Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study (ICPSR 4701)
Published: Oct 4, 2012
Principal Investigator(s):
Ronald Angel, University of Texas-Austin. Population Research Center;
Linda Burton, Pennsylvania State University. Population Research Institute;
P. Lindsay Chase-Lansdale, University of Chicago. Population Research Center;
Andrew Cherlin, Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins Population Center;
Robert Moffitt, Johns Hopkins University. Hopkins Population Center
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04701.v7
Version V7
Summary
This data collection is the third wave of an intensive study in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio, which was initiated to assess the well-being of low-income children and families in the post-welfare reform era. The project investigates the strategies families have used to respond to reform, in terms of employment, schooling or other forms of training, residential mobility, and fertility. Central to this project is a focus on how these strategies affect children's lives, with an emphasis on their health and development as well as their need for, and use of, social services. For the first wave of the study, between March 1999 and December 1999, a random sample of approximately 2,400 households with children in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio were selected for interviews. Forty percent of the families interviewed were receiving cash welfare payments at the time of the interview. Each household had a child aged 0 to 4 or aged 10 to 14 at the time of the interview. The child and the child's primary female caregiver are the focus of the study. Extensive baseline information was gathered at the initial personal interview with the caregivers, tested younger children were assessed, and older children were interviewed. All interviews were conducted in-person using a computerized instrument. The third wave of data collection took place between February 2005 and January 2006, when the focal children were aged 5 to 10 or aged 15 to 20. Between May 2005 and May 2006, interviews were conducted with the teachers of the focal children.
Citation
Export Citation:
Funding
United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD036093)
Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage
Restrictions
This data collection may not be used for any purpose other than statistical reporting and analysis. Use of these data to learn the identity of any person or establishment is prohibited. To protect respondent privacy, all data files in this collection are restricted from general dissemination. To obtain these restricted files, researchers must agree to the terms and conditions of a Restricted Data Use Agreement. Part 24 is enclave-only, and may only be accessed on-site at ICPSR.
Distributor(s)
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social ResearchSample
Between March 1999 and December 1999 a random sample of approximately 2,400 households with children in low-income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio were interviewed. Forty percent of the families interviewed were receiving cash welfare payments at the time of the interview. Each household had a child aged 0 to 4 or aged 10 to 14 at the time of the interview.
Universe
Families with incomes less than 200 percent of the government poverty line living in Boston, San Antonio, and Chicago.
Unit(s) of Observation
individual
survey data
Mode of Data Collection
computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI)
computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)
face-to-face interview
telephone interview
Original Release Date
2007-08-17
Version Date
2012-10-04
Version History
2008-07-03 SPSS syntax files added that convert variable names in data files from previous waves to variable names that are consistent with the data files that ICPSR has released.
2009-02-10 Added enclave-only data in the form of teacher surveys.
2007-08-17 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.
- Standardized missing values.
- Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
2008-07-08 Public and restricted versions are now available for Wave 1 and Wave 2.
2012-10-04 The codebook and documentation for Parts 1, 2, and 3 were made restricted. The codebooks for Parts 5 and 6 were updated, specifically to revise the titles for each codebook.
2007-11-06 Public versions are now available for the three restricted data versions previously released: Focal Child Interview Data, Continuing and New Caregiver Interview Data, and Separated Caregiver Interview Data. The primary investigator also deposited two datasets that include additional child age information detail.
2008-10-13 SAS and Stata syntax files have been added that convert variable names in data files from previous waves to variable names that are consistent with the data files that ICPSR has released.
2008-07-31 Principal primary investigators provided variable construction documentation files for Wave 1 and Wave 2 data.
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 study was originally processed, archived, and disseminated by Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR), a project funded by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).