National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence II, 1993-2012 [United States] (ICPSR 36177)

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

Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

To obtain lifetime and one year incidence estimates of a comprehensive range of childhood victimizations across gender, race, and developmental stage using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ).

Study Design View help for Study Design

A nationwide sample which excluded any phone numbers with area codes assigned within the state of New Hampshire was constructed using four frames: (1) 801,317 landline telephone numbers from which telephone households could be drawn by random digit dialing (RDD); (2) 5,000 cell-phone telephone numbers from which a sample of cell phone users could be drawn by RDD; (3) an address-based sample (ABS) of 70,924 cell phone and residential numbers; and (4) a pre-screened sample of 3,573 telephone numbers of households with children from a recent national RDD survey. The compiled frame yielded 3,259 residential RDD interviews, 31 cell phone RDD interviews, 750 ABS interviews, and 463 pre-screened sample interviews for a total of 4,503 completed interviews.

Sample View help for Sample

A nationwide sample which excluded any phone numbers with area codes assigned within the state of New Hampshire was constructed using four frames: (1) 801,317 landline telephone numbers from which telephone households could be drawn by random digit dialing (RDD); (2) 5,000 cell-phone telephone numbers from which a sample of cell phone users could be drawn by RDD; (3) an address-based sample (ABS) of 70,924 cell phone and residential numbers; and (4) a pre-screened sample of 3,573 telephone numbers of households with children from a recent national RDD survey. The compiled frame yielded 3,259 residential RDD interviews, 31 cell phone RDD interviews, 750 ABS interviews, and 463 pre-screened sample interviews for a total of 4,503 interviews. A short interview was conducted with an adult caregiver (usually a parent) to obtain family demographic information. One child was randomly selected from all eligible children in a household by selecting the child with the most recent birthday. If the selected child was 1 month to 9 years old, the main interview was conducted with the caregiver. If the selected child was 10-17 years old, the main interview was conducted with the child.

Time Method View help for Time Method

Universe View help for Universe

Children and youth ages 1 month to 18 years residing in the contiguous United States excluding New Hampshire

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 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NATSCEV) II consists of multiple sections: parent screener, background questions, Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) screener questions, social support, mental health, NATSCEV screener questions, JVQ and NATSCEV follow up questions, lifetime and past year adversity, internet victimization, community disorder, delinquency, self-concept, parental conflict, alcohol use, prevention program participation, and exposure to family violence follow up questions. Each section has been derived from the data collection instrument and is described in detail below. The dataset includes 3,742 variables with a total of 4503 observations.

1. Parent Screener - Variables pertaining to demographic information such as social economic status, race and ethnicity, age of respondent, date of birth, marital status, household composition and educational level. In addition, variables pertaining to mental health and general health for parent and youth are included.
2. Background Questions - Respondents were asked school and education related questions such as how much does the respondent like to read and how much homework does the respondent usually do. In addition, respondents were asked about extracurricular activities such as after school program participation and leisure time.
3. Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ) Screener Questions - Variables pertain to conventional crime, child maltreatment, peer and sibling victimization, sexual assault, witnessing and indirect victimization.
4. Social Support - Variables pertaining to the perceived amount of social support a respondent received. For example, "My family really tries to help me".
5. Mental Health - Variables pertaining to mental health such as difficulty concentrating and focusing, difficulty sleeping, aggression, fear and anxiety.
6. Supplemental Screener Questions - Variables pertaining to exposure to community violence, exposure to family violence and abuse, and school violence and threat.
7. JVQ and NATSCEV Follow-up Questions - Respondents who reported victimization events are asked follow-up questions (e.g. How many times did this happen during the lifetime).
8. Life Time and Past Adversity - Variables pertaining to past adversity such as family drug use, bad accidents and illnesses, natural disasters, and death of a loved one.
9. Internet Victimization - Contains two variables that ask about Internet harassment or unwanted sexual encounters experienced.
10. Community Disorder - Variables pertaining to community disorder such as drug selling in the community, policing in the community, gangs, and neighborhood environment.
11. Delinquency - Variables pertaining to self-reported delinquency including physical violence, graffiti, drug use, and theft.
12. Self-Concept - Variables pertaining to positive and negative self-concept characteristics.
13. Parental Conflict - Includes variables pertaining to how often a respondent sees their parents arguing and whether the respondent's parents get really mad when arguing.
14. Alcohol Use - Variables pertaining to the frequency and amount of alcoholic beverages consumed.
15. Prevention Programs - Includes variables pertaining to exposure to school or community programs dealing with topics such as bullying, handling conflict, and dating violence.
16. Exposure to Family Violence (Extended Follow-Up) - Includes variables regarding specific responses from respondent such as child's traumatic response, criminal justice response, professional assistance response, and the family response to one or more family violence incidents.

In addition to variables derived from the data collection instrument, variables related to basic demographics (e.g., race, income), victimization that occurred in the past year, and indirect victimization have been calculated by the Principle Investigators and included in the dataset. The syntax used for calculating these variables are located in Appendix A of the codebook.

Response Rates View help for Response Rates

The American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Cooperation Rate #4 (the proportion of all cases interviewed of all eligible units ever contacted excluding those incapable of cooperating but including partial interviews), averaged across sampling frames was 58.2 percent, and the average AAPOR Response Rate #4 was 44.6 percent.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ), an inventory of childhood victimization that covers a wide range of events, including nonviolent victimizations and events that children and parents do not typically conceptualize as crimes. The JVQ version used in the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence II obtains reports on 53 forms of offenses against youth that cover six general areas of concern: conventional crime, child maltreatment, peer and sibling victimization, sexual assault, witnessing and indirect victimization, and internet victimization.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2016-08-23

Version History View help for Version History

Weight View help for Weight

The provided weight (SESTRWEIGHT2 - FINAL SAMPLING WEIGHT) can be used to obtain analysis estimates that are representative of the national population of 0 to 17 year-olds. The weighting plan for the survey was a multistage sequential process of weighting the sample to correct for study design and demographic variations in non-response. Specifically, weights were applied to adjust for (1) differing probabilities of household selection based on sampling frames, (2) variations in within-household selection resulting from different numbers of eligible children across households, and (3) differences in sample proportions according to sex, age, income, census region, race/ethnicity, number of adults and children in the household, and telephone status (cell only, mostly cell, or other) relative to the 2010 American Community Survey Public Use Microdata Sample.

Additional information as to the construction of the final sampling weight can be found in the Methods Report included in this study release.