Three-Generation National Survey of Black American Families, 1979-1981 (ICPSR 9288)
Version Date: Sep 26, 2022 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
James S. (James Sidney) Jackson, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center;
M. Belinda Tucker, University of Michigan. Institute for Social Research. Survey Research Center
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09288.v3
Version V3 (see more versions)
Summary View help for Summary
This dataset was created by merging information collected from three questionnaires that form part of the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), 1979-1980 (ICPSR 8512). The three questionnaires were (1) the original cross-sectional survey questionnaire, (2) the re-interview questionnaire, and (3) the family members questionnaire. All three were administered from 1979-1981. The unit of analysis in this dataset is three generations of a family, or a "triad." Each unit or record has identical variables for the three individuals making up a triad (i.e., a grandparent, parent, and child). There are 510 triads in this dataset.
The study explores feelings and attitudes across the three generations of Black Americans regarding neighborhood-community integration, services, crime and community contact, the role of religion and the church, physical and mental health, and self-esteem. Employment, the effects of chronic unemployment, the effects of race on the job, and interaction with family and friends are also examined. In addition, the survey provides information on racial attitudes, race identity, group stereotypes, and race ideology. Demographic variables include age, education, income, occupation, and political behavior and affiliation.
Citation View help for Citation
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Funding View help for Funding
Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
City
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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This collection is related to the following studies: National Survey of American Life: Multi-Generational and Caribbean Cross-Section Studies, Guyana, Jamaica, [United States], 2004-2005 (ICPSR 36406); National Survey of American Life - Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), 2001-2004 (ICPSR 36380); National Survey of American Life Self-Administered Questionnaire (NSAL-SAQ), February 2001-June 2003 (ICPSR 27121); and Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001-2003 [United States] (ICPSR 20240). For similar study information and characteristics, please refer to all four studies.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
This study explores feelings and attitudes across three generations of Black Americans regarding a variety of topics, including neighborhood-community integration, services, crime and community contact, the role of religion and the church, physical and mental health, and self-esteem. Employment, the effects of chronic unemployment, the effects of race on the job, and interaction with family and friends are also examined. In addition, the survey provides information on racial attitudes and identity, group stereotypes, and race ideology. Demographic variables include age, education, income, occupation, and political behavior and affiliation.
Study Design View help for Study Design
Three questionnaires were administered: 1) the original cross-sectional survey of Black Americans, 2) the re-interview questionnaire, and 3) the family members' questionnaire. All three questionnaires were administered during 1979 and 1980.
The cross-sectional sample was a self-representing national sample of 2,107 Black Americans; if respondents from this sample had two other family members who were of two different generations than the respondent and were still alive (e.g., if a respondent had a daughter and a granddaughter), then interviews were sought for those two family members. The same cross-sectional respondents were re-interviewed using the re-interview questionnaire.
Sample View help for Sample
National multistage probability sample. The sample is self-weighting. Every Black American household in the continental United States had an equal probability of being selected.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Black United States citizens 18 years of age or older.
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 first set of variables, V1000 to V3072, are the responses for the oldest generation (grandparent); V4000 to V6072 are the responses for the middle generation (parent); and V7000 to V9072 are the responses for the youngest generation (child).
The original cross-section interview covers nine topic areas: Neighborhood, Religion, Health and Problems, Employment Status, Family and Relationships, Use of Help Resources, Group and Personal Identity, Personal Information, and Roots. Also included are a set of interviewer observation variables, followed by the coversheet variables. The re-interview covers four topic areas: Family Relationships, Family Composition, Three-Generational Issues, and Work and Family Economic Well-Being, followed by interviewer observations and coversheet variables.
It should be noted that not all respondents were asked the same questions, and therefore, some questions may have a significant amount of missing data.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
The number of cross-sectional respondents who were eligible for the three generation study was 1,122. Of these, 865 agreed to participate. There was further attrition due to non-response of some family members, therefore, information for all three generations was collected on 510 families (complete triads). If only one family member agreed to be interviewed, they form part of the family dyads dataset which also contains the complete triads as part of the dataset.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1996-10-13
Version History View help for Version History
2022-09-26 Updated data for this study were included as part of RCMD's curation of relatively new National Survey of American Life (NSAL) data. The updated dataset has been curated to current standards, with the considerations of data accessibility and disclosure risk today.
2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:- Jackson, James S. (James Sidney), and M. Belinda Tucker. Three-Generation National Survey of Black American Families, 1979-1981. ICPSR09288-v3. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2022-09-26. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR09288.v3
1998-01-16 Several corrupted variables have been corrected in the data file, and variable formats in the SPSS export file have been corrected. Also, the SAS and SPSS data definition statements have been revised to match the changes to the data file.
1996-10-13 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 consistency checks.
- Created variable labels and/or value labels.
- Standardized missing values.
- Created online analysis version with question text.
- 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.