COR 699
                  BACKGROUND VARIABLES

Variables in the background section that presented special problems 
in cleaning and recoding.

I. Religion Sequence

a) Family religion (RELFML) and respondent's present religious    
   preference (RELR75) have been coded to allow separate 
   categories for each group present in the sample. The 
   categorization of religion for the two variables is the same. 
   It is not exhaustive as it includes only those groups present 
   in the sample. Although it would have been desirable to 
   further break down some of the larger Protestant              
   denominational categories (e.g. Lutherans and Baptists), the   
   questions on religion did not allow for this.

b) According to the way the interview schedule was set up, a 
   respondent who answered Q73 (Are you a church member in 1975) 
   with 1 (equals member of church of preference) should have 
   been among those who claimed (in Q71) a religious preference. 
   However, there were 57 respondents who told us in Q71 that 
   they had no religious preference and in Q73 that they belonged 
   to the church of their preference. For logical consistency, 
   these persons' responses on Q73 (BKXRL3) were changed from 1 = 
   member of church of preference to 2 = member of some other 
   church.

II. Nationality

     This variable (NATFTH) was coded to allow separate categories for
each group present in the sample. There are two exceptions to
this rule. Because of the extremely small number of cases in the
following categories as well as the similarities between them,
Spanish and Portuguese were coded together, as were African American
and Black. The categorization of nationality is not exhaustive;
it contains only those groups in the sample.

III. Intact Families

     There was confusion among respondents and interviewers as to how
to interpret Q61 (BKLVPR = Did you live with both your parents
most of the time up to your senior year in high school?) in cases
in which the respondent did not live with their natural parents.
Some respondents who lived with adopted parents, foster parents,
a step-parent and a natural parent etc. answered yes to Q61.
Others answered no. We have relied on the respondent's subjective
impression of whether R lived with both parents, e.g. in an
intact family. Therefore, we have taken the answer the respondent
provided, whether yes or no in the above cases, as the correct
response.

IV. Mother's Education and Job Sequence

a) If the respondent's mother was household head, Q67-68e were
   marked inappropriate and the information for head of household's
   education and job was used to construct EDMOYR, INM057, OCM057,
   CWM057, INMM57, OCMM57, OCSM57, and OCPM57. If the respondent's
   mother was not household head, then the information in Q67-68e
   was used to construct EDMO57 through OCPM57 except in the
   following case. If the respondent's household head was a female
   socializing agent other than mother and Q67 (mother's education)
   = 77 or 99, the information for head's education and job was used
   to construct EDM057 through OCPM57. Out of 42 cases in which the
   respondent had a female head of household other than mother,
   there were 18 cases in which Q67 = 77 or 99.

b) Although Q68 = Did your mother have a job--full or part
   time--when you were a senior in high school--was a filter for
   Q68a-e (mother's job information), Q62e = Did your head of
   household usually work when you were a high school senior, was
   not a filter for Q62-62d (head of household's job information).
   Job information was asked for household heads as follows: What
   kind of work did your father/head of household do when you were a
   high school senior; if deceased or retired, then before that.
   Consequently, there are some female household heads (N=19) mapped
   into variables INMO57 through OCPM57 for whom there is job
   information in the original questionnaire, but who did not
   usually work when the respondent was a senior in high school. At
   least 7 of these cases exist because the respondent's head of
   household was deceased or retired; the interviewer had written
   this on the questionnaire. In order to make data taken to
   construct INMO57 through OCPM57, whether from Q62-62d or Q68-68e,
   as similar as possible, Q62e was used as a filter for determining
   codes of inappropriate. That is, if the data for INM057 through
   OCPM57 came from Q62-62d, and Q62e = No, then variables IND,
   1057, OCM057,CWM057, INMM57, 0CMM57, OCSM57, and OCPM57 received 
   codes of inappropriate. If the data came from Q68-68e and Q68 =
   no, then these job variables received codes of inappropriate.