Data on Child Education linked to CPS Marriage supplement

CPS
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Hi all,

I am a prospective first time user of CPS. I understand that in the 1980, 1985, 1990 and 1995 “CPS Marriage and Fertility Supplements” adult women living in CPS households were asked about the wedding, separation, and divorce dates for their first three marriages and about the genders and years of birth for their first four children and their most recent child.

Is it also possible to link this data with data on the educational outcomes of each of these children? Could you also confirm that I would have information on the county/state of residence?

Thank you in advance

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If children have gone to college or for any other reason are no longer living at home, data on their educational outcomes or place of residence will not appear in the CPS. It is only possible to link this data if they also appear as part of the same household in that survey.

If you’re interested in the educational outcomes of children living within the household, you will need the variable MOMLOC, which reports the person number (PERNUM) of an individual’s coresident mother. Within each household, you can link a mother to her coresident children by associating cases where the children’s MOMLOC value is equal to a woman’s PERNUM value. There is sample code (see endnotes) for how to perform this linkage that may be of interest to you. Note that MOMLOC identifies social relationships (such as stepmother and adoptive mother) as well as biological relationships. MOMLOC will also identify the unmarried partner of a child’s father identified with POPLOC. The method by which probable child-mother links are identified is described in MOMRULE.

Once linked, educational variables such as EDUC, HIGRADE, and SCHLCOLL can help evaluate educational outcomes of interest. The variables COUNTY and STATEFIP report the county and state that the household resides in. However, COUNTY only became available starting September 1995. If you’re looking for a geographic designation below the state level, METFIPS (the metropolitan area of residence) is available for all monthly surveys starting in 1989.

FRRES1-FRRES4 as well as FRRESL provide a bit of knowledge on children who are no longer living in the household through detailing who they are currently living with. These variables are only available for June 1980, 1990, and 1995 and they don’t provide any geographic information.

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