DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37375.v4
title: National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) Parent Study: Public Use, [United States], 2015-2017
title: Version 4

description: The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) Parent Study Public Use collection includes data gathered as part of the Add Health longitudinal survey of adolescents. The original Add Health survey is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the United States during the 1994-1995 school year. In Wave 1 of the Add Health Study (1994-1995), a parent of each Add Health Sample Member (AHSM) was interviewed. The Add Health Parent Study gathered social, behavioral, and health survey data in 2015-2017 from the parents of Add Health Sample members who were originally interviewed at Wave 1 (1994-1995). Wave 1 Parents were asked about their adolescent children, their relationships with them, and their own health. The Add Health Parent Study interview is a comprehensive survey of Add Health parents' family relations, education, religious beliefs, physical and mental health, social support, and community involvement experiences. In addition, survey data contains cognitive assessments, a medications log linked to a medications database lookup table, and household financial information collection. The survey also includes permission for administrative data linkages and includes data from a Family Health History Leave-Behind questionnaire. Interviews were conducted with parents' spouse/partner when available. Research domains targeted in the survey and research questions that may be addressed using the Add Health Parent Study data include: <strong>Health Behaviors and Risks</strong> Many health conditions and behaviors run in families; for example, cardiovascular disease, obesity and substance abuse. How are health risks and behaviors transmitted across generations or clustered within families? How can we use information on the parents' health and health behavior to better understand the determinants of their (adult) children's health trajectories? <strong>Cognitive Functioning and Non-Cognitive Personality Traits</strong> What role does the intergenerational transmission of personality and locus of control play in generating intergenerational persistence in education, family status, income and health? How do the personality traits of parents and children, and how they interact, influence the extent and quality of intergenerational relationships and the prevalence of assistance across generations? <strong>Decision-Making, Expectations, and Risk Preferences</strong> Do intergenerational correlations in risk preferences represent intergenerational transmission of preferences? If so, are the transmission mechanisms a factor in biological and environmental vulnerabilities? Does the extent of genetic liability vary in response to both family-specific and generation-specific environmental pressures? <strong>Family Support, Relationship Quality and Ties of Obligation</strong> How does family complexity affect intergenerational obligations and the strength of relationship ties? As parents near retirement: What roles do they play in their children's lives and their children in their lives? What assistance are they providing to their adult children and grandchildren? What do they receive in return? And how do these ties vary with divorce, remarriage and familial estrangement? <strong>Economic Status and Capacities</strong> What are the economic capacities of the parents' generation as they reach their retirement years? How have fared through the wealth and employment shocks of the Great Recession? Are parents able to provide for their own financial need? And, do they have the time and financial resources to help support their children and grandchildren and are they prepared to do so?
description: Add Health was developed in response to a mandate from the U.S. Congress to fund a study of adolescent health. The Add Health Parent Study was designed to improve the understanding of the role that families play through socioeconomic channels in the health and wellbeing of the older, parent generation and that of their offspring.
description: The Add Health Parent Study interview questions were administered on laptop computers using CAPI Blaise Survey Software. CASI (computer assisted self-interviewing) was employed for a group of sensitive questions. All Add Health Parent Study cases began with a screener, conducted in person or by phone, which confirmed the Wave 1 Parent's eligibility to participate in the survey and whether the parent had a Spouse or Partner eligible for inclusion in the study. The main interview was administered first to the eligible Wave I Parent and then to the eligible Spouse/Partner, if applicable. Telephone interviews were conducted with 112 respondents who were difficult-to-reach or geographically dispersed. Spanish language interviews were conducted with 32 respondents who did not speak English at the time of the interview.
description: <strong>Main Interview</strong> Both Parent and Spouse/Partner respondents answered roughly the same questions except those relating to the rosters and financial information. The main Add Health Parent Study interview includes variables about parent's family relations, education, religious beliefs, physical and mental health, social support, and community involvement. It also assesses personality traits and preferences, interactions between parents and children, health conditions and hospitalizations, emotional status and stressors, drug use, relationships, and economic status. The Add Health Parent Study instrument also includes two cognitive assessment memory exercises, Word Recall and Counting Backward. The Add Health Parent Study also collected a medications log and household financial information. Although the Add Health Parent Study Interview gathered a record of current prescription medications for the Wave I Parent and the Spouse using a medications log, the Public-Use data only releases one variable, which indicates whether or not the respondent took prescription medication in the four weeks preceding the interview. <strong>Household and Family Roster</strong> The Add Health Parent Study interview gathered information from the Wave I Parent on all persons currently living with the Wave I Parent including a Spouse/Partner, Add Health children, other children, other family members and other non-relatives. The interview also gathered information from the Wave I Parent on all living biological, adopted and step children that the Wave I Parent and (if applicable) the Spouse/Partner have, and whether they resided with the Wave I Parent and the Spouse/Partner or not. The Wave I Parent answered all questions about the Household and Family Rosters, including extensive questions about family relationships. Responses from the Wave 1 Parent to the Household and Family Roster are included in DS2. The Spouse/Partner only answered a small subset of questions about relationships with Add Health children. Spouse/Partner responses to the Household and Family Roster are included in DS4. <strong>Weights for Analysis</strong> The Parent Study has developed two weights for the full sample, one for the child-level data (i.e., original Add Health respondent), and the other for the parent-level data. Therefore, two weights are constructed at each level correspondingly for the public-use sample. Weights for analysis of parent-level data (either Wave I Parent or Spouse/Partner) are included in DS5. Weights for analysis of Add Health child-level data are included in DS6. <strong>Family Health History</strong> A paper Family Health History (FHH) leave-behind questionnaire was given to each respondent (Wave I Parent and Spouse or Partner) at the end of the interview that collected health histories for biological parents, siblings, aunts or uncles, and grandparents. Health histories collected from the Wave 1 Parent is included in DS7, and health histories provided by the Spouse/Partner are in DS8.
description: The Add Health Parent Study utilized two weights for the full sample, one for the parent-level data (<strong>PARFNLWT</strong> in DS5) and the other for the child-level data (<strong>CHDFNLWT</strong> in DS6). Two weights are constructed with a post-stratification strategy at each level correspondingly for the public use sample. Additional information about weighting for the Add Health Parent Study can be found in the Weights Documentation file available for download.
description: The Add Health Parent Study, gathered social, behavioral, and health survey data in 2015-2017 on a probability sample of the parents of Add Health sample members who were originally interviewed at Wave 1 (1994-1995). Data for 966 Wave I Parents, ranging in age from 50-80 years and representing 988 Add Health sample members, are available in the Public-Use sample. Parents eligible for participation in this study were the biological parent, adoptive parent, or stepparent of an Add Health respondent at Wave 1; not deceased or incarcerated at the time of sampling; and had at least one Add Health child who is also not deceased at the time of (Parents 2015-2017) sampling. The Add Health Parent Study interview also gathered survey data on the current co-habiting Spouse or Partner of Wave I Parents who completed the interview. Four hundred eight-six (486) current Spouse/Partner interviews are available in the Public-Use sample.
description: Datasets: DS0: Study-Level Files DS1: Wave 1 Parent Main Interview Data DS2: Wave 1 Parent Household and Family Roster Data DS3: Wave 1 Parent's Spouse/Partner Main Interview Data DS4: Wave 1 Parent's Spouse/Partner Subset Family Roster Data DS5: Weights for Analysis of Parent Level Data (Parent, Spouse or Partner) DS6: Weights for Analysis of Child Level Data DS7: Wave 1 Parent Family Health History Data DS8: Wave 1 Parent's Spouse/Partner Family Health History Data
description: Biological, adoptive, or step parents of Add Health sample members who were originally interviewed at Wave 1 in 1995. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); computer-assisted self interview (CASI); face-to-face interview; mail questionnaire; telephone interviewThe National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) Parent Study: Public Use data collection is a part of the Add Health series, which includes the Add Health Public data, ICPSR 21600, and the Add Health Restricted Use Data, ICPSR 35249. For similar study information and characteristics, and to link the Parent Study data to adolescent sample member data, please refer to all studies.Additional information on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) series can be found on the Add Health website.