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Curated

ABC News/Good Housekeeping Mother's Day Poll, January 2006 (ICPSR 4655)

Released/updated on: 2007-06-26

Geographic coverage: United States

This special topic poll, conducted January 30-February 2, 2006, is part of a continuing series of monthly polls that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. The focus of this data collection was on respondents' experiences as mothers. Female respondents with children under the age of 18 were asked how well they felt they were doing as mothers, how much each worried about not being as good a mother as she would like to be, and the quality of her relationships with her children and with her own mother. The poll asked how often the respondent asked her mother for advice, whether her mother ever gave her unsolicited parenting advice, and whether she found this advice helpful or annoying. A series of questions asked respondents to compare their own parenting styles with that of their mothers in areas such as discipline and parental involvement, and respondents gave their opinions on whether being a mother was harder or easier compared to when they were children. Additionally, respondents were asked whether they worked outside the home, whether they considered their work to be a career or just a job, who had the main child care responsibilities in their households, whether their own mothers had worked outside the home when they were children, and the number of children in their families when they were growing up. Demographic variables include age, race, marital status, household income, employment status, education level, and number and ages of children in the household.

Curated

ABC News/Washington Post Poll, February 1986 (ICPSR 8574)

Released/updated on: 2010-05-06

Geographic coverage: United States

This poll, conducted February 6-12, 1986, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Views were sought on the way Ronald Reagan was handling the presidency and issues such as foreign affairs, the condition of the national economy, the role of the federal government, proposals for reducing the federal budget deficit, including cutting specific government programs and increasing taxes, and whether the United States should help try to overthrow pro-communist governments. Respondents were asked whether they had seen or heard President Reagan's State of the Union speech, for whom they would vote in the 1988 presidential primary or caucus in their state, and whether they would vote for the Republican or Democratic candidate in their district in the congressional elections in November. Opinions were sought on the women's movement, including whether women would be better off staying at home raising families or having careers, whether women with children were less reliable workers, and whether it was realistic for women to expect to have a successful career, a good marriage, and a stable home life at the same time. A series of questions addressed respondents' knowledge of the Soviet Union and their impressions of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet people, and relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. Additional topics included abortion, forced school busing for racial integration, pornography, censorship, daycare arrangements, the space program, and whether the space shuttle program should continue following the recent space shuttle Challenger disaster. Demographic variables include sex, age, race, marital status, education level, household income, political philosophy, political party affiliation, voter registration status and participation history, religion in which respondents were raised, perceived social class, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), employment status of respondents and their spouses, the number of people living in the household, and whether anyone in the household was a veteran, a member of a labor union, or employed by the government.

Curated

ABC News Women's Issues Poll, July 1992 (ICPSR 9936)

Released/updated on: 2008-08-25

Geographic coverage: United States

Time period: 1992-06-29--1992-07-06

In this survey, female respondents were asked about issues and problems of particular concern to women. Respondents selected the biggest problems facing women from a list covering the areas of health, children, employment, abortion, crime, and marriage. Comments were solicited on whether this country had made most of the changes needed to give women equal rights with men, and whether respondents had a favorable view of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Respondents were asked to look back on their lives and to indicate whether they wished they had placed more or less emphasis on things such as education, preparation for a career or work outside the home, children, husbands or close romantic relationships, and time for themselves. Those surveyed indicated the extent to which they worried about adequate family medical care, obtaining a legal abortion, sexual harassment, breast cancer, and managing both a job and home life. Additional questions asked if the trend toward both parents working outside the home had a positive or negative effect on families, and if respondents agreed with a series of statements ranging from "Many men today are not as committed to marriage as they used to be," to "I sometimes wish that we could go back to the days when most women didn't work outside the home." Background information on respondents includes political alignment, education, age, marital status, employment status, race, household income, parental status, and employment outside the home.

Curated

CBS News Monthly Poll #1, May 2010 (ICPSR 31571)

Released/updated on: 2011-08-10

This poll, fielded May 4-5, 2010, is a part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicits public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. Respondents were asked whether they felt things in the country were going in the right direction and whether they approved of the way Hillary Clinton was handling her job as secretary of state. Respondents were also asked whether they thought being a mother at the time of the poll was harder compared to when they were children, and how often they expected to barbeque that summer. Several questions were asked regarding birth control pills including whether respondents felt birth control pills had been one of the country's most significant medical developments, how much impact the development of the birth control pill has had on American society overall, in women's lives, and on American attitudes toward sex, and whether the development of the birth control pill had been a change for the better for American family life. Opinions were also sought on whether birth control pills made it easier for women to have jobs and careers outside the home, whether respondents believed most men would be willing to use birth control pills, whether birth control pills could be used safely, whether birth control was effective, and whether they thought birth control pills' safety was better than other methods of birth control for women's health. Demographic information includes sex, age, race, education level, household income, military service, religious preference, reported social class, type of residential area (e.g., urban or rural), political party affiliation, political philosophy, voter registration status, and whether respondents thought of themselves as born again Christians.

Curated

Detroit Area Study 1978: A Study of the Family (ICPSR 8190)

Released/updated on: 2010-10-25

Geographic coverage: Detroit, United States, Michigan

The Detroit Area Study is an ongoing series of surveys conducted by the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. These surveys serve two purposes: to provide useful survey information about various population characteristics and social issues selected as topics by principal investigators, and to provide actual survey research experience for graduate students. In the 1978 survey, 650 Detroit-area women were personally interviewed about their families. Items included questions on sex-role attitudes, ideal family size, and patterns of decision-making. Extensive occupational and fertility histories were also collected.

Curated

Simple Crosstabs

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), Public Use, United States, 1998-2024 (ICPSR 31622)

Released/updated on: 2026-04-06

Geographic coverage: United States

Time period: 1998-01-01--2024-01-01

The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS, formerly known as the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study) follows a cohort of nearly 5,000 children born in large, U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. The study oversampled births to unmarried couples; and, when weighted, the data are representative of births in large U.S. cities at the turn of the century. The FFCWS was originally designed to address four questions of great interest to researchers and policy makers:

What are the conditions and capabilities of unmarried parents, especially fathers?
What is the nature of the relationships between unmarried parents?
How do children born into these families fare?
How do policies and environmental conditions affect families and children?

The FFCWS consists of interviews with mothers, fathers, and/or primary caregivers at birth and again when children are ages 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22. The parent interviews collected information on attitudes, relationships, parenting behavior, demographic characteristics, health (mental and physical), economic and employment status, neighborhood characteristics, and program participation. Beginning at age 9, children were interviewed directly (either during the home visit or on the telephone). The direct child interviews collected data on family relationships, home routines, schools, peers, and physical and mental health, as well as health behaviors.

A collaborative study of the FFCWS, the In-Home Longitudinal Study of Pre-School Aged Children (In-Home Study) collected data from a subset of the FFCWS Core respondents at the Year 3 and 5 follow-ups to ask how parental resources in the form of parental presence or absence, time, and money influence children under the age of 5. The In-Home Study collected information on a variety of domains of the child's environment, including: the physical environment (quality of housing, nutrition and food security, health care, adequacy of clothing and supervision) and parenting (parental discipline, parental attachment, and cognitive stimulation). In addition, the In-Home Study also collected information on several important child outcomes, including anthropometrics, child behaviors, and cognitive ability. This information was collected through interviews with the child's primary caregiver, and direct observation of the child's home environment and the child's interactions with his or her caregiver.

Similar activities were conducted during the Year 9 follow-up. At the Year 15 follow-up, a condensed set of home visit activities were conducted with a subsample of approximately 1,000 teens. Teens who participated in the In-Home Study were also invited to participate in a Sleep Study and were asked to wear an accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist for seven consecutive days to track their sleep (Sleep Actigraphy Data) and that day's behaviors and mood (Daily Sleep Actigraphy and Diary Survey Data).

An additional collaborative study collected data from the child care provider (Year 3) and teacher (Years 9 and 15) through mail-based surveys. Saliva samples were collected at Year 9 and 15 (Biomarker file and Polygenic Scores). The Study of Adolescent Neural Development (SAND) COVID Study began data collection in May 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It included online surveys with the young adult and their primary caregiver.

The FFCWS began its seventh wave of data collection in October 2020, around the focal child's 22nd birthday. Data collection and interviews continued through January 2024. The Year 22 wave included a young adult (YA) survey with the original focal child and a primary caregiver (PCG) survey. Data were also collected on the children of the original focal child (referred to as Generation 3, or G3).

In 2017, the FFCWS team announced the Fragile Families (FF) Challenge, a collaborative effort in which participants were tasked with using machine learning methods and FFCWS data (Baseline to Year 9) to build a model that would predict six key outcomes at Year 15. Materials used in the FF Challenge have been archived in this collection.

Documentation for these files is available on the FFCWS website under Data and Documentation. For details of updates made to the FFCWS data files, please see the project's Data Alerts page.

Data collection for the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, as well as a consortium of private foundations.

Below is the citation for use of the FFCWS data accessed through ICPSR. For information on additional citation requirements when using FFCWS in publications, please refer to this FAQ on the FFCWS project site.

Curated

International Social Survey Program: Family and Changing Gender Roles III, 2002 (ICPSR 34826)

Released/updated on: 2013-08-01

Geographic coverage: Cyprus, United States, Portugal, Global, Russia, Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Austria, Latvia, Ireland, Brazil, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia, France, Chile, Bulgaria, Hungary, Japan, Europe, Philippines, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, Spain, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Belgium, Norway, Taiwan, Finland, Denmark, Mexico, Israel, Australia, Germany

The International Social Survey Program (ISSP) is an ongoing program of cross-national collaboration. Formed in 1983, the ISSP group develops topical modules dealing with important areas of social science as supplements to regular national surveys. This data collection is the third survey exploring the topic of family and changing gender roles. Participating countries in the 2002 survey included Austria, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Flanders (Belgium), France, Germany (West and East), Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Northern Ireland, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States. Respondents were queried on various topics regarding the family, relationships with spouse or other partner(s), marriage, divorce, child rearing, single parenting, changing gender roles in the home and workplace, fulfilling family responsibilities, division of housework, management of household income, working parents (particularly working mothers), job-related stress, and job satisfaction. Demographic variables include sex, age, ethnicity or nationality, marital status, level of education, current employment status, family income, number of people living in household, household composition, religious denomination, trade union membership, political party affiliation, and region of the country and size of community where currently residing.

Curated

International Social Survey Program: Family and Changing Sex Roles, 1988 (ICPSR 34850)

Released/updated on: 2013-08-13

Geographic coverage: Netherlands, Great Britain, Austria, Hungary, United States, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Global

Time period: 1988-01-01--1989-01-01

This collection, the fourth module in the ISSP series, contains data from Austria, the Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Great Britain, and the United States. Questions asked of respondents focused on the family and changing sex roles. Respondents were asked for their views on women working outside the home (especially working mothers), childcare arrangements and child rearing practices, marriage, family structure and composition, and divorce. Demographic data on respondents, such as age, sex, race, ethnic identity, employment, income, marital status, education, religion, political affiliation, voting behavior, trade union membership, and household size, also were recorded. Information gathered about each person in the household includes sex, age, and relationship to the respondent.

Curated

Iowa Youth and Families Project, 1989-1992 (ICPSR 26721)

Released/updated on: 2011-11-03

Geographic coverage: Iowa, United States

Time period: 1989-01-01--1992-01-01

This data collection contains the first four waves of the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP), conducted in 1989, 1990, 1991, and 1992. The Iowa Youth and Families Project was developed from an initial sample of 451 7th graders from two-parent families in rural Iowa. The study was merged with the Iowa Single Parent Project (ISPP) to form the Iowa Family Transitions Project in 1994, when the target youth were seniors in high school. Survey data were collected from the target child (7th grader), a sibling within four years of age of the target child, and both parents. Field interviewers visited families at their homes on several occasions to administer questionnaires and videotape interaction tasks including family discussion tasks, family problem-solving tasks, sibling interaction tasks, and marital interaction tasks.

The Household Data files contain information about the family's financial situation, involvement in farming, and demographic information about household members.

The Parent and the Child Survey Data files contain responses to survey questions about the quality and stability of family relationships, emotional, physical, and behavioral problems of individual family members, parent-child conflict, family problem-solving skills, social and financial support from outside the home, traumatic life experiences, alcohol, drug, and tobacco use, and opinions on topics such as abortion, parenting, and gender roles. In addition, the Child Survey Data files include responses collected from the target child and his or her sibling in the study about experiences with puberty, dating, sexual activity, and risk-taking behavior.

The Problem-Solving Data files contain survey data collected from respondents about the family interactions tasks.

The Observational Data files contain the interviewers' observations collected during these tasks.

Demographic variables include sex, age, employment status, occupation, income, home ownership, religious preference, frequency of religious attendance, as well as the ages and sex of all household members and their relationship to the head of household. Demographic information collected on the parents also includes their birth order within their family, the ages and political philosophy of their parents, the sex, age, education level, and occupation of their siblings, and the country of origin of their ancestors.

Curated

Simple Crosstabs

Japan 2009 National Survey on Family and Economic Conditions (NSFEC) (ICPSR 34647)

Released/updated on: 2013-06-06

Geographic coverage: Asia, Japan, Global

The Japan 2009 National Survey on Family and Economic Conditions (NSFEC) queries a targeted age cohort of Japanese adults on various facets of familial and economic life. The collection, assembled by the Keio University, features two components: (1) a new cross-sectional survey of 3,112 respondents from a nationally representative sample of Japanese men and women aged 20-49 years, and (2) a 2009 follow-up survey of 2,356 out of 4,482 original respondents from the Japan 2000 NSFEC. Respondents were asked questions regarding child rearing, household division of labor, gender roles, and educational background and employment of parents. Respondents were also probed for opinions on marriage, divorce, cohabitation, sexual activity outside of marriage, and children born out of wedlock. Demographic information includes age, sex, education, number of siblings, marital status, household income, home ownership, and number, age, and sex of children.

Curated

National Fertility Survey, 1975 (ICPSR 4334)

Released/updated on: 2007-02-23

Geographic coverage: United States

The 1975 National Fertility Survey was the fifth in a series of studies (National Fertility Surveys/Growth of American Families) examining marital fertility and family planning. The 1975 version of the National Fertility Survey is unique from the surveys that preceded it (1955, 1960, 1965, and 1970) in that it is longitudinal, incorporating respondents that first participated in the 1970 survey. Respondents were queried on the following main topics: family ideals, work history, family life and women's rights, history of live births and miscarriages/stillbirths, adoptions, abortions, contraception history, family planning and sterilization operations, fertility issues, and current population problems. Questions pertaining to family ideals included preferred family size, preferences with respect to the gender of children, and ideal ages for having first and last children. Regarding work history, respondents were asked about all paid employment since January, 1970, motivation for employment, whether they were currently employed, and whether future employment was probable. Respondents were asked a number of questions about family life and women's rights including whether preschool-aged children suffer if the mother works, if children could have warm relationships with a working mother, if the father should work outside of the home and the mother stay home, whether men and women should have the same job opportunities and be paid the same for doing the same job, and if men and women should receive equal consideration for top-level positions. With respect to pregnancy history, respondents were asked if they had ever had a baby, how many total live births they had had, the date of first live birth, duration of the pregnancy, and about breastfeeding practices. Respondents were also asked about any miscarriages or stillbirths they had including total number and after how many months of pregnancy. Respondents were asked if they had ever legally adopted a child, total number of children they had adopted, date of adoption, and gender of adopted child. Regarding abortion, respondents were asked if they ever had had an abortion, and how many total abortions they had had, after how many months of pregnancy. In addition, respondents were asked about the acceptability of abortion under different circumstances such as if the mother's health was in danger, the pregnancy was the result of rape, or if there was an expectation that the unborn child would be born with a deformity. With respect to contraceptive practices, respondents were asked what methods of contraceptive they had used both past and present, the effectiveness of each of the various methods, and reasons for discontinuing use of the different methods. Regarding family planning, respondents were asked whether they intended to have additional children or not, and about the possibility of changing their minds with respect to having additional children. Respondents were also asked about sterilization operations, including their general attitudes toward male and female sterilization, whether they had undergone a sterilization operation, and if so, what kind of operation. Regarding fertility issues, respondents were asked if future pregnancies were physically possible, whether or not they had intended to have more children prior to learning of physical incapabilities, how many children were intended at that time, whether or not their spouse had had a sterilization operation, and if the operation was to prevent future pregnancies. Respondents were asked about current population problems, whether or not population growth in the United States and in the world was a problem, whether American cities and states had the right to limit the number of incoming inhabitants, and whether limits should be placed on immigration. The dataset includes various demographic and income variables including age, age of husband, level of education, religion, nationality, occupation, work history, total family income, and financial conditions.

Curated

National Longitudinal Survey of Mature and Young Women (ICPSR 34930)

Released/updated on: 2013-10-28

Geographic coverage: United States

Time period: 1967-01-01--2003-01-01

The National Longitudinal Survey of Mature and Young Women, a two-cohort survey, is part of the NLS Original Cohort project. The Mature Women's cohort includes 5,083 women who were ages 30-44 when first interviewed in 1967, while the Young Women's cohort includes 5,159 women who were ages 14-24 when first interviewed in 1968. Data for both cohorts are available through 2003, when active surveying was discontinued.

Curated

National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience, 1966-1992 (ICPSR 7610)

Released/updated on: 2008-05-21

Geographic coverage: United States

Time period: 1966-01-01--1992-01-01

The primary purpose of the five sets of surveys that comprise the National Longitudinal Surveys is the collection of data on the labor force experience of specific age-sex groups of Americans: Older Men aged 45-59 in 1966, Mature Women aged 30-44 in 1967, Young Men aged 14-24 in 1966, Young Women aged 14-24 in 1968, and Youth aged 14-21 in 1979. Each of the 1960s cohorts has been surveyed 12 or more times over the years, and the Youth cohort has been surveyed yearly since 1979. The major topics covered within the surveys of each cohort include: (1) labor market experience variables (including labor force participation, unemployment, job history, and job mobility), (2) socioeconomic and human capital variables (including education, training, health and physical condition, marital and family characteristics, financial characteristics, and job attitudes), and (3) selected environmental variables (size of labor force and unemployment rates for local area). While the surveys of each cohort have collected data on the above core sets of variables, cohort-specific data have been gathered over the years focusing on the particular stage of labor market attachment that each group was experiencing. Thus, the surveys of young people have collected data on their educational goals, high school and college experiences, high school characteristics, and occupational aspirations and expectations, as well as military service. The surveys of women have gathered data on topics such as fertility, child care, responsibility for household tasks, care of parents, volunteer work, attitudes towards women working, and job discrimination. As the older-aged cohorts of men and women approached labor force withdrawal, surveys for these groups collected information on their retirement plans, health status, and pension benefits. Respondents within the 1979 Youth cohort have been the focus of a number of special surveys, including the collection of data on: (1) last secondary school attended, including transcript information and selected aptitude/intelligence scores, (2) test scores from the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB), (3) illegal activities participation including police contacts, and (4) alcohol use and substance abuse. Finally, the 1986 and 1988 surveys of the Youth cohort included the administration of a battery of cognitive-socioemotional assessments to the approximately 7,000 children of the female 1979 Youth respondents. Data for the five cohorts are provided within main file releases, i.e., Mature Women 1967-1989, Young Women 1968-1991, Young Men 1966-1981, Older Men 1966-1990, and NLSY (Youth) 1979-1992. In addition, the following specially constructed data files are available: (1) a file that specifies the relationships among members of the four original cohorts living in the same household at the time of the initial surveys, i.e., husband-wife, mother-daughter, brother-sister, etc., (2) an NLSY workhistory tape detailing the week-by-week labor force attachment of the youth respondents from 1978 through the most current survey date, (3) an NLSY child-mother file linking the child assessment data to other information on children and mothers within the NLSY, (4) a supplemental NLSY file of constructed and edited fertility variables, (5) a women's support network tape detailing the geographic proximity of the relatives, friends, and acquaintances of 6,308 female NLSY respondents who were interviewed during the 1983-1985 surveys, and (6) two 1989 Mature Women's pension file detailing information on pensions and other employer-provided benefits.

Curated

National Maternal and Infant Health Survey, 1988 (ICPSR 9730)

Released/updated on: 2008-08-19

Geographic coverage: United States

This survey was designed to explore factors that cause negative pregnancy outcomes. Questions were asked of pregnant women concerning prenatal care, weight gain or loss during pregnancy, alcohol, cigarette, or drug use during pregnancy, and whether vitamin or mineral supplements were taken before or during pregnancy. In addition, questions were asked about the use of home pregnancy tests, exercise before and during pregnancy, medical care before, during, and after delivery, previous pregnancies and their outcomes, birth control use, and how the mother felt and behaved. Demographic information about the mother such as marital status, marital history, date of birth, state of birth, mother's weight at birth, weight changes before, during, and after pregnancy, height, race, education, work history, and place of residence was obtained. Information about the father includes items such as age, height, weight, education, and job status. In addition, family income questions were asked, as were questions about the health, care, and feeding of the baby. Information was also taken from birth certificates and fetal and infant death certificates.

Curated

New York Times Women's Issues Poll, June 1989 (ICPSR 4503)

Released/updated on: 2008-08-15

Geographic coverage: United States

This special topic poll, fielded June 20-25, 1989, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. The focus of the data collection was on women's issues in society. Respondents were asked whether they approved of the way George H.W. Bush was handling his job as president, what the most important problem facing the country, and whether President Bush was handling that problem well. Opinions were solicited on whether there were more advantages to being a man or a woman in society, what was the most important problem facing American women was, whether men's attitudes toward women had changed for the better in the past 20 years, and whether most men looked at women as equals. A series of questions asked about women's organizations, including whether they had been successful in trying to change the status of women in society, what should be the most important goal to work toward, and whether women's organizations had made any difference in the respondent's life. Respondents were asked questions about the women's movement, including whether the United States continued to need a strong women's movement, what the main obstacle was that women faced in trying to bring about change, whether the women's movement had made things harder for men at work or at home, and whether relationships between men and women were more honest and open than they used to be. Several questions asked which spouse stayed home with a sick child, how understanding the spouse's supervisor was during that time, whether employers are equally willing to give men and women workers with children flexible hours, how many women were getting ahead due to policies designed to advance women, and whether women had to give up too much in the past in exchange for more opportunities. Information was collected on the respondent's jobs and careers, including reasons for working, employment status, expectation of promotion, opinions on supervisors, expected age of retirement, and whether they were meeting the demands placed on them at work and at home equally. Additional topics included abortion, distribution of household chores and child care, spouse's employment status, whether the respondent's mother was employed outside of the home while the respondent was growing up, and environmental protection. Demographic variables include sex, race, age, marital status, whether respondents had any children in the household under 18, household income and personal household income contribution, education level, political party affiliation, and political philosophy.

Curated

Nonstandard Maternal Work Schedules and Child Health in Impoverished Families (ICPSR 35852)

Released/updated on: 2015-04-24

Geographic coverage: United States

This project collects data from a randomly selected community-based cohort of economically disadvantaged mothers of infants (N=450) to examine the influence of maternal work on the physical health and emotional well-being of children. The project recruits mother-infant dyads when children are 3 months of age and follows them until children are 30 months old.

Curated

Survey of Child Care Subsidy Recipients in New York City, June 2008-July 2009 (ICPSR 32481)

Released/updated on: 2012-08-06

Geographic coverage: New York City, United States

Time period: 2008-06-01--2009-07-01

The goal of this project was to explore associations among parental preferences for child care, parents' perceptions of care quality, subsidy policies, and the care arrangements that low-income working families in New York City use for their young children. The project relied on two data sources: (1) New York City administrative data on the entire population of subsidy recipients between January 2006 and December 2008 with children age six and younger to describe families' child care arrangements, and (2) a phone survey with a random sample of 2,045 families drawn from the administrative data and collected in two different waves. The first wave of data collection occurred between June 2008 and January 2009, the second wave occurred between February and July 2009. Due to the short interval between waves, no cohort effect was expected and the waves were merged into a single analytic sample, but the variable labels differentiate between the waves for future analysis.

Survey questions covered current child care arrangements, preferences for child care arrangements, satisfaction with subsidies, and experiences with subsidy enrollment and recertification. The administrative data were used to calculate the number and length of spells of subsidy use over the 36-month period. Children are classified according to subsidy mechanism (contract vs voucher) and population (public assistance vs low-income). Weights were created so survey respondents would generalize to the population of subsidy recipients as of February 2008 (including multiple children per family).

Using these data, the project aimed to answer four research questions:

What are the dynamics of subsidy use? What is the duration of subsidy use?
Is there a mismatch between parents' stated preferences for child care and the care that they actually use? What are the policy barriers that potentially prevent families from accessing the care that they prefer? Are there specific barriers faced by families who received vouchers (as opposed to those who receive care in a contracted setting) that affect their use of formal care?
Are parental preferences for child care differentially associated with the use of formal versus informal care? How are parental perceptions of child care quality and parental work characteristics associated with the use of formal or informal care?
Does the continuity of care depend on whether the care is informal or formal?

Curated

Washington Post: DC-Region Moms Poll, April 2005 (ICPSR 4324)

Released/updated on: 2006-05-02

Geographic coverage: District of Columbia, Baltimore, United States, Virginia, Maryland

This special topic poll, conducted April 14-23, 2005, is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. The focus of this data collection was respondents' experiences as mothers living in the Washington, DC, area. Respondents, all female, were queried on their choices as mothers such as whether to stay at home or work outside of the home, whether those in two parent households factored each person's income into the decision of who, if anyone, would stay at home to care for the children, whether they ever had doubts about their decision to have children, and whether they ever had doubts about their decisions related to which parent would stay home to care for the children. Further questions addressed the division of child care and responsibilities, the level of accommodation received from employers to address their responsibilities as parents, balancing the responsibilities of motherhood and responsibility/necessity of finding personal time for oneself, and balancing the responsibilities of motherhood and those of their jobs. Additional issues addressed the emotional health and experiences involved in motherhood, their satisfaction with being mothers, the expectations of mothers compared to times past, and the judgment and advice received from others relative to their parenting decisions. Background information includes age, education, household income, race, and sex.