, regardless of whether or not they had previously completed the assessment(s). This "index" group of children will ultimately represent a large, more fully representative sample for analysis. Table 4 contains details on the ages at which children were administered particular assessments. This table also summarizes changes in administration patterns.

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Table 4. NLSY79 Child: Children eligible for assessment by survey year

Assessment

Eligible Ages Note 4.1

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008-2014

2016

Parts of the Body

1-2 1-2                      

Memory for Locations
Note 4.2

8 mos-3 yrs (8 mos-3 yrs)                      

McCarthy Verbal Memory Subscale
Note 4.2

3-6 (3-6) (4-6) (3-6) (3-6)                

What I Am Like (Self-Perception Profile)

8 and older 8 and older 8 and older 8 and older 8-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-14 12-13
Note 4.3

WISC-R Digit Span Subscale2

7 and older 10-11
(7 and older)
10-11
(7 and older)
10-11
(7 and older)
10-11
(7-14)
7-11 7-11 7-11 7-11 7-11 7-11 7-11  

PIAT Math and Reading

5 and older 5 and older 5 and older 5 and older 5-14 5-14 5-14 5-14 5-14 5-14 5-14 5-14  

PPVT-R
Note 4.2

3 and older 10-11
(3 and older)
10-11
(3 and older)
3 and older 10-11
(3-14)
10-11
(4-14)
4-5, 10-11 4-5, 10-11 4-5, 10-11 4-5, (6-9), 10-11 4-5, (6-9), 10-11 4-5, (6-9), 10-11  

HOME environment

All ages All ages All ages All ages 0-14 0-14 0-14 0-14 0-14 0-14 4-14 4-14 Note 4.4

Temperament

0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 0-6 2-6
Note 4.5
2-6
Note 4.5
2-6
Note 4.5
2-6 2-6

Motor & Social Development

0-3 0-3 0-3 0-3 0-3 0-3 0-3 0-3 2-3
Note 4.5
  0-3
Note 4.5
0-3 0-3

Behavior Problems Index

4 and older 4 and older 4 and older 4 and older 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-14 4-13

Beginning in 1994, assessments were no longer given to children who reach age 15 by the end of that calendar year. Starting in 2008, when the field period extended into the calendar year following the survey year, some children turned 15 during the Child interview period. In 2016, mothers completed the Mother Supplement for children in the home at least part-time who were 13 or younger by the end of 2016.

Note 4.1: Age in years unless otherwise noted.

Note 4.2: Parentheses indicate age eligibility for children with no previous valid score. For example, in 1996, all 10- and 11-year-olds were eligible for the PPVT-R; a 6-year-old with no previous score was also eligible, but a 6-year-old with a previous valid score from 1994 or an earlier survey was not eligible.

Note 4.3: In 2016, the SPPC was administered as part of the Young Adult survey.

Note 4.4: In 2016, individual HOME-SF items were administered to mothers of children ages 0-13, but no composite scores were calculated, because the interviewer observations items from the Child Supplement are no longer available.

Note 4.5: Children born before the R19 (2000) interview or 1/1/2000.

How to identify interviewed children

Users can rely on the child sample weights (CSAMWTyyyy/CSAMWTyyyy_REV) to determine which children have assessment information in any given survey year. A child with a child sample weight greater than zero means that the child was assessed in that year. However, these assessed children will not necessarily have a valid score on any particular assessment in that year. A series of flags was introduced in 1998 to indicate the child's interview and assessment status. In 2000, the interview status series was simplified to identify children interviewed, whether the child's mother was interviewed, and an indication as to whether each type of child field instrument was administered. Starting with the 2002 survey round, the series of child interview status variables was expanded to include the constructed variables listed in Table 5.

Table 5. Child Interview Status Variables, 2002-2016
Question Names Variable Title
CINTRV2002 - CINTRV2016 INTERVIEW STATUS OF CHILD
MINTRV2002 - MINTRV2016 INTERVIEW STATUS OF MOTHER
INCSUP2002 - INCSUP2014 DOES CHILD HAVE A CHILD SUPPLEMENT RECORD
CSCOMP2002 - CSCOMP2014 COMPLETION STATUS OF CHILD SUPPLEMENT
INMSUP2002 - INMSUP2014
Note 5.1
DOES CHILD HAVE A MOTHER SUPPLEMENT RECORD
MSCOMP2002 - MSCOMP2016 COMPLETION STATUS OF MOTHER SUPPLEMENT
INCSAS2002 - INCSAS2004
Note 5.2
DOES CHILD HAVE A CHILD SELF-ADMINISTERED SUPPLEMENT RECORD
CSASCOMP2002 - CSASCOMP2014 COMPLETION STATUS OF CHILD SELF-ADMINISTERED SUPPLEMENT
CSMSORDER2002 - CSMSORDER2014 SEQUENCE OF CHILD SUPPLEMENT AND MOTHER SUPPLEMENT INTERVIEWS

Note 5.1: Only the Mother Supplement was administered in 2016; therefore, CINTRV2016 can be used as a substitute for INMSUP2016.

Note 5.2: The "INCSAS" variable is created only through 2004, since starting in 2006, the CSAS is fully integrated as a section in the Child Supplement and is no longer a separate instrument.

Assessment completion rates

Table 6 provides estimates of the number of children who were administered each assessment in the current survey round and the completion rate for each assessment. (Similar completion rate tables showing the distribution of NLSY79 children with valid assessment scores in earlier survey rounds are below.) The number of children who complete each assessment continues to be substantial, so that reasonably high numbers of black, white, and Hispanic children are available for separate analyses by race/ethnicity. Sufficient sample sizes are particularly important for those assessments where there are major differences in outcome by race/ethnicity, or more importantly, where the linkages between critical explanatory inputs and assessment outcomes vary by race/ethnicity.

Table 6 shows that the percent of children receiving valid scores is quite high. Since the mother-reported assessments (Behavior Problems Index (BPI), Motor and Social Development scale (MSD) and the Temperament Scale) were integrated into the mother's main interview starting in 2006, mothers completed these assessments for nearly all age-eligible children. However, because no imputation of scores is performed either for the MSD or Temperament scores, any "Don't Know" or "Refused" responses for individual items will result in a missing value for the corresponding overall scale score.

Table 6. NLSY79 children with valid assessment scores: Children interviewed in 2016
Assessment (Child social and emotional development) Child age All children Hispanic Black Nonblack/ non-Hispanic
Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent Number Percent

Temperament Scale Note 6.1

2 to 6 years 4 80.0 0 0 2 100.0 2 66.7

Motor and Social Development Scale

Under 4 years 1 100.0 0 0 0 0 1 100.0

Behavior Problems Index

4 to 13 years 81 96.4 22 100.0 18 94.7 41 95.3

Self-Perception Global Note 6.2

12 to 13 years 48 98.0 17 94.4 8 100.0 23 100.0

Self-Perception Scholastic Note 6.2

12 to 13 years 48 98.0 17 94.4 8 100.0 23 100.0

Note 6.1: The Temperament Scale score reported is "Compliance," administered for children ages 2-6.

Note 6.2: In 2016, the Self-Perception Profile was administered as part of the Young Adult survey.

Note 6.3: Of the 7479 children born to mothers interviewed in 2016, 85 were age-eligible and interviewed or assessed in 2016. The percent valid column indicates children with a valid score of those age-eligible for a particular assessment.

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Repeat assessments

The availability of comprehensive child data over time, coupled with longitudinal information on the family background, education, employment histories, and well-being of the NLSY79 mothers, provide researchers with a unique opportunity to examine the linkages between maternal- family behaviors and attitudes and subsequent child development. Certain measures in the NLSY79 Child surveys, such as the HOME, are taken at each survey point. Some assessments, such as the PIAT achievement battery, are administered to a wide range of age-eligible children over a period of time. Still others, such as the PPVT, are administered at the first eligible age, and then usually at the index age of 10 or 11. 

Overall patterns of repeat interviews can be seen in the Retention section, in Table 1 for children and in Tables 2a-c for young adults.

In Table 7 we present data showing the extent to which children have been repeatedly assessed on the PIAT and PPVT. Children are included in Table 7 if they had any valid PIAT math or reading score in any of the assessment years from 1986 to the current survey round or any valid PPVT score. These counts of repeat assessment scores offer a preliminary idea of the number of data points for each of these measures over time. More than two thirds of NLSY79 children have three or more PIAT achievement measures, and more than 7,200 children have more than one PPVT score.

Table 7. Repeat PIAT and PPVT scores: Children assessed in any year 1986-2014

Number of Valid Scores
Note 7.1

PIAT Math Score PIAT Reading Score PPVT Score

One valid score

825 823 2223

Two valid scores

1028 1033 3882

Three valid scores

1207 1179 3229

More than three valid scores

6173 6186 145

Total

9233 9221 9479

Note 7.1: The number of PIAT Math scores is based on a count of the survey years in which the child received a valid Math score. The number of PIAT Reading scores is based on a count of either valid Reading Recognition and/or Reading Comprehension scores in any survey year. The number of PPVT scores is based on a count of valid PPVT scores available in any survey year. Counts are based on the number of valid raw scores.

The pattern of repeat PIAT scores by age at the most recent assessment point is displayed in Table 8. This table shows the number of children with multiple PIAT scores, based on a count of any valid math or reading score between the initial and most recent assessment date. Children with only one valid PIAT score comprise the smallest subgroup in this table. As one would expect, the majority of 5- and 6-year-olds at the last interview date have only been tested once. Children in the middle age group and those in early adolescence have valid scores from multiple survey points enabling various measures of change to be calculated. Clearly the number of children for whom repeat achievement scores are available is large, particularly when viewing the distribution for children ages 10-14.

Table 8. Number of PIAT scores by age of child at date of last valid score: Children assessed in any year 1986-2014

Valid PIAT Scores
Note 8.1

Age of Child (Years)
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15+ Row Total

One score

230 207 108 48 35 38 27 37 38 23 4 795

Two scores

0 2 132 201 120 137 110 115 117 62 36 1032

Three scores

0 0 0 8 109 222 141 259 220 115 87 1161

More than three scores

0 0 0 0 0 36 235 1232 2768 1677 300 6248

Column Total

230 209 240 257 264 433 513 1643 3143 1877 427 9236

Note 8.1: The number of PIAT scores is based on a count of the number of survey rounds in which a child received a valid PIAT Math and/or Reading Recognition and/or Reading Comprehension score. Counts are based on the number of valid raw scores.

The number of repeat PPVT scores by child age at the date of the last valid score is profiled in Table 9. Users interested in multiple PPVT scores are directed to the index group of children who were assessed at preschool or early school levels and then again at the age of 10 or 11. Table 9 highlights the power of pooling the sample. This table shows larger numbers of children with multiple scores for assessments that were administered to them when they were age 10 or 11 years old. These children may now be of differing ages since the table displays counts at the last time a child was administered the PPVT.

Table 9. Number of PPVT scores by age of child at date of last valid score: Children assessed in any year 1986-2014

Valid PPVT Scores
Note 9.1

Age of Child (Years)
< 4 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15+ Row Total

One score

349 598 419 182 100 54 68 185 137 49 46 24 12 2223

Two scores

0 1 29 63 139 64 49 1499 1611 64 70 61 232 3882

Three scores

0 0 0 0 0 0 9 960 1286 338 250 298 88 3229

More than three scores

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 116 26 3 0 0 145

Column Total

349 599 448 245 239 118 126 2644 3150 477 369 383 332 9479

Note 9.1: The number of PPVT scores is based on a count of the number of years in which a child received a valid PPVT score. Counts are based on the number of valid raw scores.

These examples illustrate how NLSY79 children experience varying degrees of repeat administration of various assessments. An overall picture of the assessment history of NLSY79 children who have become young adults is available in Tables 2a-c in the Retention section.