WLS Codebooks

Note: Codebooks contain frequency data from the private data release. For some variables, these differ from the frequencies in the public release. Variables that differ between the public and private versions include "(not available on public release)" as part of the variable description, or a note indicating the difference between the public and private versions.

In Person: Friends

JFRNDS  Friends Module

OVERVIEW

The Friends Module includes three distinct sections: one about participants'
reciprocal high school friend, as named in a previous collection wave,one about
any other high school friends participants are still in contact with and one
describing the geographic distance between the pairs of reciprocal friends
dating back to the 1993 wave. 

Reciprocal friends are participants who named each other when asked about three
of their best same-sex high school friends during the 1975 collection wave. In
other words, if a participant has a "reciprocal friend," that person is also
part of the primary WLS sample (the 1/3 of Wisconsin's 1957 high school
graduates who were randomly selected for continuing study). Note that only
graduate participants, and not selected siblings, can have reciprocal friends.
Such participants were first asked a series of questions about their reciprocal
friend during the 1992 collection wave. If, at that time, the participant
reported that their reciprocal friend was still living and that they had been
in contact with him or her at some point during the past five years, they were
asked how they compared to him or her in terms of educational attainment, work,
and finances. If, on the other hand, the participant reported that their
reciprocal friend was deceased, they were asked when and where he or she died.
This interviewing protocol has been replicated exactly for the 2010 collection
wave, but only participants who were interviewed about a living reciprocal
friend during the 1992 collection wave were eligible to be interviewed about
them in 2010. 

The second section of the Friends Module, regarding (other) same-sex high
school friends participants are still in contact with, was administered to a
randomly selected 15% sub-sample, as well as to all participants who were
interviewed about a reciprocal friend they did not report as being deceased.
Participants were allowed to report on up to three same-sex friends. For each
friend, the following information was collected: full name, frequency of
contact during the past 12 months, and the closeness of the friendship.

The third section returns to the focus on reciprocated friendships and unlike
the first section where we focused on just one of the reciprocated friend pairs
from the 1975 wave, we include information on up to three possible
relationships. However the information is limited to the geographic distance
between their places of residence at each wave of the survey. All straight-line
distance, road distance, and time measures between friendship pairs are rounded
to three significant digits.   


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS
    _____________________________________________________________________

    HFRDSTAT-HFRDREL:       Module-Level Status Variables.

    HMX01RE:		    Was the Participant Asked To Report On A
    			    Reciprocal Friend? 
    
    HMX02RER:		    Reciprocal Friend Mortality Status, As 
    			    Reported by Participant
    
    HMX03RER-HMX05RE:	    Frequency of Contact With Reciprocal Friend
    			    During Past 12 Months
    
    HMX06RE:		    Year In Which Participant Last Saw 
    			    Reciprocal Friend
    
    HMX07RE:		    Has Participant Had Any Contact With
    			    Reciprocal Friend in Past 5 Years?
    
    HMX08RE:		    How Close Are the Participant and Their
    			    Reciprocal Friend?

    HMX09RE-HMX11RE:	    Self-Comparisons to Reciprocal Friend in
    			    Terms of Education, Work, and Finances
    
    HMX12RE:		    Year in Which Reciprocal Friend Died
    
    HMX14RE:		    Reciprocal Friend's IDPRIV
    
    HMX40RE:		    Was Participant Eligible to Be Interviewed
    			    About (Other) Same-Sex High School Friends?

    HMX41RE:		    Number of Same-Sex High School Friends
    			    Participant is Still in Touch With

    HMX42RER-HMX45RE:	    Frequency of Contact With and Closeness to
    			    First Friend
    			    
    HMX42ID		    First Friend's IDPRIV			    

    HMX46RER-HMX49RE:	    Frequency of Contact With and Closeness to
    			    Second Friend
    			    
    HMX46ID		    Second Friend's IDPRIV			    

    HMX50RER-HMX53RE:	    Frequency of Contact With and Closeness to
    			    Third Friend
    			    
    HMX50ID		    Third Friend's IDPRIV			  
    
    HMX13D931-HMX13D113	    Road Miles between friendship pairs at each wave of
                            interview
    
    HMX13T931-HMX13T113	    Driving time in minutes between friendship pairs at
                            each wave of interview

    HMX13S931-HMX13S113	    Straight line distance in meters between friendship
                            pairs at each wave of interview

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