DOI: 10.3886/icpsr06340.v2
title: Surveys of Officer and Enlisted Personnel and Military Spouses, 1985
title: Version 2

description: The two surveys that constitute this study -- the 1985 Survey of Officer and Enlisted Personnel (1985 Member Survey) and the 1985 Survey of Military Spouses (1985 Spouse Survey) -- were conducted in order to study various issues relating to military personnel. Areas of investigation included (1) the response of personnel to changes in military compensation and benefits enacted in previous years, (2) factors affecting readiness and retention of active duty personnel, (3) projected behavior of military personnel in response to possible changes in personnel management, (4) differences in career orientations, attitudes, and experiences among members of different subgroups, e.g., minorities, men, and women, (5) the demographic, household, familial, and other characteristics of military personnel, couples, and families, including special groups such as dual-career couples and single-parent families, (6) the impact of military policies on aspects of military and family life such as residential arrangements, continuing education, and spouse employment, (7) family well-being, including economic issues facing military families, and (8) demand for, use, and perceived adequacy of programs providing family services. Data collected by the Member Survey include branch of service, pay grade, military occupation, length of stay at current location, problems encountered at current location and in moving to the location, expected pay grade upon leaving the military, probable behavior under different personnel management options, civilian work experience and earnings, and the degree of satisfaction or dissatisfaction with various aspects of military life such as pay and allowances, personal freedom, acquaintances and friendships, work group and co-workers, assignment stability, environment for families, frequency of moves, retirement benefits, promotion opportunities, job training and in-service education, job security, medical care, and dental care. The Spouse Survey covered some of the subjects included in the Member Survey, but with differing levels of detail and emphasis. Attitudes gauged by the Spouse Survey include satisfaction/dissatisfaction with military housing, rights of civilian spouses, levels of demands made on civilian spouses, availability of job opportunities for civilian spouses, and childcare centers at military bases. Additional information gathered by the surveys includes sex, age, race, Hispanic origin, income and debt, marital status, educational attainment, number and ages of dependents, whether or not dependents were handicapped, and main language spoken at home. Data for the Member Survey and the Spouse Survey are supplied in separate files. A Couple File, comprising husband/wife pairs, contains merged data from both surveys.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Member Survey Data in LRECL Format 
 DS2: Member Survey Data in SAS Transport Format 
 DS3: SAS Setup for Member Survey Data (Part 1) 
 DS4: Spouse Survey Data in LRECL Format 
 DS5: Spouse Survey Data in SAS Transport Format 
 DS6: SAS Setup for Spouse Survey Data (Part 4) 
 DS7: Couple File in LRECL Format 
 DS8: Couple File in SAS Transport Format (Cases 1 Through 30,513) 
 DS9: Couple File in SAS Transport Format (Cases 30,514 Through 61,027) 
 DS10: SAS Setup for Couple File (Part 7)
description: There are two SAS transport files for the Couple File (Parts 8 and 9), each of which contains one half of the cases in the Couple File.
The sort order of the cases in the LRECL (i.e., ASCII) versions of the Member Survey Data File and the Couple File is not the same as the order of cases in the SAS transport versions of these files.
description: Member Survey: Active duty United States officers and enlisted personnel who were stationed in the United States or overseas on September 30, 1984, and had at least four months of service. Spouse Survey: Spouses of all married persons selected for the Member Survey.
description: Member Survey: Stratified random sampling. Spouse Survey: All members of the universe.