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Curated

Detroit Area Study, 1993: Health and Aging (ICPSR 2839)

Released/updated on: 2001-03-26
Geographic coverage: Detroit, United States, Michigan
Time period: 1993-01-01--1993-12-31

The 1993 Detroit Area Study explored a variety of issues related to health, the effects of aging, living conditions, and participation in civic life in the Michigan tri-county area of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties. A battery of questions probed respondents' perceptions of their health and mental state and those of their spouse, their ability to perform certain physical and mental activities, and the effect of their emotional state on their appetite and sleeping patterns. Other explored their feelings about neighborhood safety, means of transportation, relationships, accommodation, the portrayal of older people on television programs, and the treatment of older people by employers. The survey also sought respondents' opinions about government, their personal financial situation and problems, money management, savings and investments, and their life as a whole. Additional items questioned respondents about the frequency of their visits to the doctor, overnight hospitalization, chronic health conditions, smoking and drinking habits, and medical coverage, as well as electoral participation, political party preference, ideological leanings, class self-identification, assistance received from community organizations, family, and friends, personal regrets, and time spent watching television and engaging in pleasurable activities. Other questions gauged respondents' memory, vision, and motor skills. Respondents also provided demographic information on sex, age, marital status, race, ethnicity, religion, and education.

Curated

National Crime Surveys: Victim Risk Supplement, 1983 (ICPSR 8316)

Released/updated on: 1999-02-25
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1983-01-01--1983-12-31
This special one-time survey was designed to collect data on persons aged 12 and over reporting household victimizations. The supplement, administered over a one-month period as part of the National Crime Survey, gathered data on people's lifestyles in order to determine whether certain lifestyles were related to crime victimization. Five questionnaires used by the Census Bureau for data collection served as the data collection model for this supplement. The first and second questionnaires, VRS-1 and VRS-2, contained basic screen questions and an incident report, respectively. VRS-3, the third questionnaire, was completed for every household member aged 16 or older, and included items specifically designed to determine whether a person's lifestyle at work, home, or during leisure time affected the risk of crime victimization. The interviewers completed the fourth and fifth questionnaires, VRS-4 and VRS-5. They were instructed to answer questions about the respondents' neighborhoods and behavior during the interview.
Curated

National Survey of the Aged, 1975 (ICPSR 7945)

Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1975-01-01--1975-12-31
This survey was conducted during the spring and summer of 1975 under a grant from the Administration on Aging and with supplemental funding from the Social Security Administration. It surveyed noninstitutionalized Americans aged 65 and older with a special focus on developing national estimates of the economic needs and social concerns of the elderly. The survey attempted to describe the aged population and to indicate the degree of health, financial independence, and familial support of 2,143 older Americans. Also studied were the work status of respondents, their past and present attitudes toward work, their desire for gainful employment, their income and assets, their evaluation of their own financial status, and their reported use of health and welfare services. The data collection comprises three files. Part 1 contains the general survey, Part 2 is a survey of proxy respondents, and Part 3 supplies information on persons who could not complete an interview.
Curated

New Homes and Poor People, 1966-1967 (ICPSR 7492)

Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1966-01-01--1967-12-31
This study focused on the indirect consequences of new housing construction by examining the sequences of moves triggered by first-time occupancies of new homes. In particular, the investigation attempted to ascertain whether the construction of new, relatively expensive housing might indirectly benefit low-income people or African Americans who could not afford to purchase these new houses but would be able to move into vacancies created farther along the chain. Interviews were first conducted with a representative sample of first-time inhabitants of newly-built homes, and then with the families that moved into the dwellings left vacant. Wherever possible, each chain of moves was followed to its logical conclusion. Demographic information includes age, sex, and education of family head, race of respondent, family life cycle, and family income.
Curated

Philadelphia Social History Project: Pennsylvania Abolition Society and Society of Friends Manuscript Census Schedules, 1838, 1847, 1856 (ICPSR 3805)

Released/updated on: 2009-02-26
Geographic coverage: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Time period: 1838-01-01--1838-12-31, 1847-01-01--1847-12-31, 1856-01-01--1856-12-31

Initially taken in 1838 to demonstrate the stability and significance of the African American community and to forestall the abrogation of African American voting rights, the Quaker and Abolitionist census of African Americans was continued in 1847 and 1856 and present an invaluable view of the mid-nineteenth century African American population of Philadelphia. Although these censuses list only household heads, providing aggregate information for other household members, and exclude the substantial number of African Americans living in white households, they provide data not found in the federal population schedules. When combined with the information on African Americans taken from the four federal censuses, they offer researchers a richly detailed view of Philadelphia's African American community spanning some forty years.

The three censuses are not of equal inclusiveness or quality, however. The 1838 and 1847 enumerations cover only the "old" City of Philadelphia (river-to-river and from Vine to South Streets) and the immediate surrounding districts (Spring Garden, Northern Liberties, Southwark, Moyamensing, Kensington--1838, West Philadelphia--1847); the 1856 survey includes African Americans living throughout the newly enlarged city which, as today, conforms to the boundaries of Philadelphia County. In spite of this deficiency in areal coverage, the earlier censuses are superior historical documents. The 1838 and 1847 censuses contain data on a wide range of social and demographic variables describing the household indicating address, household size, occupation, whether members were born in Pennsylvania, status-at-birth, debts, taxes, number of children attending school, names of beneficial societies and churches (1838), property brought to Philadelphia from other states (1838), sex composition (1847), age structure (1847), literacy (1847), size of rooms and number of people per room (1847), and miscellaneous remarks (1847). While the 1856 census includes the household address and reports literacy, occupation, status-at-birth, and occasional passing remarks about individual households and their occupants, it excludes the other informational categories. Moreover, unlike the other two surveys, it lists the occupations of only higher status African Americans, excluding unskilled and semiskilled designations, and records the status-at-birth of adults only. Indeed, it even fails to provide data permitting the calculation of the size and age and sex structure of households.

Variables for each household head and his household include (differ slightly by census year): name, sex, status-at-birth, occupation, wages, real and personal property, literacy, education, religion, membership in beneficial societies and temperance societies, taxes, rents, dwelling size, address, slave or free birth.

Curated

Quality of American Life, 1971 (ICPSR 3508)

Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1971-01-01--1971-12-31
The purpose of this study was to survey Americans about perceived quality of life by measuring perceptions of their socio-psychological condition, their needs and expectations from life, and the degree to which those needs were satisfied. The data were collected via personal interviews from a nationwide probability sample of 2,164 persons 18 years of age and older during the summer of 1971. Closed and open-ended questions were used to probe respondents' satisfactions, dissatisfactions, aspirations, and disappointments in a variety of life domains, such as dwelling/neighborhood, local services (e.g., police, roads, and schools), public transportation, present personal life, life in the United States, education, occupation, job history/expectation, work life, housework, leisure activities, organizational affiliations, religious affiliation, health problems, financial situation, marriage (including widowhood, divorce, and separation), children/family life, and relationships with family and friends. In addition to broad questions about satisfaction with each of these domains and their importance to the respondents, specific sources of gratification and frustration are explored. Other questions focused on life as a whole and the extent to which respondents felt they had control over their lives (e.g., rating of various aspects of life, (dis)satisfaction with life, personal efficacy, and social desirability measures). Personal data include sex, age, race, ethnic background, childhood family stability, military service, and father's occupation and education. Observational data are included on housing and neighborhood characteristics as well as respondents' appearance, intelligence, and sincerity. An instructional subset of this study is also available (see ICPSR INSTRUCTIONAL SUBSET: QUALITY OF AMERICAN LIFE, 1971 [ICPSR 7516], also prepared by Campbell, Converse, and Rodgers.) It includes questions representative of the major areas covered in the original, longer survey. A related dataset, QUALITY OF AMERICAN LIFE, 1978 (ICPSR 7762), continues the survey conducted in 1971.
Curated

Quality of American Life, 1978 (ICPSR 7762)

Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1978-01-01--1978-12-31
This dataset is a continuation of one created seven years earlier, QUALITY OF AMERICAN LIFE, 1971 (ICPSR 3508). In the 1978 study, a national sample was drawn that included many respondents from the 1971 study. The purpose of the study was to survey Americans about their perceived quality of life by measuring their perceptions of their socio-psychological condition, their needs and expectations from life, and the degree to which those needs were satisfied. The data, similar in scope and content of that in the 1971 survey, were collected via personal interviews from a nationwide probability sample of 3,692 persons 18 years of age and older during the summer of 1978. Closed and open-ended questions were used to probe respondents' satisfactions, dissatisfactions, aspirations, and disappointments in a variety of life domains, such as dwelling/neighborhood, local services (e.g., police, roads, and schools), public transportation, present personal life, life in the United States, education, occupation, job history/expectation, work life, housework, leisure activities, organizational affiliations, religious affiliation, health problems, financial situation, marriage (including widowhood, divorce, and separation), children/family life, and relationships with family and friends. In addition to broad questions about satisfaction with each of these domains and their importance to the respondents, specific sources of gratification and frustration were explored. Other questions focused on life as a whole and about the extent to which respondents felt they had control over their lives (e.g., rating of various aspects of life, (dis)satisfaction with life, personal efficacy, and social desirability measures). A major difference between this study and the earlier study is that the 1978 respondents were asked more detailed questions concerning their perceived financial status relative to their family, friends, and past personal financial status. Personal data include sex, age, race, ethnic background, childhood family stability, military service, and father's occupation and education. Observational data are included on housing and neighborhood characteristics as well as respondents' appearance, intelligence, and sincerity.
Curated

WABC-TV/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Race Relations Poll, January 1988 (ICPSR 9187)

Released/updated on: 1992-02-17
Geographic coverage: New York City, United States, New York (state)
Time period: 1988-01-05--1988-01-06
This data collection examines race relations in New York City. Respondents were asked to name the most important black leader in New York City and to give their opinions on whether income and living conditions were getting better or worse for most blacks and whether there was more or less anti-white/anti-black feeling among members of the other race. In addition, respondents were asked if they agreed or disagreed with these statements: 1) The police and the courts treat blacks as fairly as they treat whites, 2) If blacks tried harder they could be just as well off as whites, 3) Discrimination has unfairly held blacks down but many problems today are brought on by blacks themselves, and 4) Blacks have been held back because Jews control the educational system in the city. Additional topics covered include the Howard Beach incident in which several white youths were found guilty of manslaughter in the death of a black youth, the selection of the black educator Richard Green as chancellor of the city schools, and the respondent's opinion of several public figures. Background information on respondents includes religion, race, sex, and borough of residence.
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