Support #2180
open
Relationship to the reference person
70%
Description
Dear sir, madam
In BHPS (indall & indresp file), the variable 'hgr2r' indicates the individual's relationship to the reference person. I used this variable to merge the birth year of the first child with the mother. However, in UKHLS, this variable no longer exists. Is there a workaround so I can still merge the birth year of the first child with the mother? I am aware of the fact that the variable ch1by4 exists, however, this variable seems to have a lot of missing values.
Many thanks in advance for your response!
Best regards,
Oscar Frison
Updated by Oscar Frison about 1 month ago
Dear sir, madam
My apologies, but I have one extra question (which may solve the problem immediately!).
If the ch1by4 variable takes value -8 (inapplicable), does this, per definition, mean that the individual has no children? If this is the case, it seems like a reliable option to use my own constructed variable based on 'hgr2r' for BHPS and the ch1by4 for the UKHLS, and to combine both variables into 1 variable.
Many thanks in advance for your response.
Best regards,
Oscar Frison
Oscar Frison
Updated by Understanding Society User Support Team 29 days ago
- Category set to Data management
- Status changed from New to Feedback
- % Done changed from 0 to 70
- Private changed from Yes to No
Hi Oscar,
gr2r
I’m not sure this is the best variable, especially if the person of reference isn’t the mother. This variable refers to the HRP (Household Reference Person), which is the owner or tenant of the accommodation.
ch1by4
You’re observing a lot of missing data because this question is asked only once, during the first interview a respondent completes. In all subsequent waves, this variable will be missing for that individual.
Instead, you could use ch1by_dv from xwavedat and link it to the waves you’re interested in. However, keep in mind that this information is unavailable for respondents first interviewed during BHPS waves 1–7, as the question wasn’t asked at that time.
There are other ways to identify all children:
Using the egoalt file
Refer to worksheet/exercise 8 of the Moodle course: https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/help/training/introduction-to-understanding-society-self-paced-moodle/ These files are wave-specific so you can see the family relationships at each wave.
Using the xhhrel file
This file identifies family relationships, providing information on the interrelations between family members across households and generations. However, it is a cross-wave file and reflects the current situation as of the time of the given data release. For example, if you downloaded the data after November 2023, it will represent the situation at wave 13. See the user guide here: https://doc.ukdataservice.ac.uk/doc/6614/mrdoc/pdf/6614_family_matrix_xhhrel_user_guide.pdf
Which data file and strategy to use will depend on what exactly you’re trying to achieve. I’d recommend reviewing the above resources and files to assess their suitability for your analysis.
Best wishes,
Piotr Marzec
UKHLS User Support