The design and content of the National Survey of Families and Households.

Abstract

This paper is a procedural history of the National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH). It attempts to 1) describe the history of the project 2) enumerate some of the major criteria that guided the decisions relating to the design of the survey what it covered and what questions it included and 3) describe the procedures that were used including sample design field procedures and data preparation. The NSFH includes interviews with a probability sample of 13017 respondents. The NSFH sample includes a main cross-section sample of 9643 households plus a double sampling of blacks Puerto Ricans Mexican Americans single-parent families families with stepchildren cohabiting couples and recently married persons. 1 adult per household was randomly selected as the primary respondent. The design is cross-sectional with several retrospective sequences. A considerable amount of life-history information was collected including the respondents family living arrangements in childhood the experience of leaving the parental home marital and cohabitation experience as well as education employment and fertility histories. The cross-sectional design permits the detailed description of past and current living arrangements and other characteristics and experiences and the analysis of the consequences of earlier patterns on current states marital and parenting relationships kin contact and economic and psychological well-being.