National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, Waves 1- 3

DESCRIPTION: The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (AddHealth) is a nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7 to 12 in the US and was collected for the purpose of measuring the impact of social environment on adolescent health. It examines the general health and well-being of adolescents in the United States, including, (1) the behaviors that promote health and the behaviors that are detrimental to health; and (2) the influence on health of factors particular to the communities in which adolescents reside.

In-School data consists of responses to questions about social and demographic characteristics of the respondents, the education and occupation of parents, household structure, risk behaviors, expectations for the future, self-esteem, health status, friendships, and school-year extracurricular activities. The topics covered by the in-home interview are: health status, health facility utilization, nutrition, peer networks, decision-making processes, family composition and dynamics, educational aspirations and expectations, employment experience, the ordering of events in the formation of romantic partnerships, sexual partnerships, substance use, and criminal activities. Additional questions concerning the joint occurrence of risk behaviors were asked of respondents who had indicated they had done the behaviors separately. Questions relating to sun exposure and more detailed nutrition questions were added to Wave II and in Wave IV both physical measurements and biological specimens were collected in-home interviews.

Parent data includes inheritable health conditions; marriages and marriage-like relationships; neighborhood characteristics; involvement in volunteer, civic, or school activities; health-affecting behaviors; education and employment; household income and economic assistance; parent-adolescent communication and interaction; and, the parent's familiarity with the adolescent's friends and friends' parents. School characteristics such as school policies and procedures, teacher characteristics, health service provision or referral, and student body characteristics are collected. Community demographic and household characteristics such as labor force participation and unemployment, income and poverty, social integration/disintegration, availability and utilization of health services, social programs and policies and crime are also included.

CODEBOOKS: Codebooks are available in pdf format on the local area network (R:\CFDR\Public\Data\Add Health and AHAA documents\Add Health study\data and related documents) or on CD-rom available in the CFDR office. User help files are located on the secure AddHealth server.

DATA: Add Health data were collected in four waves. Wave I was collected between September 1994 and December 1995. Wave II was collected from April, 1996 through August, 1996, Wave III was collected 2001 - 2002 and Wave IV in 2007 - 2008. Data are available as Public Use orRestricted Use. The Public Use data consist of roughly half of the main respondents in Waves I and II and half of the Black oversample. The Wave III public use file consists of roughly 4800 Wave I respondents. The Restricted use data are available by filling out a security agreement form at the CFDR office. The main difference between the public and restricted use data is 1) size-the restricted is twice as large as the private and 2) content-the restricted sample contains ID numbers that link friends and siblings, approximately 2,400 contextual variables, school administrator data, school descriptive data, and biological specimen assay information.

LIST OF FREQUENCIES: Frequencies are available for all variables and waves in each codebook.

WEBLINKS: http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth

CONDITIONS FOR USE: Restricted use data are only available by signing a security agreement with the University of North Carolina. The restricted data are available on a secure server. To gain access, please contact the CFDR at 372-7279. Public use data can be obtained by filling out a CFDR data request form or contacting the CFDR office at 372-7279.

UPCOMING RELEASES: To keep current on any changes or recent updates users are encouraged to sign up on the AddHealth listserv distributed by UNC.http://www.cpc.unc.edu/projects/addhealth/faqs/addhealth

The recommended citation for the Add Health contractual data set is:
Udry, J. R. 2003. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), Waves I & II, 19941996; Wave III, 20012002 [machine-readable data file and documentation]. Chapel Hill, NC: Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

To reference the research design of Add Health data, please use the following citation:
Harris, Kathleen Mullan, Francesca Florey, Joyce Tabor, Peter S. Bearman, Jo Jones, and J. Richard Udry. 2003 The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health: Research Design