AFDA Data Set No. 98-A3

The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health, Waves I & II (Add Health), 1994-1996
J. Richard Udry, Principal Investigator

Note: Wave III of Add Health and a combined data set with Waves I - III are now available from Sociometrics' Data Archive on Adolescent Pregnancy and Pregnancy Prevention (DAAPPP). Click Here to view the data sets available in the DAAPPP collection.

The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) was mandated by Congress to collect data for the purpose of measuring the impact of social environment on adolescent health. It examines the general health and well-being of adolescents in the United States, including, with respect to these adolescents, (1) the behaviors that promote health and the behaviors that are detrimental to health; and (2) the influence on health of factors particular to the communities in which adolescents reside. Some of the dependent variables include diet and nutrition, eating disorders, depression, violent behavior, intentional injury, unintentional injury, suicide, exercise, health service use, and health insurance coverage.

Because Sociometrics is responsible for distributing only the public-use version of the Add Health data, we focus on it in this summary. Add Health data were collected in two waves. Wave I (collected between September, 1994 and December, 1995) includes three sets of data available for public use. The in-school data was collected from students grades 7 through 12 and consists of responses to questions about social and demographic characteristics of the respondents, the education and occupation of parents, household structure, risk behaviors, expectations for the future, self-esteem, health status, friendships, and school-year extracurricular activities. The in-home data set consists of responses to a detailed and lengthy interview of a subset of adolescents who were selected from the rosters of the sampled schools. More than 75% of adolescents interviewed for the in-home component of the study also completed the in-school questionnaire. Finally, the Parent data were collected from one parent or parent-figure for each In-home sampled student.

Wave II of the Add Health data (collected from April, 1996 through August, 1996) consists of the in-home adolescent follow-up interviews. The school friendship network data, released in conjunction with the Wave II in-home follow-up data, consist of 269 constructed network variables. The complete public-use version of the Add Health data distributed by Sociometrics contains 6,504 cases and 5,800 variables. In addition, the community contextual data are appended to the Wave II release and distributed by Sociometrics as two ACSII files consisting of 32 variables each. Although not included in the search-and-retrieval capabilities of the main data file, the community contextual data may be merged with the raw data for analyses. Please click here if you would like to see a list of variables included in the main data file. (10MB)

The investigator hopes this research will enable Congressional leaders, parents, researchers, policy makers, educators, and health-care providers to better understand how to protect the health of young people in the United States.

Please Note: Before the Add Health data set can be shipped, we must have a signed copy of the Use Agreement (fax copy is OK) in our office. The original is to be kept by the ordering institution or individual, and EVERY person who accesses the data set must read and sign the agreement. There is no need to send us additional copies of the agreement as new users add their signatures. However, the Carolina Population Center reserves the right to audit the Use Agreement Form. To expedite your shipment, it is helpful to download the Use Agreement, and fax it back to Sociometrics at (650) 949-3299. Due to the necessity of the Use Agreement, this data set is not available for download.

*All dataset orders include Raw Data, SPSS Program Statements, SAS Program Statements, machine-readable codebooks, and User's Guide. Instruments and additional User's Guides can also be purchased separately.

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