DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02856.v1
title: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS): Survey of Minority Groups [Chicago and New York City], 1995-1996
title: Version 1

description: This survey of minority groups was part of a larger project
to investigate the patterns, predictors, and consequences of midlife
development in the areas of physical health, psychological well-being,
and social responsibility. Conducted in Chicago and New York City, the
survey was designed to assess the well-being of middle-aged, urban,
ethnic minority adults living in both hyper-segregated neighborhoods
and in areas with lower concentrations of minorities. Respondents'
views were sought on issues relevant to quality of life, including
health, childhood and family background, religion, race and ethnicity,
personal beliefs, work experiences, marital and close relationships,
financial situation, children, community involvement, and neighborhood
characteristics. Questions on health explored the respondents'
physical and emotional well-being, past and future attitudes toward
health, physical limitations, energy level and appetite, amount of
time spent worrying about health, and physical reactions to those
worries. Questions about childhood and family background elicited
information on family structure, the role of the parents with regard
to child rearing, parental education, employment status, and
supervisory responsibilities at work, the family financial situation
including experiences with the welfare system, relationships with
siblings, and whether as a child the respondent slept in the same bed
as a parent or adult relative. Questions on religion covered religious
preference, whether it is good to explore different religious
teachings, and the role of religion in daily decision-making.
Questions about race and ethnicity investigated respondents'
backgrounds and experiences as minorities, including whether
respondents preferred to be with people of the same racial group, how
important they thought it was to marry within one's racial or ethnic
group, citizenship, reasons for moving to the United States and the
challenges faced since their arrival, their native language, how they
would rate the work ethic of certain ethnic groups, their views on
race relations, and their experiences with discrimination. Questions
on personal beliefs probed for respondents' satisfaction with life and
confidence in their opinions. Respondents were asked whether they had
control over changing their life or their personality, and what age
they viewed as the ideal age. They also rated people in their late 20s
in the areas of physical health, contribution to the welfare and
well-being of others, marriage and close relationships, relationships
with their children, work situation, and financial situation.
Questions on work experiences covered respondents' employment status,
employment history, future employment goals, number of hours worked
weekly, number of nights away from home due to work, exposure to the
risk of accident or injury, relationships with coworkers and
supervisors, work-related stress, and experience with discrimination
in the workplace. A series of questions was posed on marriage and
close relationships, including marital status, quality and length of
relationships, whether the respondent had control over his or her
relationships, and spouse/partner's education, physical and mental
health, employment status, and work schedule. Questions on finance
explored respondents' financial situation, financial planning,
household income, retirement plans, insurance coverage, and whether
the household had enough money. Questions on children included the
number of children in the household, quality of respondents'
relationships with their children, prospects for their children's
future, child care coverage, and whether respondents had changed their
work schedules to accommodate a child's illness. Additional topics
focused on children's identification with their culture, their
relationships with friends of different backgrounds, and their
experiences with racism. Community involvement was another area of
investigation, with items on respondents' role in child-rearing,
participation on a jury, voting behavior, involvement in charitable
organizations, volunteer experiences, whether they made monetary or
clothing donations, and experiences living in an institutional setting
or being homeless. Respondents were also queried about their
neighborhoods, with items on neighborhood problems including racism,
vandalism, crime, drugs, poor schools, teenage pregnancy, the
existence of social networks, the frequency of contact with family
members, social interaction with neighbors, sense of community,
whether the respondent owned or rented their home, and the financial,
legal, and medical problems of family members. A final set of
questions sought respondents' assessments of their life and their
expectations for the future. Additional background information on
respondents includes age, ethnicity, and gender.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of 
				disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major 
				statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to 
				these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
			   		Performed consistency checks.; Standardized missing values.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Datasets: 
					
						DS1: Dataset
description: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Series
description: face-to-face interview
description: Adult minority residents 25 years of age or older in
Chicago and New York City.
				   		Smallest Geographic Unit: Census tract
description: Stratified random sampling with fixed quotas for
ethnicity, gender, age, and labor force status.