DOI: 10.3886/icpsr22940.v4
title: Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Study (L.A.FANS)
title: Version 4

description: The Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey (L.A.FANS) is a longitudinal study of families in Los Angeles County and of the neighborhoods in which they live. The L.A.FANS was designed to answer key research and policy questions in three areas: the effects of neighborhoods and families on children's development; the effects of welfare reform at the neighborhood level; and the process of residential mobility and neighborhood change. L.A.FANS offers users the opportunity to study other important issues including: adult health and health disparities, immigrant well-being, social ties and neighborhood interaction, marriage patterns, ethnic identity, family survival strategies, and family dynamics.
description: This study's goal was to understand how neighborhoods affect a variety of outcomes, including children's development and well-being, and stress and health among children and adults.
description: Data were being collected in two waves, in 2000-2001 and 2006-2008, with the possibility of additional waves in later years. Wave I was completed in January 2002. The L.A.FANS follows neighborhoods over time, as well as children and families. Specifically, in the second wave of the survey, the L.A.FANS: (1) reinterviewed all children and adults in the sample, even if they moved out of the neighborhood, (2) reinterviewed all sampled respondents who remained in the neighborhood, and (3) interviewed a sample of new entrants into the neighborhood. Thus, the L.A.FANS combines the advantages of a panel study of children and families with the advantages of a repeated cross-sectional sample of each neighborhood. This feature allows researchers to examine neighborhood selection, i.e., the process by which families select themselves into and out of neighborhoods.
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.; Created variable labels and/or value labels.; Standardized missing values.; Created online analysis version with question text.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI), computer-assisted self interview (CASI), coded on-site observation, cognitive assessment test, face-to-face interview, web-based survey 
2012-08-22 This data collection has been deaccessioned and is no longer available.
 ICPSR is distributing only the Public Use L.A.FANS data.Restricted L.A.FANS data are available under restricted contract. Information about the restricted data contracts and instructions for applying can be found on the L.A.FANS Restricted Data Web site, or by contacting lafansapplications@rand.org . 
 More detailed information on the L.A.FANS study can be found on the L.A.FANS Web site. 
 L.A.FANS FAQs can be found on the L.A.FANS Web site. 
L.A.FANS STATA download is STATA/SE Version 10.
description: Neighborhoods and households in Los Angeles County, California
description: L.A.FANS is based on a stratified random sample of 65 neighborhoods (census tracts) in Los Angeles County, California. Poor neighborhoods were oversampled. In Wave I, an average of 41 households were randomly selected and interviewed within each neighborhood, including an oversample of households with children under 18. Within each household, both adults and children were sampled and interviewed. Each sampled person was interviewed in the first wave and will be interviewed in each subsequent wave, whether they remain in the neighborhood or move elsewhere. In the second wave, a fresh sample of households that had moved into the neighborhood in the preceding two years was also selected and interviewed. These households became part of the sample and will be followed in subsequent waves. Thus, the size of the sample grows over time. Each wave of L.A.FANS includes a household survey. In Wave I, sampled adults were asked to complete: (a) a household roster; (b) questions about household economic status, health insurance, assets, current and past participation in welfare programs (e.g., AFDC, TANF, GR, Medicaid, SSI, WIC, and housing assistance), use of private social service programs, and their neighborhood; and (c) questions about education, employment, income, migration and immigration, marital history, neighborhoods of residence, reasons for moving, and social ties and social support. Primary caregivers (usually the mother) of sampled children were asked to complete questions about themselves and the home environment. They were asked about the child's behavior problems, school-related performance and disciplinary problems, and current health and disability status, as well as child care history (including names and addresses of current providers), immigrant status, school enrollment, health and disability history, child support payments, contact with the absent parent, residence history, and use of public and private social service programs (e.g., SSI, school lunch, after-school and recreational programs, and Medicaid). Primary caregivers also completed cognitive assessments.