Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity Temperament Survey, Wave 1, 1994-1995 (ICPSR 13586)
Version Date: Feb 17, 2006 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Felton J. Earls, Harvard Medical School;
Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Scientific Director. Columbia University. Teacher's College. Center for the Study of Children and Families;
Stephen W. Raudenbush, Scientific Director. University of Michigan. School of Education and Survey Research Center;
Robert J. Sampson, Scientific Director. Harvard University. Department of Sociology
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR13586.v1
Version V1
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Summary View help for Summary
The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) was a large-scale, interdisciplinary study of how families, schools, and neighborhoods affect child and adolescent development. One component of the PHDCN was the Longitudinal Cohort Study, which was a series of coordinated longitudinal studies that followed over 6,000 randomly selected children, adolescents, and young adults, and their primary caregivers over time to examine the changing circumstances of their lives, as well as the personal characteristics, that might lead them toward or away from a variety of antisocial behaviors. Numerous measures were administered to respondents to gauge various aspects of human development, including individual differences, as well as family, peer, and school influences. One of the measures employed by the Longitudinal Cohort Study was the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament Survey. The EASI Temperament Survey, introduced in the mid-1970s by Arnold H. Buss and Robert Plomin, was designed to evaluate subjects based on four temperaments (emotionality, activity, sociability, and impulsivity). For the purposes of the PHDCN Longitudinal Cohort Study, the EASI Temperament Survey was administered both to subjects and primary caregivers (PC). The young adults comprising cohort 18 completed the EASI Temperament Survey as a self-report inventory, while the primary caregivers of children belonging to cohorts 3 through 15 completed the EASI Temperament measure as a parental ratings survey. Respondents were asked to determine how accurately the behaviors or personality traits mentioned, characterized the subject in question, either themselves or their child. The responses to the EASI measure were used to evaluate the subjects' various social tendencies, emotional characteristics, and personality traits.
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Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.
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Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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(1)The Murray Research Center conducted the initial data and documentation processing for this collection. (2) At present, only a restricted version of the data is available (see RESTRICTIONS field). A downloadable version of the data is slated to be available in the near future.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
The Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) was a large-scale, interdisciplinary study of how families, schools, and neighborhoods affect child and adolescent development. It was designed to advance the understanding of the developmental pathways of both positive and negative human social behaviors. In particular, the project examined the causes and pathways of juvenile delinquency, adult crime, substance abuse, and violence. At the same time, the project provided a detailed look at the environments in which these social behaviors took place by collecting substantial amounts of data about urban Chicago, including its people, institutions, and resources.
Longitudinal Cohort Study
One component of the PHDCN was the Longitudinal Cohort Study, which was a series of coordinated longitudinal studies that followed over 6,000 randomly selected children, adolescents, and young adults, and their primary caregivers over time to examine the changing circumstances of their lives, as well as the personal characteristics, that might lead them toward or away from a variety of antisocial behaviors. The age cohorts include birth (0), 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 years. Numerous measures were administered to respondents to gauge various aspects of human development, including individual differences, as well as family, peer, and school influences.
Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament Survey
The Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament Survey was included in the Longitudinal Cohort Study to assess the subject's temperamental disposition. Buss and Plomin, the originators of the EASI Temperament Survey, defined the four temperaments in the following manner. Emotionality refers to the individual's intensity of reaction to a given set of circumstances. Activity is the total amount of energy expended by a person. Sociability is characterized by a desire to be with other people. And Impulsivity is the inclination to respond to various impulses and urges quickly as opposed to constraining those responses. The EASI Temperament Survey was given to both subjects (Cohort 18) and primary caregivers (Cohorts 3-15) in order to ascertain whether or not the subjects participating in the Longitudinal Cohort Study exhibited characteristics describing one or more of the four temperaments.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods
The city of Chicago was selected as the research site for the PHDCN because of its extensive racial, ethnic, and social-class diversity. The project collapsed 847 census tracts in the city of Chicago into 343 neighborhood clusters (NCs) based upon seven groupings of racial/ethnic composition and three levels of socioeconomic status. The NCs were designed to be ecologically meaningful. They were composed of geographically contiguous census tracts and geographic boundaries, and knowledge of Chicago's neighborhoods were considered in the definition of the NCs. Each NC was comprised of approximately 8,000 people.
Longitudinal Cohort Study
For the Longitudinal Cohort Study, a stratified probability sample of 80 neighborhoods was selected. The 80 NCs were sampled from the 21 strata (seven racial/ethnic groups by three socioeconomic levels) with the goal of representing the 21 cells as equally as possible to eliminate the confounding between racial/ethnic mix and socioeconomic status. Once the 80 NCs were chosen, then block groups were selected at random within each of the sample neighborhoods. A complete listing of dwelling units was collected for all sampled block groups. Pregnant women, children, and young adults in seven age cohorts (birth, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 years) were identified through in-person screening of approximately 40,000 dwelling units within the 80 NCs. The screening response rate was 80 percent. Children within six months of the birthday that qualified them for the sample were selected for inclusion in the Longitudinal Cohort Study. A total of 8,347 participants were identified through the screening. Of the eligible study participants, 6,228 were interviewed.
For all cohorts except 0 and 18, primary caregivers as well as the child were interviewed. The primary caregiver was the person found to spend the most time taking care of the child. Separate research assistants administered the primary caregiver interviews and the child interviews. The primary method of data collection was face-to-face interviewing, although participants who refused to complete the personal interview were administered a phone interview. Interviews were conducted in Spanish, English, and Polish. In Wave 1 the complete protocol was translated into Spanish and Polish. An interpreter was hired for participants who spoke a language other than English, Spanish, or Polish. Depending on the age and wave of data collection, participants were paid between $5 and $20 per interview. Other incentives, such as free passes to museums, the aquarium, and monthly drawing prizes were also included.
Interview protocols included a wide range of questions. For example, some questions assessed impulse control and sensation-seeking traits, cognitive and language development, leisure activities, delinquency and substance abuse, friends' activities, and self-perception, attitudes, and values. Caregivers were also interviewed about family structure, parent characteristics, parent-child relationships, parent discipline styles, family mental health, and family history of criminal behavior and drug use.
Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament Survey
There have been several versions of the Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament survey, however each successive version attempted to measure the temperamental inclinations of the respondents being observed. The EASI Temperament Survey as it appeared in the PHDCN Longitudinal Cohort Study was a 40-item questionnaire that obtained information about the participant's tendencies regarding four temperaments: sociability, activity, emotionality, and impulsivity. It was administered to parents of subjects, ages 3 to 15. Subjects, age 18, completed the survey for themselves. The response format for questionnaire portion of the EASI Temperament Survey was 1 = uncharacteristic, 2 = somewhat uncharacteristic, 3 = neither, 4 = somewhat characteristic, and 5 = characteristic. Respondents were required to select one and only one answer for each question. The mean response of various questions was taken to form ten different scales that assessed distinct aspects of the subject's temperamental makeup. Scores ranged from 1 to 5 with higher scores suggesting that the particular trait was more characteristic of the subject being observed.
Sample View help for Sample
Stratified probability sample.
Universe View help for Universe
Children, adolescents, young adults, and their primary caregivers, living in the city of Chicago in 1994.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
The Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity (EASI) Temperament Survey data contains a total of 50 variables. The first 40 variables contained the responses of the subjects and primary caregivers to whom the survey was administered during Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Cohort Study between the years of 1994 and 1995. The variables were all numeric due to the absence of open-ended questions in the survey instrument. In addition to the variables containing the respondents' answers, the dataset included ten scale variables. These scales were computed by taking the mean of the numeric responses to various questions found in the survey. For example, the Emotionality scale was determined by taking the mean of the responses to questions 9, 11, 16, 17, and 34 of the EASI Temperament Survey. The values for the scale variables were continuous values from 1 to 5. Variables for the Impulsivity, Inhibitory Control, Decision Time, Sensation Seeking, Persistence, Activity, Sociability, Shyness, and Sociability/Shyness scales were present in addition to the Emotionality scale. Finally, the data also contained administrative variables to record identification numbers for respondents and interviewers, as well as the time and date that the EASI Temperament Survey was completed.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
The overall response rate for Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Cohort Study was 75 percent or 6,228 participants. The response rates by cohort were:
- 76.2 percent (1,269) for Cohort 0
- 76.6 percent (1,003) for Cohort 3
- 75.0 percent (980) for Cohort 6
- 75.9 percent (828) for Cohort 9
- 74.3 percent (820) for Cohort 12
- 71.6 percent (696) for Cohort 15
- 70.3 percent (632) for Cohort 18
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
Scale variables include: Impulsivity, Inhibitory Control, Decision Time, Sensation Seeking, Persistence, Activity, Emotionality, Sociability, Shyness, and Sociability/Shyness.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2005-07-08
Version History View help for Version History
- Earls, Felton J., Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Robert J. Sampson. Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Emotionality, Activity, Sociability, and Impulsivity Temperament Survey, Wave 1, 1994-1995. ICPSR13586-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2005-07-08. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR13586.v1
2006-02-17 Data were moved to restricted access. The metadata record was changed accordingly.
2005-07-08 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.
One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.