NLSY79

• Questionnaire

• Employer Supplement

• Questionnaire

• Employer Supplement

• Questionnaire

• Employer Supplement

• Questionnaire

• 1979 Household Screener

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

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, and data collection occurred biennially through 2020.

• The number of children known to have been born to NLSY79 mothers has increased from 8,336 in 1986 to 11,551 in 2020. 
• Interviews were completed during 2020 (the most recent data collection year) with 4,354 young adult children, over 76% 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 9,167 children ever fielded as Young Adults, 8,673 (95%) have completed at least one YA interview, and 5208 (58%) of those ever interviewed have completed every round in which they were fielded.

In survey year 2000, respondents were asked if they had access to a computer at home running specified operating systems, whether they could access the web using a browser and whether they could access the internet through a modem or other connection. These questions were also asked in the 2002-2012 survey rounds but only if the respondent had not reported internet access at a previous interview.

In 2014, all respondents answered a short, updated question series about internet use. They were asked if they had an electronic device they could use to access the internet and, if so, which devices they used most often: laptop, tablet, cell phone, etc. An internet access question was also asked in 2020.

The 1980 interview asked about delinquent or criminal activities during the previous twelve month period. Categories included:

• skipping school
• alcohol/marijuana use
• vandalism
• shoplifting
• drug dealing
• robbery
• assault
• gambling

The number of respondents reporting participation is summarized in Table 1 and Table 2 below.

Delinquency scales: Adapted from previously used self-report delinquency scales, this instrument was modified for the 1980 NLSY79 survey to accommodate the confidentiality issues raised by in-home administration. In addition, it used an expanded response scale to differentiate very highly delinquent youth from occasional participants. A second set of questions in the 1980 survey measured involvement with the criminal justice system by tallying the number of police contacts and recording the resulting criminal convictions and sentences (probation, incarceration) received.

Related variables collected during this and other survey years include:

• Questions on  school discipline problems, such as whether each NLSY79 respondent had ever been suspended or expelled from school and when/if the youth had returned to school (see the School Discipline section of this guide)
• The childhood residence section of the 1988 survey, which collected information on whether NLSY79 respondents had resided in a detention center/jail/prison during any of their first eighteen years of life (see the "Family Background" area of interest)
• A yearly created 'Type of Residence' variable that identifies those NLSY79 respondents who resided in jail at each interview date. Table 3 lists the number of respondents that were in jail or prison at time of interview for each round. Responses of "in jail" to questions within post-1988 Employer Supplements and the "Gaps Not Working" sections of the main questionnaires for the reason not looking for work when not employed can also be used to identify incarcerated respondents (see the "Between Job Gaps" and "Misc. "areas of interest).

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: Beginning in 1988 two sets of questions were asked of NLSY79 children dealing with (1) the extent of each child's self-reported participation during the past year in various illegal activities such as vandalism, shoplifting, and assault and (2) the extent of use and age of first use of cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, and drugs. Starting in 1994, young adults were also asked a series of questions closely resembling those in the 1980 main NLSY79.

The NLSY97 survey asks about participation in and the intensity of various criminal activities in the previous year (round 1). In subsequent rounds respondents were questioned about the number of times they participated in criminal activity since the date of last interview. NLSY97 data collected each year include charges, court decisions, and sentencing including dates of incarceration since the last interview. 

The 1968 survey of schools attended by Young Men and Young Women respondents included two questions on whether school records indicated that the respondent had been committed to or was on probation from a correctional institution. Also as part of the 1968 school survey, school records were examined for an indication that the respondent had ever been expelled or suspended from school. For more precise details about the content of each survey, consult the appropriate cohort's User's Guide using the tabs above for more information.

Three sets of cigarette use data for NLSY79 respondents are available: 

• Data were collected during the 1984 survey on
  • age at first use
  • most recent use
  • the number of cigarettes smoked in the past 30 days. 
• The 1992, 1994, 1998 and 2008-2014 surveys gathered information from respondents on:
  • who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their life
  • the number of cigarettes they smoked per day
  • the number of months/years since they had last smoked daily
• The 1983-86, 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994-2018 surveys gathered, for female NLSY79 respondents, information on whether they smoked in the twelve months before pregnancy and on the number of cigarettes smoked during pregnancy.

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: Data were collected beginning in 1988 for NLSY79 children 10 years of age and older on age at first use and extent of use of cigarettes. A more extensive set of questions was asked of NLSY79 children once they became NLSY79 young adults.

In the NLSY97 round 1, all respondents were first asked whether they had ever smoked an entire cigarette; if so, they reported their age on the first occasion. In subsequent rounds, respondents were asked whether they had smoked a cigarette since the date of last interview, and if they had, frequency of use and the quantity of cigarettes smoked. Detailed information on cigarette use was gathered from the Mature Women in 1989 and from the Young Women in 1991 and 1993; these respondents also indicated whether they currently smoked in 1995-2003 surveys. Older Men provided retrospective smoking data in 1990. For more precise details about the content of each survey, consult the appropriate cohort's User's Guide using the tabs above for more information.

An extensive set of questions on substance use was included in the 1984 survey and collected information on respondents' illicit and nonprescribed use of:

• marijuana/hashish
• amphetamines
• barbiturates
• tranquilizers
• psychedelics
• cocaine
• heroin
• other narcotics

  For each of these substances, information was collected on:

• lifetime use
• age at first use
• most recent use
• frequency of use during the past 30 days

In addition, retrospective data on respondents' monthly use of marijuana from January 1979 through the 1984 survey date were gathered. The extent of respondents' prescribed use of three types of drugs (amphetamines, barbiturates, and tranquilizers) was also collected. Respondents who were working or in the military were asked whether, since the date of last interview or since their job/military duty began, they had used or "felt high" from one or more of these substances and how frequently they had used each on the job.

A special Drug Use Supplement was administered during the 1988, 1992, 1994, and 1998 surveys to collect information on age at first use of marijuana/hashish, crack, cocaine, and other drugs; lifetime use; most recent use; and use in the past 30 days. The 1992, 1994, and 1998 questionnaires also asked about respondents' use of prescribed and nonprescribed sedatives, tranquilizers, stimulants, and pain killers. Beginning in 1994, respondents were asked to directly enter their answers into a laptop computer.

Other drug use questions are found in (1) the 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994-2018 fertility series, which included questions on use of marijuana or cocaine in the twelve-month period before first/second pregnancies (see the "Birth Record xxxx" areas of interest) and (2) the section of the 1980 survey, which gathered information on the frequency with which respondents were engaged during the past year in smoking/selling marijuana or other drugs (see the  Crime, Delinquency, & Arrest Records section of this guide).

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: Beginning in 1988, NLSY79 children ten years of age and older answered a series of questions on whether they had ever used marijuana or other drugs such as LSD or cocaine.  

The NLSY97 round 1 survey first established whether the respondent had ever used marijuana or other illicit drugs and asked for the respondent's age at first use. In subsequent rounds all respondents were asked whether they had used marijuana or other illicit drugs since the date of last interview. Each survey then collected additional information on the number of days the respondent smoked marijuana in the 30 days prior to the interview. Finally, questions determined the number of times the respondent used marijuana right before or during school or work in those 30 days. For more precise details about the content of each survey, consult the appropriate cohort's User's Guide using the tabs above for more information.

Information on familial history of alcohol abuse or dependency was collected during the 1988 survey and included a series of questions on whether relatives of the respondent had been alcoholics or problem drinkers, the relationship of the respondent to up to seven such alcoholic relatives, and the length of time, if any, that the respondent resided with each such relative. Table 1 summarizes the alcohol use variables collected for the NLSY79 and the survey years during which each type of variable was collected.

There is considerable variation in both the quantity and type as well as the wording of alcohol use questions. The 1989 questionnaire, for example, combined the typically asked 'drinking ever interfered with schoolwork or job' questions into a single 'kept drinking even though caused problems with work/home/school' question but expanded the number of questions dealing with the impact of alcohol use on other aspects of the respondent's life (such as personal relationships, health, participation in outside interests and activities). Many of the NLSY79 alcohol use questions have been adapted from those asked in the National Health Interview Surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Table 1. Alcohol Variables by Survey Year: NLSY79

Two additional sets of alcohol use variables not included in Table1 have been collected for select NLSY79 respondents: 

• Alcohol use during pregnancy information was gathered for female respondents during the 1983-86, 1988, 1990, 1992, and 1994-2018 surveys
• The 1980 illegal activities supplement asked under aged respondents a question on the number of times they had consumed alcoholic beverages without their parents' permission

Comparison to Other NLS Cohorts: Beginning in 1988 the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult surveys included several questions about alcohol use for children ages 10 and older. A more extensive sequence about alcohol use and abuse was included in the Young Adult survey beginning in 1994. 

The NLSY97 round 1 survey first established whether the respondent had ever consumed an alcoholic beverage and asked for the respondent's age at first use. In subsequent rounds respondents were asked whether they had a drink of an alcoholic beverage since the date of last interview and, if so, what was the quantity and frequency of alcohol use. 

The 1989 and 1995-2003 interviews of the Mature Women, the 1991-2003 surveys of the Young Women, and the 1990 survey of Older Men also gathered data on the frequency and quantity of alcohol consumption.