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: Siblings

JSIB - Sibling Module           

OVERVIEW

1975 Graduate Interview information on all Siblings

In the 1975 Wave of the WLS, Graduates were asked about brothers and sisters
who were born alive but no longer living, as well as those who were still
living.  They were also asked to include step-brothers and step-sisters and
children adopted by their parents.  They reported total number of
sisters/brothers and the number of older sisters/brothers.   In addition they
were asked the sex, name, age and level of education of each living brother and
sister.   The interviewer then asked whether or not the graduate was a twin. 
If the graduate had a twin, that sibling was chosen to be the selected sibling,
otherwise the interviewer randomly chose one of these living siblings to be the
selected sibling.

1975 Graduate Interview Information on Selected Sibling

The 1975 Graduate instrument collected the name and location of the last high
school the sibling attended, the kind of work the sibling did or used to do and
the current address of the sibling.

____________________________________________________________________________

1977 Sibling Interview (Interviews conducted with about 2000 sibling
participants.  If the graduate had a twin then that sibling was interviewed,
otherwise a sibling was randomly selected.)

The Sibling participant was asked whether or not the sibling and the graduate
were full siblings or something else and whether they lived in the same
household most of the time until the sibling was about 16 years old.  

____________________________________________________________________________

1993 Graduate Interview information on sibling roster

Participants who were non-respondents in 1975 were asked to list the names of
their living biological or adopted brothers and sisters.  (Note, early in the
fielding the language "full" siblings was used instead of "biological"
siblings.  This likely resulted in some of these participants not reporting on
half-siblings.  These non-respondents in 1975 were also asked the sex,
relationship (full, adopted or half), and age of each sibling.  Note that this
group did not get asked about step brothers and sisters. The interviewer
randomly chose a brother or sister to be the selected sibling for this group of
graduate participants.

1993 Graduate Interview information on selected sibling

Graduates were asked about the mortality status of the selected siblings.  If
they reported that the selected sibling has died they were asked a series of
questions about the death and about the work that the graduate did.

All 1993 participants were asked the same questions about living selected
sibling regardless of whether or not they participated in the 1975 wave of the
interview.  Specifically, they were asked whether or not they lived in the same
household as the selected sibling most of the time until they were 16 years
old, the current marital status of the sibling, the number of children the
selected sibling had, work status, the kind of work the sibling did or used to
do, whether or not the graduate helped the sibling find a job, the frequency of
contact with the sibling, whether or not they had a similar outlook on life,
how close they are to the sibling, how they compared themselves in terms of
education, work and finances.

____________________________________________________________________________

1994 Sibling Interview (In this wave we attempted to interview a sibling
participant for each graduate.  Unfortunately the budget ran out before we
could complete the fielding of the sibling panel.) 

1994 Sibling Interview information collected on graduate

If the graduate was no longer living that the interviewer did a mortality
closeout on the graduate.  The mortality closeout collected information on the
graduate's time and cause of death and information on the work the graduate
did.

If the graduate was alive then the interviewer asked the selected sibling the
same series of questions about the graduate that the graduate was asked about
the sibling in 1993.  Specifically the sibling was again asked about whether
they lived in the same household most of the time until they were about 17
years old, whether or not the sibling helped the graduate find a job, the
frequency of contact with the graduate, whether or not they had a similar
outlook on life, how close they are to the graduate, how they compared
themselves in terms of education, work and finances.

____________________________________________________________________________

2004 Graduate Interview and 2005 Sibling Interview

Similar instruments were used to update information about the graduate and
selected sibling in the 2004 Graduate Wave and 2005 Sibling wave of the WLS. 
If either reported that the other had died then the interviewer did a mortality
closeout interview with the surviving participant to gather information on the
deceased participant.  

The information collected about the graduate from the selected sibling varied
depending on whether or not the graduate completed the 2004 wave of the survey.
 If the graduate was alive but did not participate in the 2004 wave then the
selected sibling was asked about the graduate's current marital status and
current location.  

All graduates and selected siblings reported on their frequency of contact,
whether they shared the same outlook on life, and how close they were to each
other.  Twenty percent of graduate and sibling participants were asked to
compare themselves to the other in terms of education, work and finances.  

Information collected on the sibling roster (eg. Not the graduate or the
selected sibling.)

There was a difference between the questions that were asked of the graduate
participant in 2004 and the sibling participant in 2005. Both graduate and
selected sibling participants were asked if they had any brothers or sisters
who had a physical or mental disability or mental illness. Graduates were next
asked  "Did you grow up with any other brothers or sisters who are no longer
living?" If the graduate answered "yes" then the interviewer asked which
sibling died and searched for the name of that sibling in a list of siblings
based on prior interviews.  If the interviwer did not find a name that matched
then s/he added a new record to the sibling roster. In contrast to the question
for the graduate participants, selected siblings were asked "Do you have any
full or half siblings who are no longer living?" If the sibling answered "yes"
then a new roster was created that collected information on all deceased
siblings that were reported by the selected sib.  In 2005, most of the reports
of deceased siblings referred to brothers and sisters who died at a very young
age.  Thus, many of these newly reported deceased siblings were NOT reported by
the graduate because of the clause "did you grow up with."  During the 2004
Graduate interview, interviewers were also allowed to delete entries in the
sibling roster if the participant denied one of the siblings.   

____________________________________________________________________________

2011 Graduate and Sibling Interviews

Update of information on selected sibling/graduate

The 2011 instrument follows the same logic as the 2004 Graduate and 2005
Sibling instrument.  We first update the mortality status of the selected
sibling/graduate.  If the selected sibling/ graduate is alive we ask about
their work status, their current marital status, and location.  We ask about
frequency of contact, and whether they share a similar outlook on life and how
close they are.  

Update of sibling roster.

During both the Graduate and Sibling interviews of the 2011 wave the
interviewer's laptop displayed a list of all known siblings based on both the
graduate and sibling reports from all prior waves.  The list displayed the
siblings names and mortality statuses.  Both the graduate and sibling were
simply asked if any of their brothers or sisters died since the last time we
spoke.  The interviewer then checked to see if the name of the deceased sibling
matches any of the names we already knew.  If yes, then the interviewer
collected the information about the death.  If the name did not match someone
on the preloaded list, then the interviewer added the name and sex of the
deceased sibling.  Interviewers also collected the date and cause of death for
the deceased sibling.  For families where we completed interviews with both a
graduate and a sibling we now have two different versions of the sibling
roster.  Specifically, the analysis variables in the 2011 wave for graduates
(these variables start with the letters HK) differ from the analysis variables
in the 2011 wave for siblings (these variables start with the letters KK). 
This is a logical consequence of asking two different people about the same
thing.  

____________________________________________________________________________

Sibling Roster Analysis Variables across the waves of the survey

Data users should know that because of the interviewer's ability to add and
subtract siblings from the roster, the number of siblings in the roster and the
position of each sibling varies across waves.  In the 2011 wave the roster
variables that start with HK432/KK432 will allow matching to the roster
information in the prior wave.  However since the information in the sibling
roster is cumulative across waves, we suggest that users use the most recent
wave for which there is data.  

As of the fall of 2013 WLS staff is planning on creating a harmonized sibling
roster that will utilize and reconcile information from each wave. 


BRIEF VARIABLE DESCRIPTIONS 

    HSIBSTAT-HSIBREL:	Module-Level Status Variables.

    HK067SS:            Total Number of Siblings Ever Born. 
                       
    HK168SC:            Number of Living Siblings at Time of 2011 
                        Interview.
              
    HK170S:             Have any siblings died since last interview?
                      
    HK071RE-HK073RE:    Sibling Roster Information: Graduate 
                        Respondent Position, Selected Sibling 
                        Position, and Number of Siblings in Sibling 
                        Roster (including the graduate).

    Roster Entries, one for each of up to 17 siblings.  Last two digits
    indicate the roster number.  Only the prefix is listed below.
    _____________________________________________________________________    
    HKB029:             Gender of Sibling.
    
    HKB130:             Year of Sibling's Birth.   
        
    HKB131:             Year Sibling added to Sibling Roster.  
    
    HKB132, HKB133:     Roster Id and Entity Number of Sibling.
    HKB432, HKB433:     Previous Round Roster Id and Entity Number.
    
    HKB001, HKB002:     Mortality Status   
    HKB005:             Year of Death, Age at Death;
    HKB008, HKBA08:     Cause of Death: Detailed, Collapsed   
                      
    HKB082:             Education of Sibling at time of 1975 or 1993 
                        interview.              
                      
    HKB083:             Year Education in HKB082 was ascertained.
   
    Information about the Randomly Selected Sibling.
    _____________________________________________________________________
    HK001SS,HK002SSC:   Mortality Status, Year of Death, Age at time 
    HK005SSC,HK006SSC:  of Death, State of Residence, Cause of Death
    HK008SSC,HKA08SSC:  (Detailed, Collapsed) for Selected Sibling.    

    HK009SSC,HKU12SSE   For Deceased Selected Siblings: Details about 
    HK019SSE,HKA19SSE   work sibling usually did including COW, 1990 and
    HKA20SSE,HK021SSE   2000 Major and Detailed Industry and Occupation
    HK022SSE,HK023SSE   codes, 1989 Nakoa-Treas Prestige Rating, 1990 
    HK024SSE,HK025SSE   Occupational Education and Occupational Income 
    HK110SSE,HK111SSE   Scores, NAICS and SOC codes, and Year sibling 
    HK027SSC            stopped working at this job.
  
    HK029SSD, HK130SSD  Selected Sibling's Gender, Year of Birth and 
    HK031SSD:           Relationship to Graduate Respondent.
    
    HK034SSD, HK036SSD: Selected Sibling's Marital Status and Current
                        Work Status.   

    HK074SS:            Selected Sibling Lives with Graduate?
    HK075SS:            Selected Sibling State of Residence
    HK275SS:            Correction to Preloaded Address?
    HK076SS:            Correction To Deceased Selected Sibling Name?
                       
    HK201SS             How many miles away does Selected Sibling live? 
    HK202SS-HK204SS:    Freq of Contact with Selected Sibling last 12 mo.
    HK205SS             Year Respondent Last Saw Selected Sibling.
    HK206SS             Any Contact with Selected Sibling past 12 months?
    
    HK207SS-HK209SS:    Frequency of Contact via PHONE last 12 months
    HK210SS-HK212SS:    Frequency of Contact via EMAIL last 12 months
    HK213SS             Year Respondent Last Contacted Selected Sibling.
  
    HK061SSD-HK062SSD:  Similarity of Respondent and Selected 
                        Sibling on General Outlook and Closeness Of 
                        Respondent and Selected Sibling.