family and parent relationships in the nlsy97 rt michael and ar datta, norc at the university of...

Family and Parent Relationships in the NLSY97RT Michael and AR Datta, NORC at the University of ChicagoNLS User Workshop

Columbus, Ohio

July 2007

NLS User Workshop 2007 -- Michael and Datta, NORC at the University of Chicago

Scope of this topic/session

Family and parent relationships Does not include key family relationships

addressed elsewhere: marriage/cohabitation and fertility/children

Touches briefly on household composition Focused on the NLSY97, brief discussion of

contrasts with other NLS data sets, even briefer comparisons with non-NLS data sets

Datta-Rupa

See thursday session on union formation (Alison)Wednesday session on fertility (Walker and Mott)Thursday session on household composition (Chuck)


NLSY97 Family and Parent Relationship Data can support analyses of: Family as the topic of interest Family as a determinant or mediator of other

outcomes Family as an independent control variable

when studying other topics


Who is a parent? What is a family? NLSY97 has taken an inclusive and detailed

approach to collecting family and parent data Data are available about:

Parents: biological, adopted, step, foster, grandparents who are primary custodians, etc.

Family: people you live with, biological parents and siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, step-parents


Exercise #1: Defining family

[See handout.] Any NLSY97 project on family and parent

relationships needs to grapple with what codes to use to define families and parents.

Looking at the 1999 household roster, determine which youth you would classify as living in two-parent households, one-parent households, or independently. Do all youths fit into one of these categories?


Types of Data about Families/Parents Family composition Dynamics of family composition Family behaviors (co-residence,

communication, migration) Family relationships (quality, activities,

subjective assessment) Attitudes and expectations about families


Sources of Family/Parent data in the NLSY97 Household Screener Youth Interview

Household Information, Childhood Retrospective, Self-Administered Questionnaire

Schooling, Income, Assets, Health, Child Care Parent Interview

Family Background, Calendar, SAQ, & “About Youth Info” Created variables from Youth Interview Siblings in the sample


Household Screener

Rostered: All members of HH from which youth was selected The following people if non-resident:

Biological parents of youth Full and half-siblings of youth (living and deceased) Anyone co-resident with the youth’s biological parents Youth’s biological children, spouses For all of these people, captured their relationship to youth,

and basic demographic characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, education, gender


Youth Interview

HHI, CHR, SAQ sections SCH (college finance), INC (allowances and

gifts), AST (inheritances and loans), CCA (childcare provided by Rs parents), HEA (major events: parent’s death or divorce), migration


Exercise #2: Using the Self-Administered data on parent-youth relationships Compare data for different types of mothers

(biological, adoptive, step, foster, other?) on the 1999 item ‘I think highly of [my mother figure].’


YSAQ-002 R34825.00 ([age as of 12/31/96] <= 14); /* R's age on Dec 31, 1996 was less than or equal to 14 */1 CONDITION APPLIES (Go to YSAQ-003)Go To: YSAQ-055

YSAQ-013 R34832.00 ([R lives with mother] >= 1); /* R lives with mother or mother figure */1 CONDITION APPLIES (Go to YSAQ-017)Go To: YSAQ-034

YSAQ-017 Please tell us whether you strongly disagree, disagree, are neutral, agree, or strongly agree with the following statements about the person referred to below. ([mother or mother figure])

YSAQ-018 R34833.00 I think highly of her.0 STRONGLY DISAGREE 3 AGREE1 DISAGREE 4 STRONGLY AGREE2 NEUTRAL OR MIXED


Parent Interview

Completed by a co-resident parent of the youth (preferred mothers); one parent could respond for multiple youths

Completed for 87% of youths in sample Covers child’s early schooling and residence

experience, and health Covers responding parent’s

background/employment history/marital history, background of child’s biological parents, expectations for child


Created Variables

Family process Distances between parents and youth and

prior addresses Characteristics of youth’s biological mother

and father (e.g., education, age at first marriage)


Siblings in the survey

Forty-five percent of NLSY97 youths (n=4035) have a sibling in the survey sample. Together, there are 2511 pairs of siblings in the data

Use variable ‘R1193000 SIDCODE 1997’ to identify siblings.


Exercise #2: Examining a single case Tracing through the Parent Interview, the

Childhood Retrospective, and any other relevant parts of the Youth Interviews, describe the youth's co-residence with parents and parent figures from age 0 to 14, and determine what 'mother figure' the R spent the most time with between the ages of 0 and 14.


Comparison with C/YA of NLSY79 NLSY97

Limited differentiating between co- and non-resident parents; also non-parent adults (e.g., mom’s partner)

Symmetrical (to mothers) information about youths’ fathers, especially non-coresident or estranged

Behavioral dimensions of youth-parent relationship (migration, co-residence,etc.)

Child/Young Adult of the NLSY Extensive data on qualitative dimensions of youth-parent

relationship Unparalleled data on mothers (NLSY79 youth) Prospective information on early childhood and pre-

adolescence

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