NLSY79 Child and Young Adult

This section provides sample sizes for the number of times younger children and young adults of different ages have been interviewed over the life course of the survey. Given that the child interviewing process began with the 1986 interview round and continued on a biennial basis through 2014 for the Child Supplement and 2016 for the Mother Supplement, the maximum number of child interviews a respondent could have is eight, since children age into the Young Adult survey the survey round in which they turn 15 or older (12 or older since 2016) and the Young Adult interviews began in 1994. Clearly, the content varies considerably between the Child and Young Adult interviews, partly because in most rounds only younger children were assessed, and partly because many of the questions are life-cycle specific. Many questions that might be relevant for an eight- or a fourteen-year old might not be appropriate for an older adolescent, much less someone in their twenties, thirties, or forties. Additionally, there have been some changes in questions and question wording over time, so researchers who are using these data in a longitudinal manner need to carefully review the content of the questions they are using.

The Child and Young Adult surveys are characterized by inherently different question structures, modes of data collection, and indeed potentially different research agendas. It is therefore useful to present separately the sample sizes for younger and older children, even though the ultimate research agenda in many instances may join these two sample types.

• The Number of Child Interviews
• The Number of Young Adult Interviews

The Number of Child Interviews

Table 1 presents the number of child interviews ever completed by the NLSY79 children as of the most recent survey round. This table references age at the end of the survey year (December 31) rather than the survey date because the age determination for inclusion as a young adult rather than a younger child was the age as of the end of the calendar year. This method of computing age avoids a need to split the fourteen-year old age group between a younger child and a young adult component. Whether one uses a survey date or end-of-year age typically has little impact on the magnitude of age-specific sample sizes. Most estimates of sample size for younger children in this users guide use child age as of the survey date. This is the reason why sample sizes by age presented across tables may not always be identical.

Table 1 indicates the total number of child interviews reported for each NLSY79 child who has ever been interviewed, regardless of current age. For this table, a child is defined as interviewed if the sampling weight (CSAMWTyyyy or CSAMWT_REVyyyy) is greater than zero for a given survey year. The greatest number of possible child interviews would be eight biennial interviews. Only 727 of the respondents at the end of 2020 fall into that category. However, Table 1 shows much larger numbers of children in all the other interview frequency categories. Children who fall into the older age categories as of the current round, but who have completed only a small number of interviews (e.g., 11 year olds with only one or two interview points), have missed some interviews. For example, an 11 year old could potentially have six completed interviews. The implications of repeat interviewing for these younger children are expanded on in the documentation on the child assessment data, where the extent of interview repetition is connected with the specific cognitive and socio-emotional assessments that the children complete at various ages.

The Number of Young Adult Interviews

Table 2 extends this interview repetition concept to the young adult component of the survey. Since the young adult interview has been ongoing only since 1994, the maximum number of young adult interviews possible by 2020 is fourteen. It should be recalled that young adults age 21 or over at the date of the 1998 interview were not interviewed in that year. This leads to a potential four-year interview gap, between 1996 and 2000, for these cases. Similarly, those who were not fielded in 2000, as part of the children aged 0 to 20 of 38% of minority oversample mothers not eligible in that round, have a four-year gap from 1998 to 2002 and will have missed either their last child round or a young adult round. From 2002 to 2008, the young adult sample includes all youth age 15 and over who were available to be interviewed. Beginning in 2010, Young Adult respondents over the age of 30 will be interviewed every four years. The interviewed sample is selected by age as of December 31 of the survey year, so that approximately half of the older young adults are eligible each round. Since 2010, young adults age 31-32, 35-36, 39-40, 43-44, etc. as of December 31 of the survey year have not been fielded. In Table 2, while the age references the end of 2020, a particular young adult may not have been interviewed in that year. Of the 8673 young adults included in Table 2, 5670 were fielded and 4354 were interviewed in 2020. Table 2 also shows that there are substantial numbers of young adults who have had at least nine young adult interview points and a large number who have had eight interviews as young adults since 1994. Among young adults who have completed eight or more young adult interviews, more than 77% have completed every interview for which they were  eligible.

Young Adult Assessment History. As can be seen in Table 2, most of the young adults have had a number of child assessment points prior to reaching age 15 and then, depending on their current age, between one and eleven Young Adult interviews since that date. The nature of the data collection changes in fundamental ways when a child transitions to being a young adult. Prior to 2016, children under age 15 were administered (or their mother completed) a variety of assessments. For children in this age range, the mother also provided a variety of information about the child's health, education, and selected other items. Beginning with the 1988 survey, children age ten and over self-administered a set of questions about their own behaviors and attitudes in a variety of domains, including education, family and peer interaction, normative and non-normative attitudes and behaviors. In 2016, no children were directly assessed, and mothers completed Mother Supplements for children ages 0 to 13. In 2018, only a small number of child health and schooling questions were asked of the mothers.

Starting in 1994, once the children reached 15, they completed the Young Adult interview designed to address most of the major dimensions of their lives: schooling, employment, family, peer interactions and issues of sexuality, and other behaviors and attitudes that permit researchers to examine in context the experiences of these young adults in a holistic manner. Beginning in 2016, children ages 12 and up were included in the YA fielding, although the children age 12 and 13 answered significantly fewer questions than those 14 and older. A flow diagram that would cross the possible survey points, encompassing the period from 1986 to the present, would follow a child from preadolescent years, describing the child development process in some detail, parallel family and child behaviors and attitudes, and culminate in a detailed profile of later adolescent-early adult transitions to adulthood. Table 1 and Table 2 are designed to clarify the size of the sample that permits one to maximize the panel dimensions of the data set.

• Instrument Development
• Interviewer Training
• Mode of Administration
• Language of Administration

Instrument Development

The Child Survey. The original proposal for the NLSY79 Child data collection included plans for instruments that tapped several dimensions of child cognition, health, socio-emotional attributes, behavior, and home environment. Development of the first round of NLSY79 Child Assessment instruments began in the summer of 1985. CHRR assumes overall responsibility for selection, design, and adaptation of the Child Assessments. Field training and data collection were the primary responsibility of NORC. Close collaboration between NORC and CHRR began prior to each fielding period on such issues as placement and formatting of questions, survey timing, and special data collection considerations such as confidentiality, interviewer training, sample location, and testing conditions. On a continuing basis, NICHD also provided input to this process. Advice on question inclusion as well as review of each draft survey instrument was sought by CHRR from the various funding agencies, notably the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which has overall authority regarding survey content, NICHD, a technical advisory board, and designers of the original questions and scales.

In the first several survey rounds, pretests of the Child instruments were conducted several months prior to the beginning of the fielding period. Conducted at two sites with experienced NLSY79 interviewers, the pretest served to test questionnaire wording, to pinpoint items that may pose problems for the respondents or the interviewers, and to time the various sections of the instruments. This process also served to identify problems with questions, skip patterns, transitions between sections, questionnaire length, and other overt flaws. Following each pretest, staff from CHRR, NORC personnel, and representatives of the various funding agencies met to review the NLSY79 child survey instruments, analyze the response frequencies for selected questions, and discuss problems encountered by both the respondents and interviewers.

The Young Adult Survey. When the Young Adult survey was first designed for the 1994 survey round, many of the CAPI sections exactly paralleled those administered to the main NLSY79 respondents. Other sections of the questionnaire were tailored for this cohort. One important part of the design process was to review the 1979 NLSY79 questionnaire, to consider where Young Adults could be asked questions that were essentially the same as those that had been asked of their mothers in their first survey round. Other years of the NLSY79 were also reviewed for questions to include. The Young Adult questionnaire remained fairly stable as an instrument through the 1998 fielding, with changes in parallel sections mirroring those in the NLSY79 Youth.

The Young Adult survey instrument underwent a major redesign in 2000 and differs in a variety of important ways not only from the main Youth questionnaire, but also from the previous Young Adult instruments. The questionnaire was streamlined and adjusted for telephone administration, so that most interviews could be undertaken in less than one hour. Additionally, more pre-existing information was incorporated into information sheets to determine branching for each respondent's path through the questionnaire. Branching also occurred throughout the questionnaire based on answers provided by the respondent. Many of the items that are comparable across the main Youth and the Young Adult were retained. Although not an exhaustive listing of these items, Table 1 in Life Cycle Profiles for the NLSY79 Children provides users with a listing of attitudinal and behavioral sequences in the Young Adult and indicates where comparable data can be found for the mothers. 

The 2002 survey instrument remained very similar to the 2000 questionnaire while incorporating questions directed to the younger Young Adults that paralleled questions they had been asked in the Child Survey when they were 10 to 14 years old. Questions concerning weapons in school were also added. 

Prior to the 2004 fielding, we assessed the viability of changes made in 2000 and 2002 and questioned if there were additional needs. The redesign for 2004 focused on improving data collected on fertility and relationships, which have become increasingly important as this cohort ages, as well as enlarging the scope of health-related data.

For the 2006 fielding, we again assessed the changes we had made in the questionnaire for 2004 as well as incorporating additional questions to expand the range of data we collect. New questions were included to ascertain biological relatedness among the young adult's siblings in the Child database. We also added questions about catastrophic events, assets and debts, and the Ten-Item Personality Inventory (TIPI). The 2006 questionnaire also included a series of political questions, funded through the American National Election Survey (ANES) with a grant from the National Institute of Health. 

Prior to the 2008 fielding, the Young Adult survey instrument once again underwent a major re-evaluation and redesign. This redesign focused on social psychological issues, job characteristics, and military service, as well as on parenting for both residential and nonresidential children, maternity leave, and relationships. 

The redesign for the YA2010 survey round included bringing forward information on household members as well as current jobs from the date of last interview, as well as an expansion of questions concerning financial difficulties, perceived fairness in relationships, and gender role items. Questions about the height and weight of biological children were added. Additionally, a health module for older Young Adults was started in 2010. For 2010 and 2012, this module will be asked of all respondents age 29 or older.

The redesign for the YA2012 focused on evaluating the HOME items that have been used in the Young Adult and included adding additional HOME items as well as the Behavioral Problems Index, also from the Mother Supplement. Other additions in 2012 included a series of questions about day-to-day discrimination and another about major instances of discrimination. The mini-IPIP (a shortened version of the International Personality Item Pool) was also included, providing users the opportunity to compare it to the TIPI. Another series on childhood adversity, which has also been asked of the NLSY79 respondents, was added.

As part of the redesign of the YA2014 questionnaire, the answer categories for the questions concerning grade currently attending/highest grade attended and highest grade completed were changed. This change was made to alleviate a long-standing uncertainty on the part of both respondents and interviewers about how to code years of college, especially when a respondent is either taking classes part-time and/or has transferred universities. Additionally, the migration sequence in the YA was made parallel to the migration sequence in the NLSY79 questionnaire. A new series of questions on self-employment, modeled after those in the NLSY79, was introduced into the Employer Supplements. The expanded heath section was redesigned to incorporate additional questions for respondents who are over 40 years of age. Respondents who are 29/30 or 41/42 as of December 31st of the target year will enter this extended health module, as will respondents who were not interviewed at those age points.

Much of the redesign of the YA2016 questionnaire focused on reducing questionnaire time. Some questions, such as the detailed questions about indebtedness and foreclosure, were eliminated completely while others, such as the questions about volunteerism, had the amount of verbiage reduced. For some other questions, such as the household division of labor questions, are now being asked of a more restricted universe. Previously these had been asked to all YAs with a current spouse/partner; beginning in 2016, these will be asked of YAs with a new spouse/partner, YAs with the same spouse/partner but now with a first child, and at specific ages (25, 35, 45, etc.) if they still have the same spouse/partner. Throughout the questionnaire, 'other-specify' answers were reviewed and pick lists were adjusted based on this review. The category of “spouse” in the list of relationships of household members was spilt into “husband” and “wife,” and the wording of questions about dating and cohabiting were made more gender-neutral. New questions were added about the use of e-cigarettes, synthetic marijuana, and narcotics/opioids.

The YA2016 questionnaire was also adjusted for the inclusion of 12-14 year olds who in past rounds would have had the Child Supplement and Child Self-Administered Supplement administered to them. While 14 year olds, most of whom would have turned 15 by their interview date, would follow the same path as 15 to 16 year olds, several path modifications were made to branch 12 and 13 year olds around questions that were inapplicable. 12 and 13 year olds were also not asked some of our questions for first-time YAs but will be asked those in the next round, so that these questions are asked of comparable age groups across time. Additionally, certain items from the CS/CSAS, such as the Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC) and the moods scale, were included in the YA2016 questionnaire solely for this age group.

The YA2018 survey was streamlined, with some questions about volunteerism, drug use, asthma, self-employment, high school experiences, maternal employment, child support and co-parenting either reduced or curtailed. This redesign allowed the introduction of new questions without increasing survey time.

The YA2018 questionnaire included an expanded number of questions about loneliness and social isolation, as well questions about sexual orientation and gender identity. The YA2018 also included the General Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Developed by Spitzer, Kroenke, Williams and Lowe, the GAD-7 asks respondents how often they have experienced certain feelings associated with anxiety in the past two weeks. The survey also included questions about the health and well-being of their parents as perceived by the Young Adult respondents.

The discrimination questions, which include major and day-to-day discrimination, first asked in the YA2014 questionnaire, were re-asked of all YAs in 2018 to allow researchers to look for changes over time as these respondents age.

The initial redesign of YA2020 questionnaire included the addition of the six-item Brief Resilience Scale asked of everyone and a series of questions about perimenopause and menopause asked of women over age 30. The advent of the Coronavirus pandemic, however, led to the development and inclusion of a variety of questions to assess the impact of the pandemic on the lives of the YA respondents. Questions were added to assess this impact on employment, income and assets, health, family, and children’s schooling. Additionally, all respondents were re-asked the General Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), so that there is a pre-Covid and post-Covid anxiety measure for respondents interviewed in both 2018 and 2020.

Interviewer Training

NLSY79 Child interviewers underwent a special training in preparation for administering the Child interviews and assessments. Their curriculum included at-home self-study, in person training (through 2010), and both written and observer evaluation. In some survey years this training was held at decentralized sites, but in later rounds training was been conducted at a centralized location, with materials distributed ahead of time. Detailed instructions on the administration of each assessment were reviewed in each training session, regardless of the experience of the interviewer. Videotaped footage was used to demonstrate the procedures and to allow interviewers to view the actual administration of the assessments to children of different ages. Trainees were given exercises to help them master the testing procedures. They participated in a series of scripted mock interviews, which were observed by supervisors, and then completed a final examination that was scored. Interviewers also recorded their initial child interviews, which were then reviewed by field management staff before the interviewer was allowed to complete a full case load. Details of the NLSY79 Child training in the early survey rounds can be found in the NLSY79 Child 1986 and 1990 handbooks (available on the Research/Technical Reports page).

NLSY79 Youth and Young Adult interviewers undergo basic survey and case management training as well as instrument-specific training on the two instruments.  Their curriculum includes at-home self-study, remote training, and both written and observer evaluation.

Mode of Administration

From 1986-1992, interviews with the NLSY79 children were conducted primarily in person using paper and pencil questionnaires. Beginning in 1994, the primary Young Adult and younger child instruments and assessments were administered using computer assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). By 2000, all survey instruments except the Child Self-Administered Supplement were fully computerized; the CSAS was computerized in 2002. Researchers are encouraged to review the questionnaires in conjunction with this user's guide and the actual data.

Child Interview Mode. Interviews with the NLSY79 younger children were typically conducted in the respondent's home by specially trained field staff. Reports were obtained from the children, their mothers and by interviewers trained to assess each child and to provide evaluations of each family's home environment. All interviewer-administered sections used CAPI; for the Child Self-Administered Supplement, the child used the laptop to complete the section. [The CSAS was also available on personal data assistant (PDA) in 2002 and 2004.] In rare instances, where in-person administration was not possible, as much information as possible was collected over the telephone. Table 1 outlines the interview mode and type used in each survey round. Note: Child Supplement and Child Self-Administered Supplement were not administered after 2014 survey year.

Child interview mode variables. While there is no single constructed variable in each Child survey year that indicates the mode of the interview, there are items that indicate the type of administration for each field instrument (see Table 2).

Prior to 1992, the Child Supplement (CS) was not administered by telephone. Starting in 1992, "telephone interview" was one of the response categories from which interviewers could choose to describe the mode and location of the Child Supplement interview, as outlined for each survey year in Table 3.

*Child Supplement was not administered after 2014 survey year.

The items that indicate the mode of administration used for the Child Self-Administered Supplement (CSAS) are listed in Table 4.

 *Child Self-Administered Supplement was not administered after 2014.

Young Adult Interview Mode. From 1994 to 1998, the primary mode of data collection for the Young Adults was an in-person interview, with the interviewer using a laptop computer for most questions and the respondent filling out a paper booklet for the self-report section. Beginning in 2000, the primary interview mode for the Young Adults shifted to telephone rather than in-home visits. The items in Table 5 indicate the mode of administration of the young adult questionnaire in each survey year.

Language of Administration

Spanish translations of several child assessment instruments were made available to respondents with limited proficiency in English. In 1986, a total of 354 children age eight months or older were assigned to bilingual interviewers. Of these cases, slightly more than 100 children were actually assessed in Spanish. More than 100 children were assigned to bilingual interviewers in 1988. By 1990, 52 children were assigned to bilingual interviewers, but of this number, only 17 were actually assessed in Spanish. In 1998 approximately 50 children were interviewed in Spanish but most of them were assessed in English. In 2000 the number of children assessed in Spanish declined to fewer than 10. Part of this recent decline results from the higher minimum age of children eligible to be assessed. By the 2000 survey round most of the Spanish-language parents would have resided in the U.S. for more than two decades.

From 1986 to 2000, the following questionnaire sections and child assessment instruments were translated for administration into Spanish:

1. Mother Supplement and MS assessments:
   • The HOME
   • Behavior Problems Index (BPI)
   • Temperament or What My Child is Like
   • Motor and Social Development (MSD)
2. Mother-report sections of the Child Supplement (background, school, health)
3. Interviewer administered assessments in the Child Supplement:
   • Parts of the Body
   • Memory for Location
   • What I am Like (SPPC)
   • Memory for Digit Span
   • PPVT-R (Test de Vocabulario en Imagenes Peabody or TVIP used in 1988-2000)

Starting in 2002 no Child instruments were translated into Spanish, although bilingual interviewers continued to be assigned to households in which Spanish was a principal language. Interviewers were instructed to make comments in the assessments or interviewer remarks section if other languages were used in the interview to facilitate understanding.

The NLSY79 Child sample is comprised of all children born to NLSY79 mothers. Starting in 1986, the children of the NLSY79 mothers have been interviewed and assessed biennially to follow their cognitive, physical, and socio-emotional development. Starting in 1994, children who have reached the age of 15 by the end of the survey year are no longer assessed but instead complete personal interviews similar to those given to their mothers during late adolescence and into adulthood. Upon reaching age 15, the NLSY79 children become part of the NLSY79 Young Adult sample. Starting in 2016, NLSY79 children age 12 and older became part of the Young Adult sample.

As of 2018, a total of 11,551 children have been identified as having been born to the original 6,283 NLSY79 female respondents, mostly during the years that they have been interviewed. A modest number of children were born prior to 1979, the first main Youth interview round. An unknown number of additional children have been born to women of the dropped oversamples or women who have otherwise left the survey, subsequent to their attrition from the sample.

The number of children assessed during a given child survey year is a function of the number of children born to interviewed NLSY79 mothers, the number of children living in the homes of those mothers, and, finally, the number of those children actually interviewed. Of the 5,842 NLSY79 females eligible for the first child interview in 1986, more than 2,900 mothers and 4,971 children were interviewed. From this sample of eligible children, assessment data were collected for 4,786. As of the most recent survey, a total of 11,551 children have been identified as having been born to the original 6,283 NLSY79 female respondents. Of these, 4,354 children 12 and older were interviewed as young adults. Details on the sizes and eligibility criteria of the samples are discussed below.

• Sample sizes: Who was interviewed in the current survey round?
• Sample changes over time
• Sibling and cousin samples

Sample sizes: Who was interviewed in the current survey round?

In 2020, 4,354 young adults were interviewed (see Table 1), ranging in age from 12 to 50 as of the date of interview. For 2016 and earlier survey rounds, "interviewed" for children under age 15 means that some child-specific assessment information was obtained from either the mother or child in that survey year. For the Young Adult sample, a completion is defined as a case in which at least a certain amount of the Young Adult interview was completed.

NLSY79 mothers

Significant numbers of NLSY79 mothers have participated in the NLSY79 Child data collection effort over the years. (Users interested in the participation rates of NLSY79 mothers relative to nonmothers and other NLSY79 respondents will find details in the NLSY79 User's Guide.) Table 1 shows, for each Child survey, the proportion of women interviewed who are mothers. The table also indicates the number of children born to interviewed mothers. When appropriate weights are applied, NLSY79 women have had, on average, about 1.9 children, which is estimated to be their ultimate childbearing. While the childbearing for this cohort is now essentially completed, caution is still advised when generalizing from any selected portion of the child cohort.

Child sample eligibility

In the first round of the NLSY79 Child survey (1986), all children born to NLSY79 women (who were themselves interviewed) were eligible to be interviewed. Starting in 1988, children whose usual residence was outside the mother's household were excluded from the sample. This residence restriction, however, applies only to children who are not age-eligible for the Young Adult survey.

From 1986-1992, there was no upper age restriction on the Child sample. Starting in 1994, children who turned 15 by the end of the survey year became part of the Young Adult sample. In 2016, children who turned 12 by the end of the survey year are part of the Young Adult sample, and mothers completed the Mother Supplement for children age 13 or younger living in the household at least part-time. In 2018, children who turned 12 by the end of the survey year are part of the Young Adult sample, and no assessments from the Mother Supplement were administered.

Until 2008, the Child and Young Adult survey periods were restricted to a single calendar year. However, starting in 2010, the field period crossed over into the following calendar year, so the Child/Young Adult samples are more clearly distinguished based on year of birth. The table below indicates the birth year range for the younger Child cohort for 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016:

Young Adult sample eligibility

Young Adult children who have at least one record in the child interview history are generally eligible for interview regardless of their residence status. In both 1994 and 1996, children of NLSY79 mothers who would be 15 or older by the end of the survey year were eligible to be interviewed as Young Adults. In the 1998 survey year, a cap was placed on the upper ages of the Young Adults, so that only those children 15 to 20 were interviewed as Young Adults. In 2000, the full sample of eligible Young Adults was again fielded, with no upper age limit imposed; however, the YAs between 15 and 20 from 38% of the black and Hispanic oversample families were not fielded in 2000 for budgetary reasons. These YAs were eligible again to be interviewed in 2002. For the 2004, 2006, and 2008 fieldings, there were also no sample restrictions for age or sample type. 

Beginning in 2010, Young Adult respondents over the age of 30 have been moved to a four-year interview cycle. Because of the structure of the Young Adult sample, in each survey round some respondents will be interviewed as Young Adults for the first time that round, some will have been last interviewed in the previous round, and some will have been last interviewed as Young Adults two (or more) rounds ago. Note: In the 1998 data collection only, the Young Adult sample was limited to respondents who were between the ages of 15 (by the end of the year) and 20 (at the date of interview).

Beginning in 2016, children ages 12 and over by the end of the year have been included in the Young Adult sample. Children age 14 answer the same questions as those ages 15 and 16. Children ages 12 and 13, while fielded as part of the Young Adult data collection, answer far fewer questions, and the Young Adult questionnaire has been modified to include some items from the Child Self-Administered Survey, answered by only this age group.

Sample restrictions and exclusions

Over the period of the survey the following adjustments have been made to the Child and Young Adult samples:

1990

Following the 1990 interview, none of the 1,643 members of the economically disadvantaged, nonblack/non-Hispanic NLSY79 main Youth sample were eligible for interview. In anticipation of the deletion of this sample, the children of the mothers in this subsample were excluded beginning with the 1990 interview and were not assessed or interviewed as Young Adults in any subsequent round. The sample nonetheless retains sufficient numbers of children from this category to maintain its full national representation. 

1994

Starting in 1994, with the introduction of the Young Adult surveys, children age 15 and older become part of the young adult sample and are eligible for interview regardless of residence.  This means that, starting with the 1994 survey, the NLSY79 younger child sample was redefined as children under age 15 as of the end of the survey year.

1994-1998

Young Adult sample selection was limited to children 15 and older as of December 31 of the survey year who were either assessed or living with their mother in either of the two previous rounds.

1998

In the 1998 survey year, a cap was placed on the upper ages of the young adult sample, so that only those children 15 to 20 were interviewed as Young Adults. 

2000

Sample selection for the Young Adult was widened to included children 15 and older by December 31 of the survey year who had at least some assessment history. YAs who had been age-eligible but not fielded in 1994 through 1998 and had some assessments were brought into the YA sample at that point.

2000

In 2000 the criteria for both younger children and young adults under age 21 were restricted (for that survey round only) to exclude the younger children (0-14) and young adults (15-20) from a random sample of 38 percent the black and Hispanic oversample mothers. This restriction means that while the full set of oversample mothers was contacted in 2000, only about 60 percent of their children under age 21 were part of the fielded sample targeted for interview. In 2002, the oversample cases that were excluded in 2000 were restored to the fielded sample eligible for interview. A flag in the database (C00115.13, CEXCLUDED2000) indicates which children under age 21 were part of the excluded oversample in 2000.

2010 onward

Beginning in 2010, young adults over age 30 have only been interviewed every four years. The interviewed sample is selected by age as of December 31 of the survey year, so that approximately half of the older young adults have been eligible each round. Since 2010, young adults age 31-32, 35-36, 39- 40, 42-44, etc. as of December 31 of the target year were not be fielded.

2016

Beginning in 2016, the Child Supplement and the Child Self-Administered supplement were no longer administered, and the children ages 12 to 14 as of December 31 of the survey year were fielded as part of the Young Adult. The Mother Supplement was administered to interviewed mothers with children ages 13 and under living with them at least part time.

2018

In 2018, children ages 12 to 14 as of December 31 of the survey year were fielded as part of the Young Adult survey, but no Mother Supplement assessments were completed. While NLSY79 mothers did answer a small number of child health and schooling questions traditionally in the Mother Supplement for children age 18 and younger, no sampling weight is provided for children under the age of 11, and children age 12 and over will only have a sampling weight if interviewed as a Young Adult.

2020

In 2020, children ages 12 and up were fielded as part of the Young Adult survey, and NLSY79 mothers answered only questions about the usual residence of and contact with their children.

Sample changes over time

Age shift in the child samples

The age distribution of interviewed women in 2020 (between 56 to 63 as of December 31, 2020) underscores the fact that most NLSY79 women have reached the end of their childbearing years. Recent survey rounds also mark a continuing shift in the age composition of the child sample from a predominantly younger child group to a more young adult population. As of the current survey round, about 99 percent of the interviewed child sample is age 15 or older and about 95% are age 21 and over. Since very few, if any, children remain to be born in forthcoming NLSY79 survey rounds, a rapid transition towards an even older child population is evident, with the majority of the children in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Paralleling this shift, the younger component of the overall sample increasingly resides in middle class households and were born to women at older ages. This trend implies that users should exercise caution in undertaking within-sample analyses in which comparisons are made between children at different ages.

Table 2 shows child's year of birth by mother's age at birth of child for all NLSY79 children. Whereas at one time a large proportion of NLSY79 children had been born to adolescent mothers, nearly all of the children and young adults in the current sample had been born to women age 20 and over. In the current round, about 9% of interviewed young adults were born to adolescent mothers.

Sample limitations

Table 2 suggests one other caveat for studies that focus on the consequences of earlier, adolescent childbearing for this cohort of women. A modest proportion of the children ((311 of the 4,354 interviewed in the current survey) were born prior to the first NLSY79 interview round. If essential explanatory inputs for analysis include pre-1979 points (e.g., employment status in 1977 or early paternal presence in the home), sample size may be temporally constrained because of this left-censoring problem—the unavailability of some data elements for the pre-survey period. All such cases fall in the upper young adult ages, and could affect analyses for young adult children born in 1978 or earlier.

The increasing heterogeneity of the child sample may also be noted in other ways from Table 2. While there has been an increase in sample heterogeneity over the years, users should remain mindful that the oldest and youngest children in the sample are likely to come from families that differ in their socio-economic characteristics. However, it is also becoming increasingly reasonable to generalize from the NLSY79 sample of children to broader representations of selected U.S. child populations; overall, it is worth reiterating that as of this date, the cohort of women have completed essentially all of their childbearing.

Sample changes over time

The increasing heterogeneity of the child sample over time may be noted from Table 3. This table summarizes the age mix as well as the race/ethnic mix of the child sample as it moves forward in time from 1986, the first year of the child interviews, to the current survey round. Over time, there is a gradual transition towards an older average age at interview. Notwithstanding this increase in age, the overall sample has changed very little over time in its racial and ethnic makeup. There has been some counterbalancing between higher minority birthrates and the reality that a higher proportion of the births in recent years are to older, white women. As evident in Table 3, sample sizes have varied over the years, largely reflecting the variations in data collection already noted. The single largest cause of decline from 1988 to 1990 was the removal of the economically disadvantaged white oversample. The slight decline from 1996 to 1998 was related to the capping of interviews in that year at age 20; and the decline from 1998 to 2000 reflected the one-time exclusion of a part of the black and Hispanic oversamples. In the 2002 interview round, there is no age or other sample exclusion, which accounts for the increase in sample size between 2000 and 2002. This increase is most evident in the young adult ages as the larger age cohorts continue to shift from child to young adult.

Changes in the Young Adult sample

When the Young Adult Survey was first fielded in 1994, 1,111 older children were identified as eligible to be fielded, and interviews were conducted with 979 Young Adults. The Young Adults interviewed in the 1994 survey round were disproportionately Black or Hispanic and born to younger mothers. In 1998 only, an additional age restriction was imposed: respondents had to be under 21 by the date of interview. A decision was made to retain data from the 15 Young Adults who were inadvertently interviewed even though they had already turned 21. In 2000, approximately 40 percent of black and Hispanic oversample cases between age 15 and 20 were not fielded. Beginning in 2010, respondents over the age of 30 are interviewed every four years. (The interviewed sample is selected by age as of December 31 of the survey year, so that approximately half of the older young adults are eligible each round. Since 2010, young adults age 31-32, 35-36, 39-40, 43-44, etc. as of December 31 of the target year are not fielded). Table 4 shows the sample of Young Adults interviewed in 2020.

Sibling and cousin samples

When the sample selection for NLSY79 was made, all individuals living in the selected households who were between the ages of 14 and 21 on December 31, 1978, were selected for sample inclusion. In many instances, siblings were included in the original sample. This has methodological implications for those who are concerned about the lack of complete independence between all of the NLSY79 cases. There are many main Youth sisters who are respondents in the NLSY79 sample. The Sample Design & Screening Process section of the NLSY79 User's Guide details this information, so it is not explained extensively here.

The focus in this section is on the children who have been born to the female respondents in this kinship sample. From the child's perspective, children of sisters are cousins to each other. Over the course of the survey years, more than 3,000 children in the sample have been identified as having an aunt in the NLSY79 main youth sample. Most of these children have one aunt, but smaller numbers have multiple aunts. While the number of children who are cousins is considerable, the precise numbers available for a particular research project are contingent on the objectives of the research. For example, will the researcher limit the sample to children or women interviewed in only the current survey year or will the researcher include mothers or children interviewed in one or more of the earlier survey rounds?

More typically, researchers utilize the large number of child sibling sample cases that have been born to the female respondents. As seen in Table 5, most of the women have had more than one child, including a rather large sample of women who have had three or more children, as they approach the end of their childbearing years.

NLSY79 female respondents who are sisters, as well as children born to those sisters, can be readily identified. NLSY79 female respondents who are sisters and who were resident in the same household when the original main youth sample was selected can be identified by variables on the child file called SISTID1- SISTID3 (C00010.00-C00012.00). Children born to a particular respondent all share the same stem as the ID of their mother, with an additional two-digit identifier (01, 02 etc.) that typically (although not in all cases) clarifies their sibling placement.

In addition to multiple births, there are many family units where two or more children are widely spaced in age, thus enhancing the possibility of exploring the impact of childbearing on children that have been born to the same mother at different maternal life cycle stages. Larger sample sizes can be generated by incorporating women who were not interviewed in the current survey year but who had been interviewed in earlier survey rounds.

Depending on research topic, some users may be interested in young adults with siblings in the young adult sample. Sample sizes for this subset are shown in Table 6. Most of these siblings have also been interviewed in past rounds, providing researchers with ample data to carry out within-family analyses.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (NLSY79) is a multi-purpose panel survey that originally included a nationally representative sample of 12,686 men and women who were all 14 to 21 years of age on December 31, 1978. Annual interviews have been conducted with NLSY79 main Youth respondents since 1979, with a shift to a biennial interview mode after 1994. As of the 2020 interview round, the NLSY79 women had attained the ages of 56 to 63 (as of December 31, 2020). The NLSY79 women are no longer in child-bearing age; however, mothers who have missed several rounds may still report older children for the first time.

• Overview
• NLSY79
• NLSY79 Child Survey
• NLSY79 Young Adult Survey
• Maternal Data & Family Linkages
• Using the Child/Young Adult documentation

Overview of the Child/Young Adult sample

Age of the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult cohorts

Born between 1970 and 2014. At the time of the first interview in 1986, child ages ranged from 0-16 years. In 2020, NLSY79 children 12 and older were included in the Young Adult data collection, with an age range of 12 to 50 on the date of interview.

Number of respondents in survey

11,551 children born to NLSY79 mothers as of 2020. The size of the Child-Young Adult sample, which increased over time, depends on the number of children born to female NLSY79 respondents. Although NLSY79 women are no longer of child-bearing age, older children may be reported for the first time if a respondent is interviewed after missing several survey rounds.

Child/Young Adult sex

In total cohort to date:

• Males: 5,898 (51%)
• Females: 5,651 (49%)

Note: 2 refusals

Race/ethnicity based on the race/ethnicity of the mother

In total cohort to date:

• Non-black/non-Hispanic: 6,131 (53%)
• Black: 3,196 (28%)
• Hispanic or Latino: 2,224 (19%)

Sample sizes

5,255 children reported by 2,922 interviewed mothers in 1986; 6,109 children under age 15 and 980 young adults reported by 3,464 mothers interviewed in 1994 (the first Young Adult survey year). In 2018, interviewed NLSY79 mothers completed a limited number of questions about health and schooling for 236 children 18 years old or younger, and 4,965 children 12 and older were interviewed as Young Adults. In 2020, 4354 children 12 and older were interviewed as Young Adults. See Sample Design for information about sample restrictions and exclusions over the period of the survey.

NLSY79

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, the NLSY79 contains extensive information about the employment, education, training, and family experiences of the respondents.  The survey originally included substantial oversamples of African-American, Hispanic, economically disadvantaged white, and military youth. Reflecting budget constraints, the latter two oversamples have been largely deleted from the main Youth sample.  The remaining sample, however, retains its national representation. With appropriate weights, the NLSY79 may be considered as representative of the living members of a national sample of men and women who were 14 to 21 years of age on December 31, 1978.  Note that this representation does not include individuals who were not living in the US in 1979, but subsequently migrated into the US. With appropriate weights, the children of the female respondents in this sample may be considered a representative sample of children who have been born to this national sample of women. Readers seeking more detail about the NLSY79 main Youth sample of men and women are referred to the NLSY79 section of this website.

The NLSY79 has collected pre- and postnatal care information from the sample women as they became mothers. For example, fertility data contain details on all pregnancies/live births, a cumulative inventory of all children reported, and contraceptive methods used. This information also includes the mother's health during pregnancy, and prenatal practices like the extent of alcohol use or smoking and the use of prenatal care. Also available are gestation length, birth weight, as well as infant feeding practices, illnesses and well-baby care for the first year of life.

NLSY79 Child Survey

In 1986, a separate survey of all children born to NLSY79 female respondents began, greatly expanding the breadth of child-specific information collected. The children of NLSY79 female respondents were assessed and interviewed every two years through 2014. In 2016, only the mother-reported assessments were completed as part of the Mother Supplement. In 2018, no mother-reported assessments were completed, but mothers were asked many of the child health and schooling questions from the Mother Supplement. The assessments measure cognitive ability, temperament, motor and social development, behavior problems, and self-competence of the children as well as the quality of their home environment. Specific assessments include:

• the Home Observation for Measurement of Environment (HOME)
• a set of Temperament scales
• Motor and Social Development reports
• a Behavior Problems Index
• the Digit Span scale of the Wechsler
• Self-Perception Profile for Children
• the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R)
• the Peabody Individual Achievement Tests (PIAT) for math and reading

Certain assessments and supplemental reports are collected from the child's mother. This includes child demographic and family background characteristics, and information on the child's home environment, including maternal emotional and verbal responsiveness and involvement with her child. Mothers report on Head Start and preschool enrollment, schooling, grade repetition, school behavior, educational expectations, peer relations, and religious attendance and training for their school-age children. Detailed health information and physical characteristics are collected for each child, including:

• prenatal history
• birth weight and type of birth
• post-birth care including feeding practices and immunizations
• hair and eye color and handedness
• height and weight
• limiting health conditions affecting activities or schooling, including asthma (since 2004)
• use of medicine, medical equipment or medical care,
• nature and timing of accidents and injuries and hospitalization history
• routine health care and dental checkups
• psychological treatment or referral
• health insurance coverage

From 1988 through 2014, additional information was collected from children aged 10 and older on a variety of attitudes, social interactions, behaviors, and activities, including:

• Activities (school, work, after-school, volunteering)
• Attitudes (toward school; gender roles; loneliness; risk-taking; expectations; aspirations)
• Parent-child interaction
• Family decision making
• Peer relationships
• Religious attendance
• Computer use
• Smoking, alcohol and drug use; antisocial behaviors

School Survey

A one-time school survey in 1995-1996, completed by school personnel, contains information on each child's achievement, attendance, progress, activities, grades, and test scores.

NLSY79 Young Adult Survey

Starting in 1994, children ages 15 and older complete a lengthy interview modeled initially on the NLSY79 main Youth questionnaire but tailored to this second generation and designed to maximize both life course and cross-generational analyses. Information collected from these Young Adults includes education, training, employment, health, dating, fertility and parenting, marriage and cohabitation, household composition, and social-psychological indicators. These Young Adult respondents also answer questions on parent-child conflict, sexual activity, participation in delinquent or criminal activities, substance use, pro-social behavior, political attitudes, and their expectations for the future.

Starting in 2016, children ages 12 to 14 have also been included in the Young Adult Survey. Children age 14 go through the same questions as 15 and 16 year olds. Children ages 12 and 13, however, answer far fewer questions; some questions from the Child-Self Administered Supplement have been incorporated into the Young Adult Survey for this age group.

Geographic data

Geographic residence information is available for all children and young adults. Because respondents in the Child sample must live with their mothers at least part of the time to be included in the sample, users interested in residence data must access the main NLSY79 restricted-use geocode data and merge the mother's geographic data with the child information in the NLSY79 Child/Young Adult file. (More information about the main NLSY79 geocode files is available in the NLSY79 User's Guide.) For Young Adult respondents, the county and state of residence are provided in the restricted-use geocode data. A detailed description of the Young Adult geographic variables available is provided in the Geographic Residence & Geocode Data section. Through 2002, both the main NLSY79 and Young Adult geocode files also include contextual variables on topics such as demographics of the local population, income and poverty levels, and crime rates. For all survey years, researchers can use the geocode data to match NLSY79 data with other data sources to investigate a wide variety of community characteristics and contextual variables. These confidential files are available for use only at the BLS National Office in Washington, DC, and at Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDCs) on statistical research projects approved by BLS. Access to data is subject to the availability of space and resources. Information about applying to use the zip code and Census tract data is available on the BLS Restricted Data Access page.

Maternal data and family linkages

The NLSY79 Child/Young Adult files can be combined with information from the complete longitudinal record of the NLSY79 mothers, by merging with extracts from the main Youth. The NLSY79 main Youth file contains histories of employment, education, income, training, work attitudes, aspirations, health, marriage, fertility, household composition, and residence. Information is also available on childcare, substance use, illegal activities, aptitude, and selected social-psychological scales such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem, the Rotter Internal-External Locus of Control, women's roles, the Pearlin Mastery, and the CES-D depression scale. The Child/Young Adult dataset contains a number of created variables providing information on the mother with respect to the child's life situation. These constructed variables, drawn from the mothers' record, include: family background, household composition, educational background of members of the household, and maternal health history. The dataset also includes information on the childcare experiences during the first three years of life for all children of a least one year of age.

The availability of comprehensive data collected throughout childhood and into adulthood on the Children of the NLSY79, coupled with longitudinal information on the family background, education, employment histories, and economic 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 as well as adult outcomes. Because information is collected for all children born to female respondents, the NLSY79 Child/Young Adult data also offer opportunities for comparing developmental and other outcome measures between siblings and cousins. The relatively large sample of siblings and cousins permits researchers to explore within- and cross-family effects to a greater extent than is typically possible.

Using the Child/Young Adult documentation

This data user's guide provides substantive and technical information about the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult survey data. The current Child/Young Adult data user's guide is best used in conjunction with a variety of other materials including:

1. the NLSY79 Child Assessments: Selected Tables (available on the Research/Technical Reports page)
2. the 1986-1990 Child Handbook and The NLSY Children, 1992: Description and Evaluation (available on the Research/Technical Reports page)
3. the NLSY79 User's Guide, and
4. the questionnaires that are used in the field to collect the data for children, young adults and main Youth respondents.

Users interested in the literature related to the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult surveys can access the NLS Annotated Bibliography, a comprehensive, searchable online database of research based on the National Longitudinal Surveys. CHRR also generates a number of tailored bibliographies that list research based specifically on the Child and Young Adult Data. The section of this guide titled References & Bibliography provides details about bibliographic resources related to the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult surveys.

Questions about the NLS data and public use materials should be addressed to NLS User Services. The Child and Young Adult data can be accessed or downloaded, at no cost, using the NLS Investigator. User comments regarding any aspect of this survey, including suggestions for additions or deletions, are welcomed.

Child Assessments: Selected Tables

These descriptive assessments reports contain cross-tabulations that describe the assessments administered to NLSY79 Children who were interviewed in each survey year. Starting in 1994, these assessments have been administered only to children who have not attained their 15th birthday by the end of the survey calendar year. See the Assessments section of the Topical Guide for information about eligible ages for each assessment in each survey round.

• 1994 (PDF)
• 1996 (PDF)
• 1998 (PDF)
• 2000 (PDF)
• 2002 (PDF)
• 2004
  • HOME-SF
  • Temperament
  • Behavior Problems
  • Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)
  • Memory for Digit Span
  • PIAT Mathematics
  • PIAT Reading Recognition
  • PIAT Reading Comprehension
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)
  • (Note that Motor & Social Development was not included in the Child Survey in 2004.)
• 2006
  • HOME-SF
  • Temperament
  • Motor & Social Development
  • Behavior Problems
  • Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)
  • Memory for Digit Span
  • PIAT Mathematics
  • PIAT Reading Recognition
  • PIAT Reading Comprehension
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)
• 2008
  • HOME-SF
  • Temperament
  • Motor & Social Development
  • Behavior Problems
  • Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)
  • Memory for Digit Span
  • PIAT Mathematics
  • PIAT Reading Recognition
  • PIAT Reading Comprehension
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)
• 2010
  • HOME-SF
  • Temperament
  • Motor & Social Development
  • Behavior Problems
  • Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPPC)
  • Memory for Digit Span
  • PIAT Mathematics
  • PIAT Reading Recognition
  • PIAT Reading Comprehension
  • Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT)

Child Survey Resources

• NLSY Child Handbook: A Guide & Resource for the NLSY 1986 Child Data (PDF; published June 1989): Part two (appendixes)
• Children of the NLSY: 1988 Tabulations and Summary Discussion (PDF; published March 1991)
• Maternal-Child Health Data from the NLSY (PDF; 1988 survey round, published 1991)
• 1990 Child Handbook: A Guide to the 1986-1990 NLSY Child Data (PDF; published October 1993)): Part one (text), The Ten-and-Over Years: Self Reports from the Children of the NLSY (PDF; 1990 survey round, published 1993)
• The NLSY Children, 1992: Description and Evaluation (PDF; published September 1995)
• School Survey User's Guide (PDF; revised 2002)
• Child Assessment Research Bibliograpy (PDF; 2010)
• Child Health Bibliography (PDF; 2010)
• Maternal Employment & Child Outcomes Bibliography (PDF; 2011)

Child Survey Research Reports

• Absent Fathers and Child Development: Emotional and Cognitive Effects at Ages Five to Nine (Mott, 1993, PDF)
• Child Home Environment as a Mediating Construct Between SES and Child Outcomes (Parcel/Menaghan, 1989, PDF)
• Following Children over Time: Child Development and Its Linkages with Family Social and Economic Transitions (Baker/Mott, 1992, PDF)
• Measuring Behavioral Problems in a Large Cross Sectional Survey: Reliability and Validity for Children of the NLS Youth (Parcel/Menaghan, 1988, PDF)
• Measuring Temperament in a Large Cross Sectional Survey: Reliability and Validity for Children of the NLS Youth (Parcel/Menaghan, 1988, PDF)
• Participation in Project Head Start: Determinants and Possible Intermediate-Term Consequences (Mott/Quinlan, 1991, PDF)
• Patterning of Child Assessment Completion Rates in the NLSY: 1986-1996 (Mott/Pierfelice, 1998, PDF)

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.

R19-2000 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult public release, April 2002

Over samples reduced in 2000. In Round 19-2000, due to funding constraints, children of the black and Hispanic over samples were reduced by about 38%. These excluded cases were randomly selected and will be eligible for re-interview in Round 20-2002.

HOME Recode short titles. Several of the home recode titles (e.g., C19028., C19055., C19082., C25091., C25119., and C25146.) do not have a space between the "&" and the next word (e.g., & DAD). When running SAS this produces a warning, but does not affect the use of the title.

Interview status flags reduced and simplified. In R19-2000, the set of child interview status flags has been reduced to 7 from 8 for 1994-1998. The key child interview status flag (CINTRV2000) has been created as a dichotomous rather than a 7-category variable as in 1998.

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.

R20-2002 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Public Release, November 2005

Appendix B in the NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Users Guide incorrectly specifies "perseverance" (instead of "cooperation") as an item in the composition of the Temperament "sociability" subscale. The following 3 items (documented with the correct Child reference #s for each survey year) comprise the Sociability scale:

Attitude:
C0525200        CS863131        CHILD'S ATTITUDE 1986 
C0715300        CS883330        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1988 
C0926000        CS906021        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1990 
C1115500        CS926135        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1992 
C1222900        CS94EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1994 
C1539800        CS96EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1996 
C1784900        CS98EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1998 
C2295500        CSEV-1A          TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 2000 
C2574800        CSEV-1A          TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 2002
Rapport:
C0525300        CS863132        CHILD'S RAPPORT 1986
C0715400        CS883331        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1988
C0926100        CS906023        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1990
C1115600        CS926137        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1992
C1223000        CS94EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1994
C1539900        CS96EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1996
C1785000        CS98EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1998
C2295600        CSEV-1B         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 2000
C2574900        CSEV-1B         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 2002

Cooperation (NOT perseverance):
C0525500        CS863134        CHILD'S COOPERATION 1986
C0715600        CS883333        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1988
C0926300        CS906027        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1990
C1115800        CS926141        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1992
C1223200        CS94EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1994
C1540100        CS96EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1996
C1785200        CS98EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1998
C2295800        CSEV-1D         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2000
C2575100        CSEV-1D         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2002

R20-2002 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Public Release, June 2005

The following YA2002 items have the wrong distribution code assigned to them.
The correct codes are as follows:

Correction to Y14010.00 HOW MUCH DOES R TELL PARENTS ABOUT WHO THEY SOCIALIZE WITH? (YASR-3HC)

Correct distribution code: 1. Nothing at all; 2. Just a little; 3. Some; 4. A lot

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.

The Investigator contains the most recent release of each NLS cohort with corrections made to items noted in the Errata of prior releases. Known problems with the current release of the NLSY79 are found below. Users are urged to access the NLS cohorts through the Investigator, if they are not already doing so. 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 NLSY97 urban/rural variables for rounds 8-11 will be corrected on the next public data release, scheduled for July 2010. 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 Young Adult Release

The current data release for the NLSY79 Child data through 2006 and Young Adult data through 2008 has a systematic error in the codebook pages. A child who had previously been included in the database was determined to be a nonbiological child and removed from the database. The codebook, however, still has this child reflected in the counts but as missing on all variables, including C00001.00. When the codebook is rerun for the final release of the Child 2008 data, this anomaly will no longer be present in the codebook.

R22-2006 NLSY79 Child-Young Adult Release

An error in the construction of the information sheet flag indicating whether or not the father of the respondent is deceased led respondents whose last Young Adult interview was in 2004 to have this flag indicate incorrectly that their father was deceased. These respondents were subsequently skipped over questions concerning their contact with and closeness to their fathers. Users should note that respondents who were first-time Young adults in 2006 were unaffected by this problem and were branched correctly into questions concerning their biological fathers, as were older Young Adults who were noninterviews in 2004 but interviewed in 2006. Users should also note that some of the affected questions would only have been asked of respondents under age 21; users are encouraged to consult the questionnaire to determine ship patterns surrounding these questions. The affected questions, which will show a higher than expected level of missing values, are as follows:

R22-2006 NLSY79 Child: Errata/Documentation Update

1) NLSY79 Child HOME recode items for ages 6-9 and 10-14

The documentation for items HOME-C09, HOME-C10, HOME-D08, and HOME-D09 is listed incorrectly in Appendices A-2c & A-2d of the NLSY79 Child Young Adult Data Users Guide. The correct recoding of values for these items appears below:

2) Appendix B in the 2004 and 2006 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides

Appendix B in the 2004 and 2006 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides does not specify the precise question names of the items that comprise the Sociability scale for survey years 1986-1998. In the 1986-1992 survey years, the questions are named according to deck and column from the paper questionnaires. From 1994-1998, the naming convention for these three items is as follows: CSYYEV-1A, CSYYEV-1B, CSYYEV-1C, where "YY" refers to the survey year. The correctly documented items for 1986-1998 are as follows:

Appendix B. Temperament Scales - Sociability: Qnames for 1986-1998

Attitude:
C0525200        CS863131        CHILD'S ATTITUDE 1986
C0715300        CS883330        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1988
C0926000        CS906021        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1990
C1115500        CS926135        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1992
C1222900        CS94EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1994
C1539800        CS96EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1996
C1784900        CS98EV-1A       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S ATTITUDE TOWARD BEING TESTED 1998
Rapport:
C0525300        CS863132        CHILD'S RAPPORT 1986
C0715400        CS883331        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1988
C0926100        CS906023        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1990
C1115600        CS926137        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1992
C1223000        CS94EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1994
C1539900        CS96EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1996
C1785000        CS98EV-1B       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S RAPPORT WITH INTERVIEWER 1998
Cooperation:
C0525500        CS863134        CHILD'S COOPERATION 1986
C0715600        CS883333        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1988
C0926300        CS906027        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1990
C1115800        CS926141        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1992
C1223200        CS94EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1994
C1540100        CS96EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1996
C1785200        CS98EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1998

Appendix B in the 2000 and 2002 NLSY79 Child/Young Adult Data Users Guides incorrectly specifies "perseverance" (instead of "cooperation") as an item in the composition of the Temperament "sociability" subscale. The following “cooperation” item (documented with the Child question names and reference #s for each survey year) is part of the Sociability scale, not the perseverance item:

Cooperation (NOT perseverance):
C0525500        CS863134        CHILD'S COOPERATION 1986
C0715600        CS883333        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1988
C0926300        CS906027        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1990
C1115800        CS926141        TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1992
C1223200        CS94EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1994
C1540100        CS96EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1996
C1785200        CS98EV-1D       TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 1998
C2295800        CSEV-1D         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2000
C2575100        CSEV-1D         TESTING CONDITIONS: CHILD'S COOPERATION 2002

Please note that Appendix B in the Child/Young Adult Data Users Guide after 2002 correctly specifies the composition of the sociability scale. NLSY79 Child/YA guides prior to 2000 did not contain this appendix.

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.