4.7 Health

• Status
• Practices and Knowledge

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The NLSY97 collects information on the general health of respondents; in round 1, selected respondents also provided data on their health practices and knowledge.

4.7 Table 1. Health Subtopics and Universe Restrictions

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Status

Youth Questionnaire.  All youths are asked to report their height and their weight and to state the level of their general health in every round.  In the self-administered section, youths further describe their weight (very underweight, slightly underweight, about the right weight, slightly overweight, very overweight) and their current weight strategy (lose weight, gain weight, stay the same weight, not doing anything about weight).  Youths also state whether they have entered puberty and their age at the time of onset.

In round 1, if the respondent did not live with a parent/guardian at the time of the survey, he or she was questioned on the source of any health insurance coverage that included physician or hospital care.  Respondents were asked more details about health insurance coverage beginning in round 6.

The round 4 survey included a question series concerning how often the respondent felt certain ways during the month before the interview date.  Respondents reported the frequency of being nervous, feeling calm and peaceful, feeling downhearted and blue, being happy, and feeling so down in the dumps that nothing could cheer them up.  Answer choices were all, most, some, or none of the time during that month.  This series is located in the self-administered section of the questionnaire in questions YSAQ282B-YSAQ282G. 

Round 6 included an extensive series about physical, mental, and emotional conditions the respondents may have had.  Respondents were asked to report any such condition in addition to the age at which it was first noticed and the extent to which the condition currently limits activities.  Questions in rounds 6-9 asked about the number of times the youth was treated for injury or illness in the past year, the number of times the youth missed at least a day of usual activities due to injury or illness but was not treated, and how long it had been since the youth visited a doctor for a routine checkup.  Finally, respondents were asked in rounds 6-9 if they currently had health care coverage and if there was any time in the past year during which they did not have health care coverage.

Parent Questionnaire (round 1).  The round 1 parent interview provided additional information about the youth's general health.  The responding parent reported any past or present medical condition(s) that limited the youth's ability to attend school regularly, to do regular school work, or to work at a job for pay.  The survey specifically asked whether the youth suffered from any of the following conditions:

• Chronic health condition or life-threatening disease

• Learning disability

• Part of body missing or deformed

• Physical, emotional, or mental condition

• Trouble seeing, hearing, or speaking

For each health condition, the responding parent was asked how old the youth was when the condition was first noticed and whether the youth was currently limited by the condition.  Data on the youth's health insurance coverage were also collected from the responding parent.

Additional information about the general health of the parent, his or her partner or spouse, and, in some cases, the youth's absent biological parents is described in section 4.6.7, "Parent Characteristics."

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Practices and Knowledge

The round 1 NLSY97 interview included a series of questions, addressed to youths born in 1983, on respondents' health practices and knowledge.  The health practices questions asked about the number of days in a typical school week that the youth ate breakfast, the number of days in a typical week the youth ate green vegetables or fruits, the number of days in a typical week that the youth engaged in exercise lasting 30 minutes or more, and the percent of the time that the youth wore a seatbelt.

Similar to round 1, round 6 asked all respondents asked about health practices.  These included questions about the number of days in a typical week the youth ate fruits and vegetables and the number of days in typical week the youth engaged in exercise lasting 30 minutes or more.  Respondents were also asked to rate their general health and to report the amount of sleep they got on a typical weeknight.  Other questions asked about the amount of time in a typical week the youth spent using a computer and the amount of time in a typical week the youth spent watching television.  In addition, respondents were asked to report how many times during the last 30 days they had driven a car or other vehicle after they had been drinking alcohol and how many times during the last 30 days they had ridden in a car or other vehicle after the driver had been drinking.

Further questions in rounds 1 and 6 assessed youths' knowledge of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.  In both rounds, these questions were asked only of respondents born in 1983.  Two questions asked the youth to choose the most effective method of preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases--withdrawal, condom, or birth control pill.  The youth also stated at which point in the female menstrual cycle he or she believed pregnancy was most likely to occur.  Respondent answers to these questions are depicted in Table 2.

4.7 Table 2. Knowledge about Pregnancy and STDs (Youths Born in 1983)

In addition, in rounds 1 and 6 these youths were asked to state their opinions on whether smoking cigarettes contributed to getting heart disease or getting AIDS. The youths were also surveyed on whether having five or more drinks of alcohol once or twice per week increased the risk of damaging the liver, getting heart disease, getting arthritis, becoming addicted to alcohol, or harming an unborn child.

Parent Questionnaire (round 1).  If a youth was born in 1983, the responding parent was questioned on his or her perception of the effects of drinking alcohol on the same health conditions listed in the youth portion of the survey (see above). 

Comparison to Other NLS Surveys:  Respondents in each cohort have answered questions about their health; however, the specific questions have varied widely as the health sections were modified to reflect the respondents' varying life cycle stages.  Health insurance information has been collected from respondents in all cohorts except the Young Men.  In 1984, NLSY79 respondents answered health knowledge questions about when pregnancy occurs; the NLSY79 children age 10 and over (10-14 in 1994 and 1996) have responded to this question each year since 1988.  Users should refer to the appropriate cohort's User's Guide for more precise information.

Survey Instruments:  Questions in the Youth Questionnaire are found in the health and self-administered sections (question names begin with YHEA and YSAQ, respectively).  In the round 1 Parent Questionnaire, these questions are found in sections P6 and PC9.

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