Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS): Identifying Family Members
QUESTION: What variable in the public data lists the total number of people (adults and children) within a family? Is there a way to differentiate between adults and children?
RESPONSE:
In the ROSTER1 file there is variable called HHRF (it is described in the imputed income documentation file imputed_income.doc) that is the family id number within the household (SAMPLEID defines a household). All people in the same family in a household will have the same value of HHRF. You have to count up the number of people in the ROSTER1 file with the same combination of SAMPLEID and HHRF. The count for that SAMPLEID/HHRF combination is the number of people in the family.
If you look at the codebook for the roster file, you’ll see that there is an age variable (AGE_YR) for all those listed on the roster. YOu can use it to identify those age 18 and over (adults) and those under 18 (children). You can then count up those who are adults that have the same SAMPLEID/HHRF combination and separately count up children with the same combination.
QUESTION: I am using the public LA FANS data and I am calculating the number of people in each family. I understand that the variable HHRF in the Roster1 file indicates if a person belongs to the family of the first or second household module respondent and that this field is left blank if a person is in neither family–does this mean that if the field is left blank that all of the respondents within a given household for which there is an empty field on this variable are then part of the same family?
Is there any way to get family income data on those individuals who are not a member of one of the nuclear families for which there is a household module?
RESPONSE:
Those in the roster with HHRF=. are not necessarily in the same family with each other. They are just people who are not in one of the nuclear families for which we have a household module. For those with HHRF=. in the roster, you’ll have to look at the RA7_A, SPOUS_ID, RA21ID, RA25ID, and the like to see if you can determine how those individuals are related to one another and whether they are members of the same nuclear family.
Income information was only collected for those in the nuclear family of the RSA and, if the RSC was not in the RSA’s family, the family of the RSC. So we do not have even individual income info for any of those with HHRF=. let alone the family they belong to.
QUESTION: Is there some way to use the roster files to identify whether adults in the household (other than the RSC’s parents) are related to the RSC?
RESPONSE:
The roster ids of the siblings of the RSC are listed in the RA23ID and RA27ID variables (RA23 are sibs with same mother, RA27 are sibs with same father).
The mother and father ids, as noted below, are in RA21ID and RA25ID on the RSC’s roster record.
As for anyone other than parents or sibs, you need to use the RA7_A (relationship to household head). You need to see how the RSC is related to the head and how others are related to the head to figure out how the RSC is related to the others. There’s no simple way around it.
For example, if the RSC is the grandchild of the head, then you know that the household head and his/her spouse are grandparents, anyone who is the child of the household head (but is not the parent of the child) is an aunt or uncle, etc. Some relationships will be difficult to tell, but you can usually figure out if the person is a relative of some sort or not.
QUESTION: How can I determine whether the RSC’s mother and/or father reside in the household?
RESPONSE:
On the PARENT1 (and CHILD1) data file, you’ll find the variables BIOMOMID and BIODADID which are the roster ids of the child’s parents if they are in the roster. The RSC is the one with KIDTYPE=RSC. If BIOMODID has a value, then the mother is in the household; if the BIODADID has a value, the father is in the household.
You can also check the RSC’s roster record. The variable RA20=1 if the mother is in the household and the variable RA21ID is the roster person number of the mother if she is in the household. The variable RA24=1 if the father is in the household and the variable RA25ID is the roster person number of the father.
QUESTION: What is the best way to limit analyses to households with children where the PCG is the mother? Do you happen to know what the sample size should be for this population?
RESPONSE:
On the PARENT1 (and CHILD1) data file, if BIOMOMID = PCG_ID then the PCG is the bio/adopt mother of the child. If you want to include stepmothers, you can include those where PCGNOPAR=0 (PCG is parent or spouse of parent) and PCG_SEX=2 (female).
QUESTION: I want to verify a question concerning the nativity status of each child’s father figure (if he is in the household). Is it correct that the only way to get this information (ie if he was US born or not) is if he was a RSA or the PCG. If he is neither of these then there is no way to ascertain his nativity status?
RESPONSE:
You are correct. If the child’s father figure is not an RSA or a PCG (i.e., someone who was given the adult module), then we do not know where the father figure was born.
The Parent module in Wave 2 will ask where a child’s parents were born, but alas we did not ask that question in the Wave 1 parent module.
QUESTION: What is the best way to identify single vs dual parent HHs? I was using a combination of MOMID, DADID, RSCDADRS and PE58 but noticed some discrepancies, particularly between RSCDADRS and PE58.
RESPONSE:
I think you really want to look at the roster records for the RSC and SIB for the information that will better identify single vs dual parent households.
On the roster records for the RSC and SIB, RA20=1 if the bio/adopt mother is in the household and RA24=1 if the bio/adopt father is in the household. RA21ID is the mother’s id in the roster, RA25ID is the father’s id. You can check the resident mother’s and/or father’s roster records to see if they are greater than half-time residents (RA11=1) or not.
If your definition of “dual parent” includes step parents, if RA20=1 and RA24 ne 1 you can check to see if the child’s resident mother has a spouse in the household. Similarly, if RA20 ne 1 and RA24=1, you can check to see if the child’s resident father has a spouse in the household.
MOMID and DADID are really mother- and father-figures. So for kids with no bio/adopt parent in the household, they represent the IDs of those who are primarily responsible for the child’s care.
Things like RSCDADRS and PE58 in the PARENT1 file are CAPI variables which may be inconsistent with the roster. The roster was cleaned after the survey, but CAPI variables originally generated during the interview were not always adjusted in every case to be consistent with changes made in roster cleaning.
QUESTION: I am trying to figure out how to develop a variable for foster child status for all children 9-17 years of age. On roster question A7, the child’s relationship to hhh is asked and foster child is a possible response. How would I use the right identifier(s) to link a foster child with PCG?
RESPONSE:
If the PCG is the household head or the spouse of the household head, then any child age 9-17 in the roster where A7 says “foster child” is a foster child of the PCG.
If the PCG is not the household head, then you need to see which children age 9-17 in the roster have RA33=2 (foster mother is like a mom–no bio/adopt mom in hh) and the PCG’s id is listed in RA34ID. The PCG would be the foster mother of such children.
These are the instances where the term “foster mother” is specifically used and may thus imply a child fostered out by a government agency.
There may be other children who are cared for by the PCG but who are not formal foster children (such as children being raised by other relatives and not their parents). If you are interested in those children, you need to see for which children age 9-17 in the roster the PCG’s id turns up in RA34ID or RA36ID and look at the relationships in RA33, RA35_A, and RA38_A.
QUESTION: I am trying to research grandparenting issues specific to Los Angeles. In searching through your survey, I found only two items related to grandparents: Where does child live: with grandparents.
I could not find any relevance in the survey of primary caregiver or other areas. Have you collected any data pertinent to grandparenting in LA neighborhoods?
RESPONSE:
While the LAFANS did not ask specific questions about grandparents, one can discern information about them if they are involved in the child’s care or the child resides or has resided with them recently.
One knows if the primary care giver (the PCG) is the grandparent (RKIDMOM=”GRANDMOTHER” OR “GRANDPARENT”), and thus the PCG and parent modules, as well as the adult module and household module, give you information about that grandparent, the child they are raising and the household they all live in.
If the PCG is not the grandparent, but the grandparents provide childcare, then that will be covered in Section G of the Parent module for each child.
The roster will show if the grandparents of the child are in the household, although you will need to review the “relationship to household head codes” and the like to determine that. There is no specific question about who the given child lives with in the current household. In the roster, though, for children age 0-17, we did ask who the mother figure is for the child if the biological/adopted mother is not in the household, and also for the father figure. Those questions (RA32-RA42) also help show if a grandparent is responsible for a child.
The questions you may have seen about “who the child lives with” from the parent module relate to places the child lives or has lived other than the current residence. PB4 is for other places the child regularly stays besides the current residence and PC8 refers to where the child lived before moving in with the PCG. In section J of the parent module, we asked about siblings of the child if the mother was not the PCG and who those siblings lived with if not in the current household.
Indirectly there is some information about grandparents obtained from the parents of the child if the parent was given an adult module. Such info covers where the grandparents were born, if they are still alive and the like. See the adult module section C for details.
Thus there is information related to grandparenting in the LAFANS. You just have to work a little to pull it all together.
QUESTION: How do I calculate number of siblings (sibship size)? I see ra22_b in the roster1.dta file. I see the note that only the first child of the bio mother is given a value and the others are not measured, but now I’m not sure how to calculate number of biological siblings. I guess I should also technically include half-siblings that share the same bio mom but not bio dad, and same bio dad but not bio mom. Right now I am working with a subsample dataset of just RSCs and SIBs, but perhaps I need to make this calculation in the roster1.dta file and then merge the sibship size variable into my dataset.
RESPONSE:
You do need to use all children in the roster to locate all siblings and not just the RSC and SIB. Remember that the roster only gives you co-resident siblings, and that only works best for siblings under age 18 since we did not ask about who in the household is the mother or father of those age 18 and up.
What you really want to do is look at the birth histories for the PCG to determine the number of children born as these will be blood siblings of the RSC and SIB. For adopted siblings, you need to look at the PCG’s adoptive child history.
If the PCG is the mother of the RSC, then you can find the number of siblings ever born to the PCG in the birth history section (Section E) of the Adult module data. That list of children ever born will include the RSC. These would be siblings of the RSC who have the PCG as their mother.
If the PCG is not the mother of the RSC, then you need to check Section J of the parent module data for the RSC. Section J is where we asked about the siblings of the RSC if the PCG is not the mother of the RSC.
If the PCG is the mother of the RSC and the PCG did not do an adult module, then you only know of the siblings that live in the household with the RSC, but won’t know about siblings that live elsewhere or may have died. If the father of the RSC did an adult module, you might be able to get siblings from his fertility section, although you’d need check his marital history dates and the birthdate of the RSC to check for sibs of the RSC with the same mother.
Remember we defined siblings as having the same mother for purposes of selecting a SIB to interview.
A check of the marital/relationship history in Section E of the adult module against the PCG’s birth history will isolate the number of full sibs and half-sibs of the RSC with a different father.
If the father of the RSC was selected as the RSA, then you could also check the children everborn for the father against those of the mother (the PCG of the RSC in this case), both found in their adult module data, to see where there are full siblings. This would also show you any half-sibs with a different mother but the same father as the RSC.
Obviously the logic that applies for the RSC can be used to get SIB siblings as well.