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Longitudinal indicators of the social context of families: beyond the snapshot

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Abstract

Longitudinal indicators are measures of an individual or family behavior, interaction, attitude, or value that are assessed consistently or comparably across multiple points in time and cumulated over time. Examples include the percentage of time a family lived in poverty or the proportion of childhood a person lived in a single-parent family. Longitudinal indicators reflect exposure not at a “snapshot” moment but over the lifecourse and may also be more reliable assessments of the family environment or experience. We highlight potential longitudinal indicators and discuss methodological issues.

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Acknowledgements

This paper was produced under contract no. HHS-100-01-0011 with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under a sub-contract to Mathematica Policy Research. Reviews by ASPE staff, Laura Lippman, and Chris Ross are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation U.S Department of Health and Human Service, Washington, USA

    Kristin Anderson Moore & Sharon Vandivere

Authors
  1. Kristin Anderson Moore
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  2. Sharon Vandivere
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Correspondence to Kristin Anderson Moore.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Examples of Items from Existing U.S. Surveys

National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1997 Cohort (NLSY97)

Family functioning: Consistently positive parent-child relationships

Now we are going to list some things that might describe your [mother or mother figure/father or father figure]. Please tell us how often she/he does these things. That is does she/he never, rarely, sometimes, usually, or always do these things?

  • How often does she/he praise you for doing well?

  • How often does she/he criticize your ideas?

  • How often does she/he help you do things that are important to you?

  • How often does she/he blame you for her/his problems?

  • How often does she/he make plans with you and cancel for no good reason?

Family functioning: Consistent parental monitoring

(Responses are knows nothing, knows just a little, knows some things, knows most things, or knows everything)

  • How much does he/she know about your close friends, that is, who they are?

  • How much does he/she know about your close friends’ parents, that is, who they are?

  • How much does he/she know about who you are with when you are not at home?

  • How much does he/she know about who your teachers are and what you are doing in school?

Family Functioning Consistent authoritative parenting

  • When you were growing up, in general, was she/he very supportive, somewhat supportive, or not supportive of you?

  • Was she/he permissive or strict about making sure you did what you were supposed to do?

Religiosity: Attendance at religious services

  • In a typical week, how many days from 0 to 7 do you do something religious as a family such as go to church, pray, or read the scriptures together?

Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002)

Family structure: Father involvement (or non-residential parental involvement) over time – school involvement

Parent questionnaire

  • Does your tenth grader currently have any contact with his/her non-resident parent? (yes, no, or never)

  • To what extent does this other parent living outside your home participate in decisions about your tenth grader’s education (for example, about where your tenth grader goes to school or what courses your tenth grader will take) (never, seldom, often, usually)

  • Since the beginning of the school year, has your tenth grader’s non-resident parent...

    • Attended an open-house or back-to-school night?

    • Attended a meeting of the parent-teacher organization?

    • Gone to a regularly scheduled parent–teacher conference with your tenth grader’s teacher?

    • Attended a school or class event, such as a play or sports event or science fair because of your tenth grader?

Family functioning: Shared parent–child activities

Parent questionnaire

  • In a typical week, how many days do you eat at least one meal with your tenth grader?

Family functioning: Parent–child communication

Student questionnaire

  • In the first semester or term of this school year, how often have you discussed the following with either or both of your parents or guardians? (never, sometimes, often)

    • Selecting courses or programs at school

    • School activities or events of particular interest to you

    • Things you’ve studied in class

    • Your grades

    • Transferring to another school

    • Plans and preparation for ACT or SAT tests

    • Going to college

    • Community, national, and world events

    • Things that are troubling you

Family, work, and child care: Turbulence

Parent questionnaire

  • How many times has your tenth grader changed schools since he or she entered first grade? Do not count changes that occurred as a result of promotion to the next grade or level (for instance, a move from elementary school to a middle school or from a middle school to a high school in the same district).

School involvement

Parent questionnaire

  • In this school year, do you or your spouse/partner do any of the following?

    • Belong to the school’s parent–teacher organization

    • Attend meetings of the parent–teacher organization

    • Take part in the activities of the parent–teacher organization

    • Act as a volunteer at the school

    • Belong to any other organization with several parents from your tenth-grader’s school (for example, neighborhood or religious organizations)

  • Looking back over the past year, how frequently did you and your tenth grader participate in the following activities together? (never, rarely, sometimes, frequently)

    • Attending school activities (sports, plays, concerts, etc.)

    • Working on homework or school projects

Civic engagement

Student questionnaire

  • Have you participated in the following school-sponsored activities in this school year?

    • Student government

    • Service club

  • How often do you spend time on the following activities outside of school? (rarely or never, less than once a week, once or twice a week, every day or almost every day)

    • Volunteering or performing community service

Religiosity: Attendance at religious services

Parent questionnaire

  • Looking back over the past year, how frequently did you and your tenth grader participate in the following activities together? (never, rarely, sometimes, frequently)

    • Attending religious services

Youth connections: Engagement in positive youth activities

Student questionnaire

  • For each sport listed below, indicate whether you have participated on an intramural team in this sport during this school year. (8 different sports are listed)

  • For each sport listed below, indicate whether you have participated in an interscholastic team during this school year. (8 different sports are listed)

  • Have you participated in the following school-sponsored activities in this school year?

    • Band, orchestra, chorus, choir

    • School play or musical

    • Student government

    • National Honor Society (NHS) or other academic honor society

    • School yearbook, newspaper, literary magazine

    • Service club

    • Academic club

    • Hobby club

    • Vocational education club, vocational student organization

  • How often do you spend time on the following activities outside of school? (rarely or never, less than once a week, once or twice a week, every day or almost every day)

    • Working on hobbies, arts, crafts

    • Volunteering or performing community service

    • Taking classes: music, art, language, dance

    • Taking sports lessons

    • Playing non-school sports

Social connections: long term residence in a low-crime neighborhood

Parent questionnaire

  • How many years have you lived in your current neighborhood?

  • Do you feel as though you are a part of your neighborhood or community, or do you think of it more as just a place to live?

  • How would you describe the level of crime in your neighborhood? Would you say your neighborhood has a high level of crime, moderate level of crime, low level of crime?

  • How would you rate your neighborhood in terms of safety for yourself and your family? Would you say very safe, somewhat safe, somewhat unsafe, very unsafe?

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Moore, K.A., Vandivere, S. Longitudinal indicators of the social context of families: beyond the snapshot. Soc Indic Res 83, 55–85 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-006-9060-8

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