Understanding Society User Support

Dear Roberto,

I want to calculate "number of biological/step/adopt siblings" respondents ever had.

Before I do the next step, I append all the indresp.dta files of wave 1,3,5,7,9,11,13,14.

/*way 1*/
use "indresp_8waves.dta",clear
keep pidp wave nnssib_dv nrels4 /*variable nrels2 in w3,w5, nrelsw12 in w1*/
gen nsibling_history= nnssib_dv+nrels4 /*number of siblings in each wave*/

/*Way 2*/
merge m:1 pidp using "xhhrel.dta",keepusing(bsbx_N ssbx_N asbx_N)
drop if _merge==2
drop _merge
gen nsibling_ukhls=bsbx_N+ssbx_N+asbx_N /*number of siblings in file xhhrel*/

/*difference*/
gen diff=nsibling_history-nsibling_ukhls
tab diff

I found that the number of sibilings calculated by these two ways are different. For most of the respondents, the value in xhhrel (nsibling_ukhls) is smaller than the value calculated in each wave (nsibling_history).

What are the reasons of this difference? Thanks.

Kind regards,
Shuqi Lyu

Hello Shuqi,

The study's information is limited to individuals within enumerated households. For those who are absent, we don't have detailed information beyond these general types of questions.

Therefore, as previously mentioned, combining calculations using variables for absent family members might not yield stable family trajectories. However, the ultimate decision on how and which variables to use for their research rests with the users.

Additionally, please note that the variable nrels4 specifically measures the number of absent grandparents, not siblings.

I hope this information is helpful.

Best wishes,
Roberto Cavazos
Understanding Society User Support Team