Search results

The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey series is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study focusing especially on differences between Black and White Americans in middle and late life. These data constitute the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waves in a panel survey covering a wide range of sociological, psychological, mental, and physical health items. Wave I of the study began in 1986 with a nation face-to-face survey of 3,617 adults ages 25 and up, with Black Americans and people aged 60 and over over-sampled at twice the rate of the others. Wave II constitutes face-to-face re-interviews in 1989 of those still alive. Survivors have been re-interviewed by telephone, and when necessary face-to-face, in 1994 (Wave III), 2001/02 (Wave IV), 2011 (Wave V), and 2019/21 (Wave VI).

Please note that for Wave VI, the majority of data collection occurred in 2019, with only a small subset (n=39) of participants surveyed in 2021.

ACL was designed and sought to investigate the following: (1) The ways in which a wide range of activities and social relationships that people engage in are broadly "productive," (2) how individuals adapt to acute life events and chronic stresses that threaten the maintenance of health, effective functioning, and productive activity, and (3) sociocultural variations in the nature, meaning, determinants, and consequences of productive activity and relationships. Among the topics covered are interpersonal relationships (spouse/partner, children, parents, friends), sources and levels of satisfaction, social interactions and leisure activities, traumatic life events (physical assault, serious illness, divorce, death of a loved one, financial or legal problems), perceptions of retirement, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight, rest), and utilization of health care services (doctor visits, hospitalization, nursing home institutionalization, bed days). Also included are measures of physical health, psychological well-being, and indices referring to cognitive functioning.

Demographic information provided for individuals includes household composition, number of children and grandchildren, employment status, occupation and work history, income, family financial situation, religious beliefs and practices, ethnicity, race, education, sex, and region of residence.

The quality of community life in the Detroit metropolitan area and factors influencing it were the main focus for this Detroit Area Study. To gauge perceptions of the quality of life in the Detroit tri-county area, respondents were asked how satisfied or dissatisfied they were with the tri-county area in general, with their neighborhoods, and with the quality of local community services, such as quality of local roads, public schools, police and garbage collection. In addition, the survey measured respondents' satisfaction or dissatisfaction with their own education, income, health, amount of leisure time, marriage, family life, job, home, and other aspects of their lives. Respondents also were questioned about their expectations for the future, their friendships in the tri-county area, friendliness with neighbors, use of recreational facilities, and where their children played. The survey also sought respondents' opinions on a wide range of other issues such as race relations, social stratification, abortion, the benefits of the free enterprise system, whether or not the United States was a meritocracy, and the meaning and value of democracy. Additional information gathered by the survey includes duration of residence in the tri-county area and at the current residence, place of previous residence, home ownership, rent payments, value of the home, number of separate bedrooms, motor vehicle ownership and use, use of public transportation, employment status, occupation and industry, independence and authority at work, number of siblings ever born, religious preference, social class identification, political preference, and information on age, sex, place of birth, income, race, ethnicity, and household composition.

The Kinder Houston Area Survey is a longitudinal study that began in May 1982 after Houston, Texas, recovered from the recession of the mid-1980s. The overall purpose of this research was to measure systematically the public responses to the new economic, educational, and environmental challenges, and to make the findings of this continuing project readily available to civic and business leaders, to the general public, and to research scholars. Part 1, All Responses from 25 Successive Samples, contains all the responses from the successive representative samples of Harris County residents from 1982 through 2014. These are the data that enabled the project to analyze continuity and change among area residents over the course of 26 years. In 13 of the 14 surveys (the years from 1994 through 2014, the one exception being 1996), the surveys were expanded with oversample interviews in Houston's ethnic communities. Using identical random-selection procedures, and terminating after the first few questions if the respondent was not of the ethnic background required, additional interviews were conducted in each of the years to enlarge and equalize the samples of Anglo, African American, and Hispanic respondents at about 500 each. In 1995 and 2002, the research also included large representative samples (N=500) from Houston's Asian communities, with one-fourth of the interviews conducted in Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, or Korean -- the only such surveys in the country. These additional interviews are included in Part 2, Additional Oversample Interviews.

The data contained in Part 2 are for Restricted-Use of Part 1, All Responses from 25 Successive Samples.

The data contained in Part 3 are based on a 14-year total of 6,576 Anglos, 6,086 African Americans, 6,094 Hispanics, and 1,250 Asians, along with 387 others, and are of particular value in assessing the similarities and differences both within and among Houston's (and America's) four largest ethnic groups. Beginning in 2003, the data files have incorporated detailed information from the 2000 Census on the characteristics of the respondent's neighborhood, not only at the level of home ZIP code, but also by Census tract and block group.

In Part 4, Restricted-Use information from 2000 Census, the data record the population and geographical area of each of the three sectors, distributions by ethnicity and immigrant status, age and gender composition, employment and commuting patterns, and levels of education and income. With this information incorporated in the datasets covering five years of expanded surveys, researchers are able to connect the respondents' perceptions and experiences with information on the neighborhoods in which they live, thereby adding a contextual dimension to analyses of the factors that account for individual differences in attitudes and beliefs. Conducted during February and March of each year, the interviews measured perspectives on the local and national economy, on poverty programs, inter-ethnic relationships. Also captured were respondents' beliefs about discrimination and affirmative action, education, crime, health care, taxation, and community service, as well as their assessments of downtown development, mobility and transit, land-use controls and environmental concerns, and their attitudes toward abortion, homosexuality, and other aspects of the social agenda. Also recorded were religious and political orientations, as well as an array of demographic and immigration characteristics, socioeconomic indicators, and family structures.

This data collection is part of a longitudinal survey designed to provide detailed information on the economic situation of households and persons in the United States. These data examine the distribution of income, wealth, and poverty in American society and gauge the effects of federal and state programs on the well-being of families and individuals.

There are three basic elements contained in the survey. The first is a control card that records basic social and demographic characteristics for each person in a household, as well as changes in such characteristics over the course of the interviewing period. These include age, sex, race, ethnic origin, marital status, household relationship, education, and veteran status. Limited data are provided on housing unit characteristics such as units in structure, tenure, access, and complete kitchen facilities. The second element is the core portion of the questionnaire, with questions repeated at each interview on labor force activity, types and amounts of income, and participation in various cash and noncash benefit programs for each month of the four-month reference period. Data for employed persons include number of hours and weeks worked, earnings, and weeks without a job. Nonworkers are classified as unemployed or not in the labor force. In addition to providing income data associated with labor force activity, the core questions cover nearly 50 other types of income. Core data also include postsecondary school attendance, public or private subsidized rental housing, low-income energy assistance, and school breakfast and lunch participation. The third element consists of topical modules, which are a series of supplemental questions asked during selected household visits.

Topical modules include some core data to link individuals to the core files.

The Wave 1 Topical Module covers recipiency and employment history. The Wave 2 Topical Module includes work disability, education and training, marital, migration, and fertility histories, and household relationships. The Wave 3 Topical Module covers medical expenses and utilization of health care, work-related expenses and child support, assets and liabilities, real estate, shelter costs, dependent care and vehicles, value of business, interest earning accounts, rental properties, stocks and mutual fund shares, mortgages, and other assets. The Wave 4 Topical Module covers disability, taxes, child care, and annual income and retirement accounts. Data in the Wave 5 Topical Module describe child support, school enrollment and financing, support for nonhousehold members, adult and child disability, and employer-provided health benefits. Data in the Wave 6 Topical Module provide information on medical expenses, work-related expenses and child support paid, assets and liabilities, real estate, shelter costs, dependent care and vehicles, value of business, interest-earning accounts, rental properties, stock and mutual fund shares, mortgages, other financial investments. Wave 7 Topical Module includes annual income and retirement accounts, home health care, retirement expectations and pension plan coverage, and taxes. Wave 8 Topical Module covers adult well-being and welfare reform. Wave 9 Topical Module is the same as Waves 3 and 6 Topical Modules. Wave 10 Topical Module focuses on work schedules, disablility, taxes, child care, and annual income and retirement. Wave 11 includes child support, support for nonhousehold members, and adult and child disability. Wave 12 Topical Module is the same as Waves 3, 6, and 9 but also includes child well-being.

This data collection is part of a longitudinal survey designed to provide detailed information on the economic situation of households and persons in the United States. These data examine the distribution of income, wealth, and poverty in American society and gauge the effects of federal and state programs on the well-being of families and individuals.

There are three basic elements contained in the survey. The first is a control card that records basic social and demographic characteristics for each person in a household, as well as changes in such characteristics over the course of the interviewing period. These include age, sex, race, ethnic origin, marital status, household relationship, education, and veteran status. Limited data are provided on housing unit characteristics such as units in structure, tenure, access, and complete kitchen facilities. The second element is the core portion of the questionnaire, with questions repeated at each interview on labor force activity, types and amounts of income, and participation in various cash and noncash benefit programs for each month of the four- month reference period. Data for employed persons include number of hours and weeks worked, earnings, and weeks without a job. Nonworkers are classified as unemployed or not in the labor force. In addition to providing income data associated with labor force activity, the core questions cover nearly 50 other types of income. Core data also include postsecondary school attendance, public or private subsidized rental housing, low-income energy assistance, and school breakfast and lunch participation. The third element consists of topical modules, which are a series of supplemental questions asked during selected household visits. Topical modules include some core data to link individuals to the core files.

1. The Wave 1 Topical Module covers recipiency and employment history.

2. The Wave 2 Topical Module includes work disability, education and training, marital, migration, and fertility histories, and household relationships.

3. The Wave 3 Topical Module covers medical expenses and utilization of health care, work-related expenses and child support, assets and liabilities, real estate, shelter costs, dependent care, vehicles, value of business, interest earning accounts, rental properties, stocks and mutual fund shares, mortgages, and other assets.

4. The Wave 4 Topical Module covers work schedule, taxes, child care, and annual income and retirement accounts.

5. Data in the Wave 5 Topical Module describe child support agreements, school enrollment and financing, support for non-household members, adult and child disability, and employer-provided health benefits.

6. The Wave 6 Topical Module covers medical expenses and utilization of health care, work related expenses, child support paid and child care poverty, assets and liabilities, real estate, shelter costs, dependent care, vehicles, value of business, interest earning accounts, rental properties, stock and mutual fund shares, mortgages, and other financial investments.

7. The Wave 7 Topical Module covers informal caregiving, children's well-being, and annual income and retirement accounts.

8. The Wave 8 Topical Module and Wave 8 Welfare Reform Topical Module cover child support agreements, support for nonhousehold members, adult disability, child disability, adult well-being, and welfare reform.

9. The Wave 9 Topical Module covers medical expenses and utilization of heath care (adults and children), work related expenses, child support paid and child care poverty, assets and liabilities, real estate, shelter costs, dependent care, vehicles, value of business, interest earnings accounts, rental properties, stocks and mutual fund shares mortgages, and other financial investments

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.