Hello, I am using the NHIS 2021 sample adult and sample child surveys and have a clarifying question about the ‘isparentsc’ variable.
Because the IPUMS NHIS data are at a person level and I want to create a child-level dataset that has information on the sample adult’s variables, I merged the adult and the child surveys using ‘nhishid’ variable after createing separate datasets for sample adult and sample child surveys. But then I realized that, some of the cases that are assigned the value of ‘No sample child in sample adult’s family OR sample adult in sample child’s family’ (i.e., isparentsc==3) were merged (N=11). The following table shows a cross-tabulation between _merge and isparentsc.
Could you help me understand why this is the case? I may not be interpreting the ‘isparentsc’ variable correctly, so I’d really appreciate it if you could clarify what this variable represents and whether my approach to creating a child-level dataset with the sample adult’s information is appropriate. Thank you very much!
I suspect that your confusion stems from the sampling procedure implemented with the 2019 redesign of the NHIS. The IPUMS NHIS website has a note that details all of the changes in depth. Regarding the sampling procedure, the redesign eliminated data collection on all household members. Moreover, it also substituted detailed data collection on a single adult and child per family to a single adult and child per household. A household includes all people residing together in a single housing unit, such as a house, apartment, or a series of rooms, without separate entrances to divided living quarters. A family however contains all persons related by blood, marriage, or adoption residing together in the same household.
There are a number of scenarios where a household will contain multiple families with unrelated children:
A tenant and their family rents from another family that lives in the same housing unit.
An unmarried cohabiting couple, each with a child from a different partner, all living together.
The successful merger of cases with ISPARENTSC = 3 suggests that these are households that have a sample adult and sample child, but that these two individuals are not in the same family. The non-mergers of ISPARENTSC = 3 and then cases where there is no sample child in the sample adult’s household.
