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, and124)
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*
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)
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
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.
Data
cycle/year
Record
length
Block
size
Number
of
records
Cycle
5, 1995
Respondent
file
13,064
13,064
10,847
Interval
file
416
4,160
21,332
Cycle
4, 1990
Respondent
file
3,500
31,500
5,686
Interval
file
3,500
31,500
1,737
Cycle
4, 1988
3,553
31,977
24,209
Cycle
3, 1982
1,500
30,000
31,977
Cycle
2, 1976
1,000
10,000
31,653
Cycle
1, 1973
2,100
2,100
9,797
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
Data
year
NTIS
order no.
Price
1995
PB97-501514
$545.00
1990
(Reinterview)
PB95-503058
366.00
1988
PB90-501248
305.00
1982
combined respondent
and interval file
PB85-100022
305.00
1976
combined
PB80-219702
305.00
1973
PB-277054
305.00
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:
Vital and Health Statistics, Series 23, Numbers 1-23; Series 2,
Numbers 76, 87, 91, 98,109,
and124;
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