Life Cycle Profiles for the NLSY79 Children

NLSY79 Mothers: Table 1, below, presents a synopsis of some of the attitudinal and behavioral questions that have been asked of mothers, and of their children when they were both pre- and early teenagers, and then again when they were young adults. When these mothers were in their middle to later adolescent years they were asked about their own educational, employment and family aspirations. The mothers' records in the NLSY79 main Youth also contain information about their progression through school, their employment experiences and their marriage and childbearing experiences, all systematically updated at every survey round. Comprehensive annual income and individual earnings information is also collected, along with household structure updates, and county of residence information (available on a separate geocode file). Attitudinal information and self-reports on mental health and wellbeing (for example attitudes towards women's roles, the Rosenberg self-esteem scale and the CES-D depression scale) are available in selected years.  A battery of tests measuring maternal cognition, plus measures of educational achievement are also available. For example, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB, was administered to NLSY79 main Youth respondents in 1980 and scores are available for about 94% of the cohort's members. PSAT, SAT I, or ACT scores were also coded for about a quarter of NLSY79 respondents from Transcript Surveys between 1980 and 1983. A cognition module was added to the NLSY79 main Youth health section in 2006; this same module is included in the expanded health module introduced into the Young Adult survey in 2010. Additionally, there is a short series of questions on the mother's religious affiliation and upbringing, plus information pertaining to some of the less normative activities she might have been involved in.  Finally, the mother's first survey round in 1979 included a series of questions measuring the occupation and earnings of her parents (i.e. one set of the children's grandparents) that provides information on the socio-economic background she experienced while she was growing up.  This background input was then greatly enhanced by a detailed childhood residence history that was collected retrospectively for all NLSY79 women in 1988. We will incorporate some of this information above into our discussion of research possibilities that follows. 

NLSY79 Children 10-14: Once NLSY79 children reach age 10, they were asked about their own behaviors and experiences, and, as shown in Table 1, some of the information obtained was comparable with that obtained some years earlier from their mothers. These self-reports for children 10 and over included details about joint activities and interactions with parents, parental rules about activities and behaviors, household decision-making processes, peer pressures, attitudes about school, after-school employment and other extra-curricular activities, incipient substance use, involvement in a variety of non-normative activities, religious activities, dating relationships, sex education and expectations about future marriage and family building activities. Starting in 1992 the content of the child self-report was expanded to include details about within-family interactions, and--for those age 13 and over--items about sexual activity. Mothers were asked to report on their children's schooling success (e.g., grade repetition, reasons for success or failure), and each child ages 10-14 was asked to rate the quality of the school they attended and how they felt about their life in general. Questions about parental supervision activities were also directed to the mother.

NLSY79 Young Adults (age 15+): All children who reach their 15th birthday during the survey year are interviewed as young adults. Reports by these young adults often have considerable overlap with questions asked of their mothers at similar ages. For example, scores are available for the Pearlin Mastery, Rosenberg Self-Esteem and CES-D scales for young adults and their mothers during their late teens. Beginning in 2016, children ages 12 to 14 have also been fielded as part of the Young Adult data collection. The 14 year olds answer the same questions as the 15-16 year olds, but the 12 and 13 year olds answer far fewer questions, including some previously asked in the CSAS.

Table 1. NLSY79 Mothers & Children: Comparable Attitudinal and Behavioral Questions