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: Health

JHEALTH  Health Module

OVERVIEW

Participants were first asked to report on their health during the 1993
collection wave, when - as a complement to the primary telephone interview -
they were asked to complete a self-administered mail questionnaire that
included a health section. For the 2004 wave, coverage of health information
was further expanded such that we collected health data through both the mail
questionnaire and a newly added telephone interview module. The 2011 Health
Module, although (in most cases) conducted in-person, generally replicates its
predecessor from the 2004 telephone interview; as in 2004, it was complemented
by a section in the mail questionnaire. Information about the participant's
health was collected as follows:

     To assess the participant's health-related quality of life, we first 
     asked them to report on the health attributes comprising the Health 
     Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3): vision, hearing, speech, ambulation, 
     dexterity, emotion, cognition, and pain. We then asked for information
     about the participant's experiences dealing with various health 
     conditions; for each condition the participant reported having been 
     diagnosed with, we determined the timing of diagnosis, extent to which
     the condition interferes with enjoyable activities, and - in some 
     cases - how the condition was or is being treated. The following 
     conditions were asked about: high blood pressure; high blood sugar; 
     diabetes; cancer; heart problems; strokes; joint pain, stiffness, or 
     swelling; and mental illnesses. Finally, we asked all participants to 
     report on any long-term physical or mental conditions that previously 
     limited or currently limit their activities.
     
     Additionally, two series of questions were asked only to participants
     belonging to randomly selected sub-samples. The first set of questions,
     which was administered to participants who belonged to a 75% random 
     sub-sample and also reported having been diagnosed with one or more 
     targeted conditions, focused on experiences searching for information
     about health conditions. The second set of questions, which was 
     administered to a 50% random sub-sample, asked participants to rate
     the health of other people based on hypothetical descriptions. 
     
While the 2011 Health Module is generally comparable to its 2004 predecessor,
several noteworthy changes were made between collection waves: (1) questions
about physical height, weight, weight management, and cigarette smoking were
removed from the module, although such topics continue to be covered in the
mail questionnaire; (2) questions about the participant's experiences receiving
personal health care from a family member or friend were moved to a newly
introduced module, Activities of Daily Living (ADL); (3) questions about the
extent to which diagnosed conditions interfere with enjoyable activities were
added to the module; (4) detailed questions about treatment and complications
of diabetes and cancer were added to the module for participants reporting such
diagnoses; (5) for participants reporting activity-limiting long-term physical
or mental conditions, questions about specific diagnoses and their timing were
moved from the Employment Module to the Health Module; (6) a series of
questions about searches for information about selected health conditions was
added to the module; and (7) health vignettes were administered to both
graduate and sibling participants, rather than just siblings. 

Data for the 2011 collection wave were primarily compiled from in-person (CAPI)
and - more rarely - telephone (CATI) interviews, as well as from
self-administered questionnaires that participants were asked to complete and
mail back after being interviewed. Sometimes participants who were unwilling to
be interviewed in-person or by telephone indicated they would be willing to
return a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ). Thus we created a unique
version of the SAQ and mailed it to participants who did not complete an
in-person or telephone interview: the "mail-only self-administered
questionnaire" (MOSAQ). In addition to replicating all content in the original
2011 SAQ, the MOSAQ also contained questions analogous to those asked in
selected CAPI modules: Marriage, Cohab, and Dating; Children; Health;
Employment; Income and Pensions; and Assets. Since MOSAQ data contributed to
THIS module, users should pay special attention to analysis variable values of
-29 and -30. Values of -29 (left blank on MOSAQ) mean that the information
contained within a CAPI variable was asked of but not answered by a MOSAQ
participant while values of -30 (not part of MOSAQ) mean that comparable
information was not asked of MOSAQ cases. For information about the nature of
the Health Module and our health data at prior collection waves, please see
Appendix M (cor814, cor847, cor932, and cor966). No new documentation about
health data was added to the appendix for the 2011 collection wave. 


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS

    Variable ranges reference dataset/codebook order and are not necessarily 
    alphabetical.
    _____________________________________________________________________

    HHLTSTAT-HHLTREL:	   Module-Level Status Variables

    HX201RE:		   Self-Reported General Health
    
    HX202ARE:              Health Utilities Index Mark 3 (HUI3) Summary
    			   Score
    		     
    HX203LRE-HX210SRE:	   HUI3 Component Dimension Levels and Scores      
       	       
    HX301RE-HX339RE:	   Individual HUI3 Items
	
    HX341RE-HX341REB:	   High Blood Pressure/Hypertension: Timing of 
    			   Diagnosis and Extent of Interference with 
    			   Enjoyable Activities
    
    HX346RE-HX347REB:	   High Blood Sugar: Timing of Diagnosis and
    			   Extent of Interference with Enjoyable
    			   Activities
    			   
    HX342RE-HX343REB:	   Diabetes: Timing of Diagnosis and Extent of
    			   Interference with Enjoyable Activities
    
    HX344RE-HX377RE:	   Diabetes Complications and Treatment Details

    HX348RE-HX350GRE:	   Cancer: Timing of Diagnosis, Extent of 
    			   Interference with Enjoyable Activities, and 
    			   Site(s) of Occurrence
    
    HX378RE-HX389RE:	   Cancer Treatment Details and Side Effects
    		     
    HX351RE-HX390REB: 	   Heart Problems: Timing of Diagnosis and Extent
    			   of Interference with Enjoyable Activities
    
    HX352RE-HX353RE:	   Timing of Any Myocardial Infarctions (Heart 
    			   Attacks)

    HX354RE-HX394RE:	   Heart Treatments and Surgeries
    
    HX356RE-HX358RE:	   Strokes: Timing, Number of Occurrences, After
    			   Effects, and Extent of Interference with 
    			   Enjoyable Activities
    			   
    HX359RE:         	   Pain, Stiffness, or Swelling in Joints
        
    HX361RE-HX398RE:	   Mental Illness: Specific Diagnosis and Age at
    			   First Diagnosis
    
    HX230RE-HF603RE:	   Limiting Long-Term Physical or Mental
    			   Conditions: Specific Diagnosis, Timing of 
    			   Diagnosis, and Persistence
    
    HX700RE-HX709RE:	   Experiences Searching for Information About a
    			   Diagnosed Health Condition (Administered to 
    			   Eligible Members of 75% Random Sample)

    HX710RE-HX713REC:	   General Health Vignettes (50% Random Sample): 
    			   Ratings of a Fictional Person's Health Based 
    			   on Hypothetical Descriptions