NLSY79 Children and Young Adults

In 1986, a separate survey of all children born to NLSY79 female respondents began, greatly expanding the breadth of child-specific information collected. In addition to all the mother's information from the NLSY79, the child survey includes assessments of each child as well as additional demographic and development information collected from either the mother or child. For children aged 10 and older, information has been collected from the children biennially since 1988 on a variety of factors including child-parent interaction, attitudes toward schooling, dating and friendship patterns, religious attendance, health, substance use, and home responsibilities. Biennially (since 1994), children ages 15 and older complete a lengthy child interview modeled on the NLSY79 questionnaire. Information collected includes their schooling, training, work experiences and expectations, health, dating, fertility and marital histories, and household composition. [More]

Information in the NLSY79 Children and Young Adult Surveys

• Summary of variables available in each round for children (birth to age 14) (PDF)
• Summary of variables available in each round for young adults age 15 and older) (PDF)
• Overview of the Children and Young Adults (PDF)

NLSY79 Children and Young Adult Data and Documentation at NLSinfo.org

• NLSY79 Children and Young Adult User's Guide - Helps you get started and answers many data questions
• Download or order data, questionnaires and other documentation
• NLS Investigator: Access all Child/Young Adult public use variables online
• Correction of errors that appeared in previous NLSY79 Children\Young Adult data files
• Customized sampling weights to properly represent the population groups your research is examining

NLSY79 Young Adult Data that Require Special Permission

• Information about the NLSY79 Young Adult Geocode CD

Last Modified Date: June 20, 2007