Race, Ethnicity & Nationality

Race: One race variable (R00023.) is available for each respondent. ‘Race’ is a three-category variable (“black,” “white,” and “other”) available only for the respondent and, in general, is derived from the household screening. According to the Current Population Survey Interviewer’s Reference Manual (Census 1962) in use at the time of the screening, race was to be determined by interviewer observation. Interviewers were instructed to code Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and other Latin Americans as “white” unless they were obviously of another race and to include respondents of Japanese, Chinese, American Indian, Korean, Hindu, Eskimo, etc., heritage in the “other” category. At the time of the first survey, race information for each respondent was manually transferred to the questionnaire from data entered on the Household Record Cards during the 1966 household screening. (Only in the case of the creation of a new household, where a respondent had moved out of the household in which she was living at the time of the screening, would the interviewer fill out a new Household Record Card, in which case all household member information would be newly recorded.) Table 4.24.1 presents a distribution of race by nationality.

Nationality	Total	White	Black	Other
Total	5083	3606	1390	87
U.S. or Canada¹	3302	1985	1294	23
North or West Europe	832	825	6	1
Central or East Europe	255	254	0	1
South Europe	233	229	2	2
Latin America	85	80	1	4
Other	113	35	24	54
NA	263	198	63	2

Note: This table is based on R00023. and R00808.
¹ The U.S. and Canada category appears overrepresented because nationality was based on birthplace of parents and grandparents (i.e., this category includes all respondents whose parents and grandparents were born in the U.S. or Canada).

Nationality/Ethnicity: The variable ‘Nationality of R’ (R00625.), created in 1967, is available for each respondent. The nationality of respondents was derived from the first parent or grandparent born outside of the U.S. and Canada using the following decision rules: if the father was born outside of the U.S. and Canada, his nationality was assigned to the respondent; if he was born inside the U.S. and Canada but the respondent’s mother was not, her nationality was assigned, and so forth. Categories include U.S. or Canada, North or West Europe, Central or East Europe, South Europe, Latin America, and other; there are no separate categories for Asian or African countries. Specific countries in each category are not listed in the codebook with the nationality variable but are included in Table 4.24.2.

Coding Category	Countries
North or West Europe	Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland (Eire), Luxembourg, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales
Central or East Europe	Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia
South Europe	Andorra, Azores, Gibraltar, Gozo, Greece, Italy, Liechtenstein, Malta, Monaco, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Trieste, Vatican City
Latin America	Mexico, Central American countries, South American countries

A single question fielded in 1995 asked each respondent for information on her origin or descent. Thirty-one ethnicity coding categories (e.g., Chinese, Dutch, Mexican-American, Portuguese, etc.) were provided with instructions to “mark all that apply.” This question was repeated in 1997 for respondents who were not interviewed in 1995 and in 1999 and 2001 for respondents who had not been interviewed in either of the prior two surveys.

Survey Instruments & Documentation: Race was recorded on Household Record Card form LGT-1, used at the time of the 1966 screening and the initial interview, and was manually transferred to the first page of the 1967 questionnaire. Birthplace was recorded in the “Family Background” section of the 1967 questionnaire. The 1995-2001 ethnicity question can be found in the “Other Family Background” section. The codebook contains information on the specific derivation of the nationality variable.

Reference

Census Bureau. “Current Population Survey and Housing Vacancy Survey: Interviewer’s Reference Manual.” Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1962.