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The 500 Family Study was designed to obtain in-depth information on middle class, dual-career families living in the United States. To understand the complex dynamics of today's families and the strategies they use to balance the demands of work and family, over 500 families from 8 cities across the United States were studied. To address different issues facing parents with older and younger children, families with adolescents and families with kindergartners were included in the sample. Working mothers and fathers are now splitting their time between their responsibilities to their family, and to their respective occupations. This study of 500 families explores how work affects the lives and well-being of parents and their children.

The study's data allows researchers to explore a broad range of questions:

• How do dual-career families manage and organize their resources and time between family and work?
• How do work conditions, including characteristics of the job and workplace environment, affect the quality of relationships among household members?
• How do dual career parents manage the moral and social development and learning experiences of their children?
• How do the work-related responsibilities of working parents affect their child's moral, social, and educational development?
• What effect is consumerism and technology having on how working families direct the moral and social development of their children?
• What do parents believe is their role regarding the child-care of their children and how they should fulfill that role both in terms of time and in the allocation of economic and social resources? What are some of the resources in the community that parents use to supervise their children?
• How do families regard the "free time" of adolescents and how they allocate adolescent "free time" in maintenance of the household?
• What is the quality of relationships among family members?

To obtain a detailed picture of work and family life, mothers, fathers, and their children were asked to complete a series of instruments including surveys, in-depth interviews, and time diaries. These instruments were designed to provide information about work, marriage, child care and parental supervision, management of household tasks, time allocations, coping strategies, and psychological well-being.

The four datasets associated with this data collection are summarized below:

1. The Cortisol Data contains information for a subsample of families that elected to participate in a study of psychological stress. Parents and teenagers who agreed to participate completed an additional two days of ESM data collection. The health survey that was administered reported on a variety of health and lifestyle issues that might affect cortisol (stress hormone) levels such as medication use, consumption of caffeine and alcohol, use of nicotine, timing of menstrual cycle, pregnancy, presence of chronic illness, and respondent's height and weight. Additionally, parents reported on the health of the children (teenagers and kindergartners) participating in the study.
2. The Experience Sampling Method (ESM) Data contains a variety of information related to how individuals spend their time, who they spent it with, and what activities they were engaged in over the course of a typical week. Respondents wore programmed wrist watches that emitted signals (beeps) throughout the day. When possible, family members were placed on identical signaling schedules to provide information on a range of family activities. At the time of each beep, participants were asked to complete a self-report form which asked them to answer a number of open-ended questions about their location, activities, who they were with, and psychological states. Several Likert and semantic-differential scales were used to assess participants' psychological states.
3. The Parent Data contains basic demographic information from respondents as well as detailed information about parents' occupation job duties, income, work schedule, benefits (e.g., medical care, flexible work schedules, and family leave), and the consequences of their jobs (e.g. long hours, job stress, having to work weekends). Additionally, the data contain information about the extent to which parents experienced work-family conflict and what changes might help with better balance of the demands of work and family (e.g., more flexible work hours, more help from spouses with household and child care responsibilities, improved child care, and after-school care arrangements). Parental attitudes toward traditional arrangements, how household tasks were actually divided among family members, and how often the family paid for services (e.g., cleaning, yard work, meal preparation) were also captured. The data also contain information about how children are socialized in families with two working parents. Topics about the frequency with which parents engaged in various activities with their children (e.g., talking, eating meals together, attending religious services), how frequently parents monitored their teenager's activities, and how often they talked with their teenager about school activities, plans for college, career plans, friendships, and peer pressure.
4. The Adolescent Data contains data for sixth through twelfth graders, which focuses on family relationships and experiences, school experiences, paid work, psychological well-being and behavioral problems, and plans for the future (e.g., college, career, and marriage -- including expectations regarding spouses' sharing of responsibility for child care, cooking, chores, and paid work). To allow for comparison of parents' and adolescents' responses to similar questions, several items appear in both the adolescent and parent data. These items include the frequency with which parents and adolescents discuss school events, college and career plans, participation in religious and other activities, gender role attitudes and the division of household tasks within the family, and items measuring depression, stress, and anxiety.

Qualitative Data -- Interviews The main purpose of the interviews was to explore topics addressed in the parent and adolescent surveys in greater detail. Parent interviews were designed to examine how working parents cope with the demands of work and family life. Adolescent interviews touched on similar themes but altered questions to gauge the adolescent's perceptions of their parents work and family lives. Kindergartner interviews were brief and focused on children's after-school and child care arrangements and time spent with parents.

The American Time Use Survey (ATUS) is the Nation's first federally administered, continuous survey on time use in the United States. This multi-year data collection contains information on the amount of time (in minutes) that people spent doing various activities on a given day, including the arts activities, in the years 2003 through 2023.

Data collection for the ATUS began in January 2003. Sample cases for the survey are selected monthly, and interviews are conducted continuously throughout the year. In 2023, approximately 9,000 individuals were interviewed. Estimates are released annually. ATUS sample households are chosen from the households that completed their eighth (final) interview for the Current Population Survey (CPS), the nation's monthly household labor force survey. ATUS sample households are selected to ensure that estimates will be nationally representative. One individual age 15 or over is randomly chosen from each sampled household. This "designated person" is interviewed by telephone once about his or her activities on the day before the interview--the "diary day."

The ATUS Activity Coding Lexicon is a 3-tiered classification system with 17 first-tier categories. Each of the first-tier categories has two additional levels of detail. Respondents' reported activities are assigned 6-digit activity codes based on this classification system.

Additionally, the study provides demographic information--including sex, age, ethnicity, race, education, employment, and children in the household.

IMPORTANT: The 2020 ATUS was greatly affected by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Data collection was suspended in 2020 from mid-March to mid-May. ATUS data files for 2020 contain all ATUS data collected in 2020--both before and after data collection was suspended. For more information, please visit BLS's ATUS page.

The weighting method was changed for 2020 to account for the suspension of data collection in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Respondents from 2020 will have missing values for the replicate weights on this data file. The Pandemic Replicate weights file for 2019-20 contains 160 replicate final weights for each ATUS final weight created using the 2020 weighting method. Chapter 7 of the ATUS User's Guide provides more information about the 2020 weighting method.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey administered as a supplement to the February 2013 basic CPS questionnaire. The supplement, on the topic of public participation in the arts in the United States, was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The CPS, administered monthly, collects labor force data about the civilian noninstitutional population aged 15 years old or older living in the United States. Moreover, the CPS provides current estimates of the economic status and activities of this population which includes estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. The basic CPS data are provided on labor force activity for the week prior to the survey. In addition, CPS provides respondents' demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, marital status, educational attainment, family relationship, occupation, and industry.

In addition to the basic CPS questions, the February 2013 Annual Arts Basic Survey (AABS) questions were asked of the CPS respondent and spouse as well as another randomly selected household member aged 18 or older and his/her spouse. About one-quarter of the sampled households were asked the supplement questions. Interview numbers 3 and 7 were asked the supplement questions. If the selected person had a spouse or partner then questions were also asked of the spouse/partner. The supplement contained questions about the sampled member's participation in various artistic activities from February 2012 through February 2013. Questions were asked about the type of artistic activity attended including attending a live music, theater, or dance performance. Questions also included attending a live book reading or a poetry or storytelling event, an art exhibit, going to the movies or to see a film, or taking any lessons or classes in music or music appreciation. Interviews were conducted during the period of February 17-23, 2013. The total sample size of the 2013 AABS was 150,827 Americans, ages 18 and older.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey administered as a supplement to the February 2015 basic CPS questionnaire. The supplement, on the topic of public participation in the arts in the United States, was sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts.

The CPS, administered monthly, collects labor force data about the civilian noninstitutional population aged 15 years old or older living in the United States. Moreover, the CPS provides current estimates of the economic status and activities of this population which includes estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. The basic CPS data are provided on labor force activity for the week prior to the survey. In addition, CPS provides respondents' demographic characteristics such as age, sex, race, marital status, educational attainment, family relationship, occupation, and industry.

In addition to the basic CPS questions, the February 2015 Annual Arts Basic Survey (AABS) questions were asked of the CPS respondent and spouse as well as another randomly selected household member aged 18 or older and his/her spouse. About one-quarter of the sampled households were asked the supplement questions. Interview numbers 3 and 7 were asked the supplement questions. If the selected person had a spouse or partner then questions were also asked of the spouse/partner. The supplement contained questions about the sampled member's participation in various artistic activities from February 2014 through February 2015. Questions were asked about the type of artistic activity attended including attending a live music, theater, or dance performance. Questions also included attending a live book reading or a poetry or storytelling event, an art exhibit, going to the movies or to see a film, or taking any lessons or classes in music or music appreciation. Interviews were conducted during the period of several days in February 2015. The total sample size of the 2015 AABS was 151,788 Americans, ages 18 and older.

The Artists Training and Career Project, conducted by the Research Center for Arts and Culture (RCAC), studied the training and career choices and patterns of actors, craftspeople, and painters through national surveys of a sampling of artists in each discipline. Topics include training and preparation for painting and craft careers, acceptance in the marketplace, critical evaluation, public response, involvement in professional organizations, and career satisfaction. As a complement to the surveys, RCAC also conducted personal narrative interviews with artists and related experts. The survey of craftspeople was conducted in 1990 and included 1,257 respondents. The survey of painters was conducted in 1991 and included 889 respondents. As well, the survey of actors was conducted in 1992. Funding for the study was provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA).

Also archived at ICPSR and available for research purposes are 1381 ACTORS' EQUITY surveys (AEA) and 528 non-EQUITY (non-AEA) (total 1909). These surveys are in hard copy, and there may be costs associated with access to these materials. Please contact [email protected] if you are interested in using the data.

Digital data for The Artists Training and Career Project: Actor were not provided for the NADAC or CPANDA version of this data collection.

The Chitwan Valley [Nepal] Family Study: Labor Outmigration, Agricultural Productivity and Food Security is a three year project with the aim to investigate the consequences of labor outmigration on agricultural productivity in a poor agricultural country persistently facing food security problems. A Data Guide for this study is available as a web page and for download.

This project's data collection is made up of twenty-five datasets:

Datasets 1-6: The Household Agriculture and Migration Survey includes information on household agricultural practices and remittances received by the household. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to collect data from household members who previously participated in the Chitwan Valley Family Study (ICPSR 4538).

Topics of the survey include crop production and farm technology use, wealth, assets, income, consumption, food security and information about each household member currently away from home. The survey also collected information on gender, ethnicity, and age.

Datasets 7-16: Measured yields of major crops grown by farm households that previously participated in the Chitwan Valley Family Study (ICPSR 4538).

Dataset 17: A monthly demographic event registry administered to all households that previously participated in the Chitwan Valley Family Study (ICPSR 4538).

Datasets 18-23: The Women's Time Use Survey was designed and administered to married, Nepalese women to collect information on changes in their time and involvement in agriculture and other activities. Face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews were conducted to collect data from women who previously participated in the Chitwan Valley Family Study (ICPSR 4538).

The collection covered a range of topics including farm work, hygiene, finances, health, and religion. Further, respondents were queried concerning socialization and assisting children and the elderly.

Datasets 24-25: The Women's Time Use Survey was designed and administered to married, Nepalese women to collect information on changes in their time and involvement in agriculture and other activities. Face-to-face interviews and telephone interviews were conducted to collect data from women who previously participated in the Chitwan Valley Family Study (ICPSR 4538).

The Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly sample survey involving about 60,000 households that provides valuable data on (un)employment in the United States. The Contingent and Alternative Employment Arrangements supplement focuses on individuals whose primary jobs are temporary or expected to last only a limited period of time as well as those with alternative employment arrangements (i.e., working as independent contractors, as on-call workers, through temporary help agencies, or through contract firms). Questions were asked about the two types of employment, contingent and alternative, separately as some individuals fell into both categories, some in one but not the other, and some in neither.

This data collection includes variables related to occupation and industry, enabling data users to identify individuals working in arts- and culture-related fields. These occupations fall under categories such as leisure, hospitality, and agriculture, as well as related industries like arts, entertainment, recreation, design, sports, and media. This encompasses professions such as artists, architects, designers, actors, musicians, and writers. Jobs in some of these occupations are especially likely to be categorized as contingent or alternative, so this information is necessary to fully understand the employment experiences of those in art- and culture-related fields.

Before July 2023, data on contingent and alternative employment arrangements were collected periodically from February 1995 to May 2017. The concepts and definitions used in the supplement are detailed in the Technical Note in the BLS news release. For more information, see the FAQs on contingent and alternative employment arrangements.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a supplemental survey on the topic of cell phone use in the United States, which was primarily administered in February 2004. An additional sample of respondents was given the supplemental survey with the November 2004 CPS.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. The CPS is conducted in approximately 56,000-57,000 households.

The Cell Phone supplement contained household-level questions and provides data about household use of regular landline telephones and household use of cell phones. Respondents were specifically asked about the amount of cell phone usage, the number of landlines in the home, the different uses for the landlines (e.g., for computer lines or fax machines), how many members of the household had a working cell phone number, how many cell phones each member of the household had, whether the cell phones were answered by more than one household member, and the number of the calls the household received via cell phone.

Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.

This data collection is comprised of data from the January, May, July, and November iterations of the 2005 Current Population Survey (CPS). In each of these months, two sets of questions were administered: the basic CPS questions, and a supplemental survey questionnaire on the topics of unemployment insurance and unemployment compensation. The supplement interviews were conducted in two rotations of four separate months (January, May, July, and November) in 2005 then merged into one dataset.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. Data from the CPS are provided for the week prior to the survey.

The supplement was designed for proxy responses, meaning a single respondent could provide answers for all eligible household members, provided the respondent was a household member and met the sampling universe criteria. The supplement was asked of persons in the labor force aged 16 years and older, who met one of the following specific labor force conditions: (1) unemployed individual on layoff, (2) unemployed job seeker who worked in the last 12 months, (3) unemployed job seeker who last worked more than 12 months ago, (4) unemployed job seeker who worked before beginning to search for a job, but responded with "refuse," "don't know," or "blank" to the CPS labor force item of when last worked, and (5) individual not currently classified as unemployed but has not worked in the last 12 months. If any person in a household was eligible for the supplement, then the entire household was included in the dataset.

The supplement contained person-level questions structured to determine whether or not an individual had applied for unemployment compensation. Individuals who had applied for compensation were asked if they had received the compensation. If they had not received any compensation, then the individuals were asked why they had not received the compensation. Data are also provided on the number of unemployed persons. Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.

This data collection is comprised of data from the 2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), and is a part of the Current Population Survey (CPS) Series. The Census Bureau conducts the ASEC (known as the Annual Demographic File prior to 2003) over a three-month period, in February, March, and April, with most of the data collected in the month of March. The ASEC uses two sets of survey questions, the basic CPS and a set of supplemental questions.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.

In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked questions from the ASEC, which provides supplemental data on poverty, geographic mobility/migration, and work experience. Comprehensive work experience information was given on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons aged 15 and over. Additional data for persons aged 15 and older were available concerning weeks worked and hours per week worked, reason not working full time, total income and supplemental income components. Additional data are included that cover training and assistance received under welfare reform programs such as job readiness training, child care services, or job skill training. Data covering nine noncash income sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group health insurance plan, employer-provided pension plan, personal health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, CHAMPUS or military health care, and energy assistance are also included.

Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on employment and income refer to the previous calendar year, although demographic data refer to the time of the survey.

The original ASEC data provided by the Census Bureau are distributed in a hierarchical file structure, with three record types present: Household, Family, and Person. The ASEC is designed to be a multistage stratified sample of housing units, where the hierarchical file structure can be thought of as a person within a family within a household unit. Here the main unit of analysis is the household unit. For ease of analysis at the person-level, ICPSR created a rectangular file structure that contains a record for every person with the respective Household and Family variables prepended to the Person variables. Part 1 contains the rectangular data file and Part 2 contains the original hierarchical data file.

This data collection is comprised of data from the 2008 Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC), and is a part of the Current Population Survey (CPS) Series. The Census Bureau conducts the ASEC (known as the Annual Demographic File prior to 2003) over a three-month period, in February, March, and April, with most of the data collected in the month of March. The ASEC uses two sets of survey questions, the basic CPS and a set of supplemental questions.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.

In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked questions from the ASEC, which provides supplemental data on poverty, geographic mobility/migration, and work experience. Comprehensive work experience information was given on the employment status, occupation, and industry of persons aged 15 and over. Additional data for persons aged 15 and older were available concerning weeks worked and hours per week worked, reason not working full time, total income and supplemental income components. Additional data are included that cover training and assistance received under welfare reform programs such as job readiness training, child care services, or job skill training. Data covering nine noncash income sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group health insurance plan, employer-provided pension plan, personal health insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, CHAMPUS or military health care, and energy assistance are also included.

Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on employment and income refer to the previous calendar year, although demographic data refer to the time of the survey.

The original ASEC data provided by the Census Bureau are distributed in a hierarchical file structure, with three record types present: Household, Family, and Person. The ASEC is designed to be a multistage stratified sample of housing units, where the hierarchical file structure can be thought of as a person within a family within a household unit. Here the main unit of analysis is the household unit.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey on the topic of food security in the United States, which was administered as a supplement to the April 2001 CPS questionnaire.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment. Data from the CPS are provided for the week prior to the survey.

The supplement was intended to research the full range of severity of food insecurity as experienced in United States households. The food security questions were asked of all interviewed households, as appropriate. Respondents were queried on how much the household spent for food, their use of federal and community food assistance programs, whether they were able to afford enough food, food sufficiency, and ways of coping with not having enough food.

Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.

This data collection is comprised of responses from two sets of survey questionnaires, the basic Current Population Survey (CPS) and a survey on the topic of Internet and Computer Use in the United States, which was administered as a supplement to the August 2000 CPS.

The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing current estimates of the economic status and activities of the population of the United States, for the week prior to the survey. Specifically, the CPS provides estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm self- employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total unemployment.

The August 2000 supplement survey queried respondents on whether there was a personal computer and/or laptop in the household, how many computers or laptops were in the household, if anyone in the household used the Internet, who was the Internet service provider, how the Internet was accessed (i.e., dial-up, DSL, or cable modem), and where the Internet was regularly accessed (e.g, from home, work, community center, library, or religious facility). Other Internet specific questions included concerns about providing personal information over the Internet, if household members used the Internet to access e-mail, news, weather, play games, take on-line courses, shop, pay bills, look for a job, or search for information about products and services (like health, government, or financial services).

Demographic variables include age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, marital status, veteran status, educational attainment, occupation, and income.