Summary
This round of the Youth Attitude Tracking Survey, a series of surveys begun in 1975, investigated youth attitudes towards military enlistment and their perceptions of the military and recruitment marketing activities. In addition, the survey gauged opinions on government and public affairs issues: whether the United States ought to have much more military power than any other nation in the world, whether women in the military should be allowed to volunteer for combat assignments, whether women should be required to register for the draft, and whether the United States should go to war to protect its own economic interests or the rights of other countries. Respondents were queried about current school enrollment status and education level, highest grade completed, type of school and diploma, and plans for college and financing a college education. Other questions asked about current and past employment status, reasons for working, satisfaction with current job, and the employment situation in the respondent's community. Additional background information gathered by the survey includes age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, type of housing, household composition, and parents' education.
Citation
Export Citation:
Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage
Restrictions
To protect respondent privacy, variables Q725 (ZIP code), MEPSID (Military Entrance Processing Station ID), STFIPS (State FIPS Code), CNTYFIPS (State and County FIPS Code), ADI_ID (Advertising Areas of Dominant Influence ID), ADI_NAME (Advertising Areas of Dominant Influence Name), MUD_A (Army Recruiting Command Management Unit Designator), MUD_AF (Air Force Recruiting Command Management Unit Designator), MUD_MC (Marine Corps Recruiting Command Management Unit Designator), and MUD_N (Navy Recruiting Command Management Unit Designator) are restricted from general dissemination. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete an Agreement for the Use of Confidential Data, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Apply for access to these data through the ICPSR Restricted Data Contract Portal, which can be accessed via the study home page.
Sample
The YATS sample had two components: a panel of 5,498 respondents who were previously interviewed in the fall 1990 or summer 1991 YATS, and 4,893 respondents new to YATS who were selected using random digit dialing. After the interviews were completed, the principal investigator decided to drop the panel cases because the enlistment propensities for individuals in the panel were found to be significantly lower than for youth being interviewed for the first time.
Universe
Persons 16 to 24 years old in the United States who had not served or contracted to serve in the Armed Forces. The universe was limited to persons who could be contacted by telephone.
Data Source
telephone interview
survey data
Original Release Date
1994-10-19
Version Date
2007-03-09
Version History
2007-03-09 The PI revised the data. All of the panel cases were dropped, variables AFQTHIGP and AFQTLOGP were revised, and all of the weight variables (CASEWGT and REPLl to REPL5l) were revised to accommodate the exclusion of the panel cases and the application of a new post-stratification procedure based on different data from the Current Population Survey. The PI also added a new weight variable adjusted for nonresponse but not post-stratification (ADJWGT). In addition, from the original SAS XPORT engine transport file and PROC FORMAT statements supplied by the PI, ICPSR generated SAS, SPSS, and Stata setups and converted the data to multiple formats: ASCII text, SAS PROC CPORT transport, SPSS portable, and Stata.
Notes
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