WLS MEMO #116

Number of children born during each marriage in the complete marital history or
in the post-1975 marital history.

     In 1992, we did not update number of children born during the 1975 
marriage, IF and ONLY IF the respondents still stayed in the same marriage.  
Therefore, the variables for number of children born (NOCB) during each 
marriage are constructed from the following sources:

A.   If the marriage was dissolved before 1975, NOCB would be coded as the
     corresponding variable in WLS23.
B.   If the marriage was the current marriage in 1975 but it was dissolved 
     later, NOCB would be coded as reported in 1992;  If the marriage was a 
     post-1975 marriage, NOCB would be coded as reported in 1992.
C.   If the marriage has not been interrupted since 1975, NOCB would be coded 
     as from the updated child roster (KIDSNO92).

     Thus, whether KIDSNO92 is used to construct NOCB is dependent on the 
marriage.  Say, RC082RE, NOCB in the most recent marriage, is constructed by 
RC076RE, RC070RE, RC064RE, RC058RE, RC052RE and RC046RE, which are NOCBs in 
the 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd and first marriage from the complete marital 
history.  Among them, RC076RE and RC070RE are coded as reported in 1992, 
because for respondents who have married more than 4 times, their 6th and/or 
5th marriages happen after 1975, i.e., the 2nd condition in resource B.  But, 
RC046RE, RC052RE,...and RC076RE could be constructed from resource A, B or C, 
because the marriage could be before 1975, at 1975 or after 1975.

     For users who are not comfortable at this arrangement, they may use the 
following variables to find out the sources and re-code them:

MRST, RC001RE, RC003RE, MARNO, RC082RE.