DOI: 10.3886/icpsr08479.v1
title: Survey of Aging Veterans, 1983: [United States]
title: Version 1

description: The Survey of Aging Veterans was designed to provide the Veterans Administration with information needed to plan for the demands of United States veterans for medical and pension benefits over the next decade and beyond. The goal of the study was to be able to make estimates of future demands and future support needed for the rapidly expanding older veteran population. The survey yielded data on the current social, economic, and health status of noninstitutionalized veterans aged 65 and older, their patterns of utilization of Veterans Administration facilities and benefits, and future expectations regarding use of Veterans Administration programs and services. The survey also profiled the social, economic, and health status of the veteran cohorts aged 55 to 64 who will become eligible for Veterans Administration benefits over the next decade. Variables in this data collection include age, marital status, veteran status, employment, medical conditions, functional status, activity level, health and life insurance coverage, financial status, use of health care services, use of Veterans Administration benefits and services, future expectations regarding such things as personal health, finances, and need for support services, and experience with and attitudes toward Veterans Administration programs and benefits. The survey was conducted for the Veterans Administration by Louis Harris and Associates.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS1: Dataset
description: This data set represents data collected for the Survey of Aging Veterans with the following survey instruments: (1) Veteran Screener, (2) Proxy Screener, (3) Veteran Main Questionnaire, (4) Proxy Main Questionnaire. Proxies responded for 47 incapacitated noninstitutionalized veterans. The Proxy Main Questionnaire essentially duplicates the Veteran Main Questionnaire except for a set of questions unique to the Proxy Main Questionnaire (questions 89-98, F4, F5, F7-F9) and about 15 questions that were asked of veterans but not of proxies. The same record layout is used for veteran and proxy responses. Blanks are used as a legitimate code throughout to indicate that a variable does not apply to the respondent. The tape layout is complicated by the way in which some of the data items were originally captured on cards. Variables captured with multiple punches were subsequently recoded as sets of bivariate variables and added to the end of the record. Variables originally captured with "x" and "y" punches were recoded into 2-character fields eliminating the ampersands (&) and dashes (-). Multiply-punched fields were blanked out. Fields with ampersands and dashes remain on the record, but can be ignored, as the data exist in a more usable format elsewhere. The "codebook" included with this documentation specifies the location of only the most usable version of each variable. The tape layout included in this documentation may differ in some instances from the "codebook". Where differences occur, consider the "codebook" correct. For reasons of confidentiallity, birth-days have been changed to "99" and telephone numbers have been blanked out. SAMPLE AGE DISTRIBUTION: 55:0, 55-59:920, 60-64:1057, 65-69:621, 70-74:240, 75-79:92, 80-84:27, 85+:56.
description: United States noninstitutionalized veterans aged 55 and over.
description: National probability sample.