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National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG)
Public-Use Data Files

Survey description
Data file description
List of data file variables at a glance
Data file technical characteristics
Geographic coverage
Data availability
Ordering information
Documentation contents
Related reports
Contacts
NSFG Web page

Survey description
The 1973-1995 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) have provided reliable national statistics on pregnancy, childbearing, contraception, and related aspects of maternal and infant health. There were 5 rounds of data collection: 1973, 1976, 1982, 1988, and 1995, each time from national samples of women 15-44 years of age, interviewed in person in their own households. Sample sizes were 9,797 in 1973, 8,611 in 1976, 7,969 in 1982, 8,450 in 1988, and 10,847 in 1995. The public use Cycles 1,2,3,4, and 5 are all available on CD-ROM from NCHS by contacting the NSFG staff by e-mail at NSFG@cdc.gov or by calling (301) 458-4222.

This section will describe the data files from the 1973-1995 surveys of women.

Data file description
Each record contains a weight that should be used in obtaining national estimates from the data. (See Vital and Health Statistics, Series 2, Numbers 76, 87, 98, 109, and 124)

List of data file variables at a glance

Respondent file (1995)
Childhood/young adult living arrangement history
Work history
Education history
Menarche
Number of pregnancies
Adoption
Other children raised
Complete marriage & cohabitation history
Sexual partner history for last 5 years
Sterilization operations
Fecundity impairment
Contraceptive history
Month-by-month method calendar for 1991-95
Use of family planning and other medical services
Birth expectations
Use of infertility services
PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) & other
conditions affecting fertility
HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) testing
Self-reported race
Religion
Income
Health insurance
Work shifts
Child care
Audio-Computer Assisted Self Interview:*
Abortions*
Number of sexual partners*
HIV risk behaviors*
Interviewer characteristics

Selected variables from 1993 National Health
Interview Survey (NHIS)
Contextual data^*

* = Omitted or restricted-use items, not on Public Use Files.  Available by application.

Interval (pregnancy) file (1995)
Pregnancy outcomes
Prenatal care: Timing and source of payment
Breastfeeding
Contraceptive use in the pregnancy interval and
wantedness of the pregnancy
Selected respondent characteristics (for
example, race/ethnicity, age)

Respondent file (1973, 1976, 1982, 1988, (and 1990 reinterview)

Marital status
Date of birth of:
Respondent
Husband
Date of present marriage
Dates previous marriages began and ended
and reasons for dissolutions
Current pregnancy status
Number of pregnancies and births
Number of husband's children
Number of adopted children
Contraceptive method used each month in the
3 years before interview
Fecundity and infertility
Number of additional births intended
Timing of expected births
Preferences for number and sex of children
Provider of and mode of payment for prenatal care
Hospitalization of infant and mother after birth
Use of family planning services (source, services
received, number of visits)
Race observed by interviewer
Self-reported race
Living with parents in childhood
Ethnicity, respondent and husband
Educational attainment, respondent and
husband
Years of education in religious schools
(1973, 1976, and 1988 only)
Education at time of marriage, respondent and husband
Husband's age at marriage (single years)
Work for pay before marriage and in intervals
between and after births
Child care (detail varies)
Occupation: 3-digit census categories, respondent
and husband
Religion
Attendance at religious services
Employment status, respondent and husband
Amount and sources of income earned in last
12 months by respondent, husband, and
other family members
Interview date
1982 and 1988 only:
Age at first intercourse
First contraceptive method ever used
Duration of oral contraceptive use, brands used,
reasons for stopping use (1982 only)
Sex education by parents and schools

Interval (pregnancy) file (1973-1990)

Open interval
Months with no intercourse
Contraceptives used
Dates began and stopped contraception
Regularity of contraception
Current contraceptive practice
Pregnancy intervals ending in 3 years before interview¹
Number of intervals
Order of interval
Months without intercourse
Contraceptives used
Dates began and stopped contraception
Regularity of contraception
Date interval ended by pregnancy
Pregnancy intervals ending in birth²
Order of interval
Date of birth
Sex of child
Birth weight (pounds, ounces)
Date of child's death if deceased
Date child last lived with respondent if living
Number of months child breastfed
All pregnancy intervals³
Order of interval
Contraception in interval
Termination of contraceptive for pregnancy
Desire for another baby
Husband's desire for another baby
Desire for pregnancy at that time
Husband's desire for pregnancy at that time
Date pregnancy ended
Outcome of pregnancy

1Data are given for each interval.
2Data are given for each birth.
3Data are given for each pregnancy.

Data file technical characteristics
Each file is rectangular and contains fixed-length records. The block size and record length pertain to data stored on tape.

Geographic coverage
The National Survey of Family Growth includes U.S. women 15-44 years of age. In Cycles 1, 2, and 3, only the conterminous United States was included. In Cycles 4 and 5, Alaska and Hawaii were included.

Analysis can be done for the four major census regions (Northeast, Midwest, South, West) and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Estimates cannot be made for individual States or for smaller areas.

Data availability
Surveys were done in 1973 (Cycle 1), 1976 (Cycle 2), 1982 (Cycle 3), 1988--with a followup survey in 1990 (Cycle 4 and Reinterview), and 1995 (Cycle 5). CD-ROMs are available for Cycles 1,2,3,4, and 5.  Single copies of the CD-ROM's are available free of charge from NCHS.  Call (301) 458-4222 or e-mail  nsfg@cdc.gov.

Ordering information
The NSFG data tapes can still be purchased through the National Technical Information Service (NTIS). 

Data tapes

Documentation contents
Each CD-ROM contains all the necessary documentation.

The data file documentation contains an introductory section that includes:
how the file is organized into data for each womanand data for each of her pregnancies (if any)
how missing data were imputed
how dates (for example, pregnancies and marriages)are coded
a summary of sample design and variance estimation that are available in selected Vital and Health Statistics,Series 2 reports
an index listing of each item in the data files

Appendixes include the specifications for "recoded" or "created" variables.

The documentation also includes a detailed contents, or "codebook", of the respondent and interval files, which contains the wording of the question (for questionnaire items), and the code categories and unweighted number of cases in each category for the total sample and for white respondents, black respondents, and respondents of other race/ethnicities, and in the case of Cycle 5, for Hispanic respondents. The codebook also contains, for each item, a detailed description of which respondents did not receive the question, in other words, those for whom the question was inapplicable.

Cycle 5 documentation is divided into two parts: the codebook is separate from the "User's Guide", which contains the informational sections described above.  Only the User's Guide is available electronically and in hard copy, as the codebook is prohibitively large and is most efficiently used electronically.

Survey instruments are available in hard copy for all cycles, and are available electronically for Cycle 4 (1990 reinterview only) and Cycle 5. The questionnaire for Cycle 5 can be downloaded from the FTP server.

Related reports

Many reports and articles have been published using NSFG data. Results have been published in:

Advance Data, Numbers 9, 10, 11, and 26 (Cycle 1); 36, 43, 45, 55, 56, 58, 59, and 61 (Cycle 2); 102, 103, 104, 107, and 108 (Cycle 3); 182, 184, 189, 192, 194, 200, 238, and 239 (Cycle 4); and 306, and 323 (Cycle 5).

Vital and Health Statistics, Series 23, Numbers 1-23; Series 2, Numbers 76, 87, 91, 98,109, and 124; Series 1, No. 36; and Professional journals (see list under "List of reports and articles using NSFG Data ("View/Download PDF 93 KB".)
 

Contact information
National Survey of Family Growth Staff
Division of Vital Statistics
National Center for Health Statistics
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
3311 Toledo Road, Floor 7
Hyattsville, Maryland 20782
(301)458-4222

nsfg@cdc.gov