Search results

This study contains data on child-rearing practices of mothers of children aged 18 and younger. The study was a combination of two studies: CHILD REARING PATTERNS AMONG URBAN FAMILIES by Daniel Miller and Guy Swanson, and ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS OF CONSENSUS OF GROUP MEMBERS by Theodore Newcomb. Respondents were asked about their children's habits, toilet training, and bottle- and breast-feeding patterns. Respondents were also asked about their child-rearing practices, attitudes about children, views of child-appropriate and sex-appropriate tasks, handling of difficult situations with their children, and use of leisure time. Other questions explored respondents' political interests, social life, and friends. They were asked if they voted for Adlai Stevenson or Dwight Eisenhower in the last American presidential election and why. The respondents were questioned about their three best friends to determine how frequently they visited with them, how often they discussed the election with them, whom they voted for and what kind of jobs their husbands held. Demographic variables specify age, sex, race, education, place of birth, length of residence in the Detroit area, home ownership, length of time at present residence, marital status, number of children, original nationality of husband's family, income, occupation, religious preferences, and class identification.

This study of 678 adults in the Detroit metropolitan area in 1960 provides measures of their job satisfaction and use of leisure time, as well as information on their friendships, buying patterns, and political preferences. Questions on job satisfaction queried respondents about job preferences, hours worked at current job, preference for self-employment, type of supervisors at workplace, chances for promotion, and the work culture and environment at respondents' current jobs. Questions on leisure time elicit information on time spent watching television and the programs watched often, newspapers and magazines read regularly and favorite columnists, books read, time spent on other hobbies and crafts such as photography, music, and sports, vacation time, use of spare time, memberships in clubs and organizations, and time spent socializing with friends, relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. Other items probed respondents' opinions about causes of unemployment, their feelings about their standard of living, and their future plans, financial obligations, buying patterns, use and ownership of telephones, self-perceived social class, political party preference, and choice of gubernatorial and presidential candidates in the last election. Additional items probed respondents' attitudes toward Blacks as neighbors and co-workers. Demographic variables specify age, sex, race, education, place of birth, length of residence in the Detroit area, home ownership, length of time at present residence, marital status, number of children, original nationality of paternal family, income, occupation, religious preferences, and class identification.

This study of 1,013 adult white males aged 21-64 in the Detroit metropolitan area provides information on their opinions of certain public and personal issues, as well as the pattern of their friendship networks. Respondents were asked about their friends, jobs, leisure time activities, and interests, as well as their attitudes toward certain political issues. Data are provided on respondents' social and work associations, and their interactions among a common group of friends. Other items elicited respondents' views on immigration, labor unions, the role of government, government spending on public schools, public parks, and county hospitals, income-earning work, racial imbalance in schools, the role of the husband in household chores responsibility, Communists, Ku Klux Klansmen, the ideal number of children for the average American family, and success. Additional items provide information on respondents' membership in organizations and clubs, their use of free time, and their home furnishings. Demographic variables include age, sex, marital status, country of birth, education, occupation, religion, political party affiliation, home ownership, family income, original nationality of parents, number of children, social class identification, and length of residence in the Detroit area.

For this survey, respondents from three counties in the Detroit, Michigan, area were queried about their work, health, marriage and family, finances, political views, religion, and child rearing. With respect to finances, respondent views were elicited on credit card purchases, recording expenditures, and savings and investments. Regarding political views, respondents were questioned about political preferences, presidential values, freedom of speech, nuclear war, and the interest of public officials. Questions also addressed religious beliefs and experiences, including the religiosity of respondents' parents, belief in and relationship with God, the relationship between science and religion, school prayer, divorce, and homosexuality. Additional religious questions -- based on the respondents' religious preference (i.e., Protestant, Catholic, Jew, Other Religion, or No Preference/Agnostic/Atheist Only) -- also were asked, covering topics such as interfaith marriages, religion of friends, and observance of religious holy days. Questions were asked about the views of respondents' religious leaders on issues including drinking, abortion, and test-tube fertilization. Regarding child rearing, views were elicited on issues including religious preference of child(ren) raised, religious training given to child(ren), and frequency of prayer before meals. Background information includes marital status, employment, political orientation, and income.

The Drug Use Among Young Indians: Epidemiology and Prediction study is an annual surveillance effort assessing the levels and patterns of substance use among American Indian (AI) adolescents attending schools on or near reservations. In addition to annual epidemiology of substance use, data pertaining to the normative environment for adolescent substance use were also obtained. For this data collection data comes from annual in-school surveys completed between the years 1993 to 2006, and 2009 to 2013. Students completed the surveys at school during a specified class period. The dataset contains 534 variables for 26,451 students in grades 7 to 12.

The Flint Adolescent Study (FAS) interviewed 850 ninth graders in the four public high schools of Flint, MI. The study was conducted in collaboration with the Projects for Urban and Regional Affairs and Flint Community Schools. The goal of the study was to explore the protective factors associated with school dropout and alcohol and substance use. The study followed the youths for four years beginning in the Fall of 1994. The sample reflected the overall student body in the Flint high schools. In order to study those students most at risk for leaving school before graduation, individuals with grade point averages of 3.0 and below were selected.

Interviews were conducted face-to-face with each student at the school or in a community location for students who were out of school. Each interview took about one hour to complete. At the end of the interview students were asked to complete the last section of the questionnaire by themselves which contains questions about their drug use and sexual behavior.

Information obtained from the youths includes: participation in church, school, and community organizations; social support and influence of family and friends; self esteem and psychological well being; delinquent and violent behaviors; alcohol and substance use; sex behavior and child bearing; school attitudes and performance; and family structure and relationships. The Youths were asked to complete a brief questionnaire at the end of the interview about their alcohol and substance use, and sexual behavior. In years 3 and 4 questions also asked about driving behavior, attachment style, stress, mentoring, and racial identity. Data was also collected about parental education and occupation.

The National Survey of American Life Adolescent Supplement (NSAL-A), 2001-2004, was designed to estimate the lifetime-to-date and current prevalence, age-of-onset distributions, course, and comorbidity of DSM-IV disorders among African American and Caribbean adolescents in the United States; to identify risk and protective factors for the onset and persistence of these disorders; to describe patterns and correlates of service use for these disorders; and to lay the groundwork for subsequent follow-up studies that can be used to identify early expressions of adult mental disorders. In addition and similar to the NSAL adult dataset (Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Surveys (CPES), 2001-2003 [United States] (ICPSR 20240)), the adolescent dataset contains detailed measures of health; social conditions; stressors; distress; racial identity; subjective, neighborhood conditions; activities and school; media; and social and psychological protective and risk factors. Numerous variables from the adult dataset have been merged into the adolescent dataset, as the NSAL adult and adolescent respondents reside in the same households. Some of these variables apply to the entire household (i.e. region, urbanicity, and family income), while others apply specifically to the NSAL adult respondent living in the adolescent's household (i.e. adult years of education, adult marital status, and adult nativity [foreign-born vs. US born]). The immigration measures were asked of Caribbean black adult respondents only. No comparable measures assess the immigration and generational status of the Caribbean black adolescent respondents. The adult dataset measures are merged into the adolescent dataset to assist in approximating these measures for adolescent respondents. The NSAL adolescent dataset also includes variables for other non-core and experimental disorders. These include tobacco use/nicotine dependence, premenstrual syndrome, minor depression, recurrent brief depression, hypomania, and hypomania sub-threshold. Demographic variables include age, race and ethnicity, ancestry or national origins, height, weight, marital status, income, and education level.

The Strengthening Washington DC Families (SWFP) Project examined the effectiveness of an evidence-based prevention program implemented on a sample of 715 families across mulitple settings in an urban area. The study area also included suburban Maryland. SWFP was set up as a true experimental design with families being randomly placed into one of four treatment conditions:

• child skills training only
• parent skills training only
• parent and child skills training plus family skills training
• minimal treatment controls

Entire families were assigned to one of the four treatment conditions. Data were collected from all family members who participated in the program. Thus the individual data files contain more than 715 records. The parent file contains 796 cases and the child file contains 961 cases.

The Strengthening Families Program is based on cognitive-behavioral social learning theory and family systems theory targeting elementary school-aged children. In this program parents receive training in parenting skills, children receive training primarily in social skills, and families receive family skills training. The aim of the program is to effectively reduce parent, child, and family risk factors for substance use and delinquency.

The Youth Development Study (YDS) was initiated as a school-based study of adolescent children and their parents to examine the consequences of formative experiences in adolescence for mental health, value formation, educational achievement, and multiple facets of behavioral adjustment. Particular attention was directed to the impacts of early work experience. Data were also obtained about parent-child and peer relationships and experiences in school. As the study continued, the focus shifted to adult development and attainment and, most recently, mid-life adjustment and health. This comprehensive longitudinal study now encompasses three generations: the initial cohort studied from adolescence to mid-life (G2), their parents (G1), and their adolescent children (G3). Data from three generations in the same families enable study of intergenerational relationships and differences in the experience of adolescence and transition to adulthood across parent and child cohorts. The YDS covers a wide range of topics of interest to sociologists, social psychologists, developmental psychologists, and life course scholars, including the development and impacts of agentic resources, socioeconomic attainment, processes of inter- and intra-generational mobility, objective and subjective work conditions, family relationships, intergenerational relationships, mental and physical health, and well-being.

In-school administration of paper surveys during the first four years of the study was supplemented by mailed surveys. Subsequent data collection took place entirely by mail, with 19 surveys conducted between 1988 and 2011. A final survey was conducted on-line in 2019. Survey data was obtained from the parents (G1) of this cohort during the first and fourth waves of the study (1988 and 1991). Surveys of the children (G3) began in 2009, continued in 2010 and 2011 (by mail) and in 2019-2020 (online).

The Youth Development Study measures a wide range of formative experiences and both psychological and behavioral variables, using survey methodology.

The G1 surveys obtained information about socioeconomic background as well as attitudes toward teenage employment, the parents' own employment as teenagers, their current work experiences, and educational expectations for their children.

The G2 surveys during the high school years included detailed questions about students' work and volunteer experiences, as well as experiences in their family, school, and peer groups, with an emphasis on the ways that working affected other life domains, mental health, and well-being. Shorter surveys containing many of the same topics were administered to students in 1992, 1993, and 1994, and included questions about current family and living arrangements. In 1995, a full survey was administered covering the wide range of topics included in previous surveys as well as information about career plans and life events that had occurred in the past five years. G2 Waves 9 through 19 (1997-2011) included many of the same questions contained in earlier surveys and additional sections that focused on the respondents' educational experiences, family relationships, sources of living expenses, and health and well-being. The most recent G2 survey (2019), administered on-line, included questions about support of aging parents. The YDS is unique in its coverage of both objective and subjective work experiences from adolescence to mid-life.

The topics covered by the G3 surveys are very similar to the G2 variables described above. Variables in each G2 and G3 wave are included in cross-wave codebooks, available at the Data Archive Codebook website.

For an overview of the Youth Development Study, see Mortimer, Jeylan T. (2012) "The Evolution, Contributions, and Prospects of the Youth Development Study: An Investigation in Life Course Social Psychology." Social Psychology Quarterly 75(1, March):5-27.