DOI: 10.3886/icpsr38297.v1
title: Harmonizing Two NICHD-funded Datasets to Study Youths' Behavioral Health, United States, 1986-2016
title: Version 1

description: The primary purpose of this project was to harmonize a scale of behavioral health, the Behavior Problems Index (BPI), within and across two publicly-available datasets, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS). Each of the original studies followed children longitudinally and their mothers completed the BPI about their behaviors, generally when the children were ages 4 to 14. The analysis generated Stata-formatted datasets which include the children's ages, genders, race/ethnicities; their mothers' age, highest grade completed, and region and urbanicity of residence; their family size, income, income-to-needs ratio, and poverty status; and the BPI item responses and study-created BPI summary scores. Researchers used naming conventions and recodings to conceptually harmonize these variables. For researchers who want to review and modify the codings, the archive includes the Stata code that was used to create the analysis datasets as well as the "raw" data that was extracted from the NLSY79 and PSID-CDS websites. Researchers also analytically harmonized the BPI scale scores using psychometric models. Here, they provide Mplus code that was used to test for measurement invariance and to run the alignment model to link scores as well as R code using user-written harmony package to read the alignment model output. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
description: The primary purpose of this project was to harmonize a scale of behavioral health, the Behavior Problems Index (BPI), within and across two publicly-available datasets, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS).
description: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS) maintain their own websites with details about study design.
description: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS) are based on complex sampling designs and have sampling weights. The archived analysis data files include sampling weights.
description: Response Rates: For the original National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79), response rates were 77% to 97% across waves. Response rates were high for mothers' completion of the Behavior Problems Index (BPI) among eligible children (about 95% in the first round in 1986). For the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS), response rates for general participation was 88% for the 1997 cohort and 77% for the 2014 cohort.
description: Presence of Common Scales: The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS) each included many scales. The primary scale of focus in this project is the Behavior Problems Index (Peterson and Zill, 1986; Zill, 1990).
description: The original National Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) was a multi-stage, stratified random national sample. Sampling weights are available in the public-use datasets to adjust for minority oversamples and year-to-year attrition. There are mother and child specific weights. Primary Sampling Units (PSUs) were counties and independent cities. PSUs were stratified prior to sampling based on 9 Census divisions and 2 urban/rural classes. The initial Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) combined two independent samples: a cross-sectional, national sample (based on stratified multistage selection of the civilian noninstitutional population of the U.S.) and a national sample of low-income families. The cross-section sample was an equal probability sample of households in the 48 coterminous states designed to yield about 3,000 completed interviews. The second sample was selected from the Census Bureau's Survey of Economic Opportunity (SEO) using unequal selection probabilities. Starting in 1990, a fresh sample of Latino households was added. Individuals are followed when they leave originally sampled households. Sampling weights adjust for unequal selection probabilities and attrition. A cluster and stratum variable are provided to adjust for PSU/Strata.
description: Datasets: DS1: Harmonizing Two NICHD-funded Datasets to Study Youths' Behavioral Health, United States, 1986-2016
description: Mothers with children aged 4-14.
description: face-to-face interview; telephone interviewNational Longitudinal Survey of Youth Children and Young Adults 1979 (NLSY79) and the Child Development Supplements of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID-CDS) maintain their own websites with details about study design.