Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS): Wave 1, 2001 (ICPSR 4679)
Version Date: May 13, 2026 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Peggy C. Giordano, Bowling Green State University;
Monica A. Longmore, Bowling Green State University;
Wendy D. Manning, Bowling Green State University
Series:
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04679.v2
Version V2 (see more versions)
Summary View help for Summary
The Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) explores the relationship qualities and the subjective meanings that motivate adolescent behavior. More specifically, this study seeks to examine the nature and meaning of adolescent relationship experiences (e.g. with family, peers, and dating partners) in an effort to discover how experiences associated with age, gender, race, and ethnicity influence the meaning of dating relationships. The study further investigates the relative impact of dating partners and peers on sexual behavior and contraceptive practices, as well as involvement in other problem behaviors that can contribute independently to sexual risk-taking. The longitudinal design of the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) includes a schedule of follow-up interviews occurring one, three, five, ten, and about eighteen years after the initial interview. Additional waves have since been conducted.
Wave 1 of TARS includes detailed data collected from both parents and adolescent respondents about their relationship experiences, including self-reported data from parents, parent-reported data about adolescent respondents, and self-reported data from adolescent respondents. These data are available as a combined dataset organized by adolescent respondent.
The Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS) includes several waves of data collection available through ICPSR. Please see the ICPSR Series page for available studies.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Restrictions View help for 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.
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
- For additional information on the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS), please visit the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study website.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to examine the nature and meaning of adolescent and adult relationship experiences (e.g., with family, peers, and dating partners) to discover how these relationships influence a variety of outcomes (such as HIV risk, fertility experiences and decision-making, delinquency and crime, and intimate partner violence).
Study Design View help for Study Design
Data were collected from adolescent respondents through structured in-home interviews utilizing laptop computers. In-depth interviews were conducted with a subsample (n=100) of the respondents. Parent data was collected via a short, self-administered questionnaire at the first wave.
Sample View help for Sample
The sampling frame was derived from public and private school enrollment records in Lucas County, Ohio. School attendance, however, was not a requirement for inclusion. A stratified, random sample (n=1316) was then drawn from all 7th, 9th, and 11th grade youth residing in Lucas County in the fall of 2000.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Adolescents in the 7th, 9th, and 11th grade and their parents in Lucas County, Ohio.
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
TARS Wave 1 includes 1267 variables in the following categories:
Parent Questionnaire Items
- Self-report relationship and behavior history
- Relationship with adolescent
- Adolescent experiences/behaviors
Adolescent-Questionnaire Items
- Basic Demographics and School-Related experiences
- Work Experience
- Friends(s) (demographics, experiences, behaviors)
- Parent(s) (family and family life)
- Self (self-image, self-report experiences/behaviors, relationship-related beliefs)
- Dating and Intimacy
- Relationship History
- Fertility Related Behavior
- Non-Relationship Sex
- Health and Risk Behavior
- Interviewer Characteristics
See the TARS Wave 1 Parent and Adolescent Questionnaires (included in study documentation) for more details.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2008-01-09
Version History View help for Version History
2026-05-13 The P.I. supplied a new data file and an updated P.I. Codebook. Updates included changes to variable and value labels, new standardized missing values, and the addition of several interviewer demographic and census variables.
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:
- Giordano, Peggy C., Monica A. Longmore, and Wendy D. Manning. Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study (TARS): Wave 1, 2001. ICPSR04679-v2. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-05-13. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04679.v2
2011-09-26 Data usage agreement was updated.
2008-01-09 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:
- 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.
ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.
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.