DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04376.v1
title: Current Population Survey, March/April 1986: Match File: Alimony and Child Support
title: Version 1

description: This data collection is comprised of responses from the
 March and April installments of the 1986 Current Population Survey 
 (CPS). Both the March and April surveys used two sets of questions, the
 basic CPS and a separate supplement for each month.
 The CPS, administered monthly, is a labor force survey providing
 current estimates of the economic status and activities of the
 population of the United States. Specifically, the CPS provides
 estimates of total employment (both farm and nonfarm), nonfarm
 self-employed persons, domestics, and unpaid helpers in nonfarm family
 enterprises, wage and salaried employees, and estimates of total
 unemployment.
 In addition to the basic CPS questions, respondents were asked
 supplemental questions in March about income. About 42,200 of the
 housing units interviewed in March were interviewed again in April. In
 these housing units all women 18 years of age and older who had
 children were asked the April CPS supplemental questions. These
 questions concerned child support and alimony payments. Of the 43,091
 women found eligible in March, 37,671 of them matched women
 interviewed in April. For the remaining 5,420 women interviewed in
 March, the child support and alimony information was imputed.
 Information regarding child support and alimony was collected to
 determine the size and distribution of the female population with
 children affected by divorce or separation. Moreover, the data were
 collected to better understand the characteristics of persons
 requiring child support and alimony, and to help develop and maintain
 programs designed to assist in obtaining child support. These data
 highlight alimony and child support arrangements made at the time of
 separation or divorce, amount of payments actually received, and value
 and type of any property settlement.
 This collection also contains data covering nine noncash income
 sources: food stamps, school lunch program, employer-provided group
 health insurance, employer-provided pension plan, personal health
 insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, the Civilian Health and Medical Program
 of the Uniformed Services (CHAMPUS), and energy assistance.
 Demographic variables include age, sex, race, marital status, veteran
 status, educational attainment, occupation, and income. Data on
 employment and income refer to the preceding year, although other
 demographic data refer to the time at which the survey was
administered.
description: For all CPS data files, a single weight was prepared and
 used to compute the monthly labor force status estimates. An
 additional weight was prepared to roughly correspond to wage and
 salary workers. The difference in content of the March CPS supplement
 required the presentation of a household weight, a family weight, and
 a March supplement weight. Users are strongly encouraged to refer to
 the user guide for additional information concerning the weights used
in this collection.
description: A multistage probability sample was used for the housing
unit.
description: Datasets: 
DS1: Current Population Survey, March/April 1986: Match File: Alimony and Child Support
description: The civilian noninstitutional population of the United
 States living in housing units, as well as members of the Armed Forces
 living in civilian housing units on a military base or in a household
not on a military base.
description: telephone interview(1) These data are distributed exactly as they arrived
 from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed the data.
 Users should contact the principal investigators if further
 information is desired. (2) In this hierarchical dataset, there are
 three record types: Household, with approximately 65 variables,
 Family, with approximately 80 variables, and Person, with
 approximately 230 variables. (3) The technical documentation
 inaccurately states that there are 203,135 records. There are 200,029
 records in the data file. (4) The file is sorted by Census state code,
 then by SMSA rank code. (5) Users are strongly encouraged to read the
 User Guide, which contains the questionnaires for the supplements and
additional technical documentation.