Marital Status and Marital/Cohabitation History - Appendix 3

Variables Created

• CV_MARSTAT (marstat)--marital status as of interview date (10 categories coded)
• CV_MARSTAT_COLLAPSED (cmarstat)--marital status as of interview date (5 categories coded)
• CVC_FIRST_COHAB_DATE~M (cohm), CV_FIRST_COHAB_DATE~Y (cohy)--date of first cohabitation
• CVC_FIRST_MARRY_DATE~M (marm), CV_FIRST_MARRY_DATE~Y (mary)--date of first marriage
• CVC_FIRST_COHAB_MONTH (cohcm)--date of first cohabitation in continuous month format
• CVC_FIRST_MARRY_MONTH (marcm)--date of first marriage in continuous month format
• CVC_FIRST_MARRY_END_DATE~M (divorceM), CVC_FIRST_MARRY_END_DATE~Y (divorceY)--date of end of first marriage
• CVC_FIRST_MARRY_END_MONTH (divor_CM)--date of end of first marriage in continuous month formart
• CVC_FIRST_MARRY_END (end_mar)--reason first marriage ended
• CVC_COHAB_TTL (och_ttl)--total number of cohabitations
• CVC_MARRIAGES_TTL (mar_ttl)--total number of marriages

This program creates two variables that describe marital status/cohabitation status as of the interview date for respondents age 16 and older. Other respondents are valid skips (-4). Note that later partners take precedence over earlier partners.

The program also creates variables that provide the beginning and end dates of the youth's first marriage and/or cohabitation in both a continuous month scheme and as actual dates (for more information on the continuous month scheme, see Appendix 7), as well as the reason the first marriage ended. Summary variables count the total number of marriages and cohabitations for each youth. If a respondent is cohabiting and then marries it is considered both a cohabitation and a marriage. If someone refuses or doesn't know the full date of their marriage or cohabitation, then the spell is counted in the total variables and the date variables are coded -1 or -2 as applicable.

Link to Marital Status and Marital/Cohabitation History program file