Adult Relationship Quality Data Tool

Researchers, program providers, and evaluators (or other users) have two ways of using the tool below—the dropdown menus or the keyword search—to explore a wide range of measures of relationship quality included in 15 commonly used data sets. Users can limit their search to certain data sets/surveys, years, domains (broad dimensions of relationship quality), or specific topics (which may cross domains). Once a search is complete, the tool will generate a list of available measures, including specific response options and variable names; users can download an Excel version of this list.

Dropdown menus

Select any categories within four dropdown menus for data set, year, domain, and /or topic, individually or in combination.

For example, if you select “Disagreement & Conflict” from the Domain menu, the results will refresh to show only measures under that domain. If you then to go the Topic menu, it will show only the topics that are in measures included under the “Disagreement & Conflict” domain. Selecting a topic, such as “Children,” will further narrow the results to only measures under the selected in the selected domain and topic. Alternatively, if you begin with a Topic search—for example “Children”—you will generate a list of measures related to children across domains. Note: The tool prioritizes domain over topic, so if you know you want to select both a domain and a topic, select the domain first; selecting a domain after filtering by topic will reset your topic selection.

When selecting from the Year dropdown menu, selecting multiple years will narrow results to measures included in all of those years (for example, a measure collected in both 2000 and 2010). For the other menus, selecting multiple items will narrow results to measures in any of the selected categories.

Keyword search

To filter results with a keyword search, type your term of interest into the search box on the right above the table. For example, entering “love” will narrow the results to measures that contain “love” in the stem, question, response, or variable name.

Browsing and saving results

To browse results obtained via either method, you can also sort any of the columns alphabetically. Results are shown in 8 columns: Survey, Year, Stem, Question, Response, Domain, Topic, and Variable name.*

To download your results, click the “Download” button at the bottom of the tool, which will export an Excel file.

At any time, you can adjust your selections as needed:

• Select additional categories from any of the menus.
• Click again on a selected category to deselect it.
• Click on “Deselect All” in a dropdown menu to deselect every category or start over just in that menu.
• Click “Reset Tool” button above the table to reset all filters.

* Note: The type of information in “Stem” and “Question” vary somewhat by survey. In many cases, the stem introduces a set of questions, such as “How much do you agree or disagree with the following:” In other cases, a measure may be collected entirely through the question and the stem field will say “No Stem.”

Main website: https://ffcws.princeton.edu/

A cohort study of nearly 5,000 children born in large U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. The Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) original sample was designed to oversample births to unmarried couples. Mothers, fathers, and/or primary caregivers were interviewed at the child’s birth, then again at ages one, three, five, nine, and fifteen. In-home assessments were also administered at ages three, five, nine, and fifteen. A child survey was administered at ages nine and fifteen. The measures included in this Relationship Quality Data Tool come from teen interviews (conducted mostly by phone) that were part of the FFCWS Year 15 follow-up, administered from 2014 to 2017.

All six waves of the study are currently publicly available through the Office of Population Research data archive through OPR application (https://ffcws.princeton.edu/documentation). Documentation such as the user guide, codebooks, and questionnaire are available to be downloaded as PDFs. To access FFCWS data, users must apply through OPR. FFCWS data is available to download in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, and Stata). Researchers may also apply for a restricted use contract here: https://ffcws.princeton.edu/restricted. The restricted data includes geographic identifiers, medical records data, contextual data (census tract characteristics), macroeconomic indicators, and genetic biomarkers.

Main website: https://gss.norc.org/

Since 1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has been collecting data on the attitudes, behaviors, and attributes of Americans to monitor and explain trends in American society. Over the years, the GSS has undergone changes to frequency, sample design, mode of data collection, topics, and questions. While the large majority of GSS data have been obtained via face-to-face interviews, in 2002 the GSS began using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI). From 1972 until 1993, the survey was administered (almost) annually (data were not collected in 1979, 1981, or 1992) with a target sample size of 1,500. In 1988 they began administering the core items utilizing overlapping “ballots” to facilitate the monitoring of a larger number of trends over time. In 1994 they began administering to two samples in even-numbered years. Each sample had a target of 1,500 respondents. In 2006 a new three-wave, rotating panel design was implemented resulting in the addition of a third sample. This rotating panel design allowed for the re-interview of panels. Full implementation of the rolling panel design was fully implemented in 2010 but discontinued after 2014.

GSS data are publicly available in SPSS and Stata formats. Data are also available from the GSS Data Explorer, the Roper Center, and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). The GSS Data Explorer provides users with the ability to search for data, analyze data, extract data in multiple formats (Stata, SAS, SPSS, and R), save projects, and obtain customized subsets of cases and/or variables and years of data. In addition to the publicly available data, the GSS also provides geocode data to researchers who have obtained a contract for specific sensitive data with National Opinion Research Center (NORC) and pay a fee. Further information on this process can be found here: https://gss.norc.org/documents/other/ObtainingGSSSensitiveDataFiles.pdf.

Main website: https://www.bgsu.edu/ncfmr/resources/data/original-data/married-and-cohabiting-couples.html

The Married and Cohabiting Couples, 2010 National Center for Family and Marriage Research (NCFMR) Pilot Data (conducted by Knowledge Networks) is a nationally representative sample of heterosexual married and cohabiting adults aged 18-64. Data are available for 1,504 married individuals (752 married couples) and 646 cohabiting individuals (323 couples). The data collection was web-based and took place from July 26, 2010, to October 13, 2010.

The Married and Cohabiting Couples data are publicly available in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, ASCII, and Delimited) via ICPSR here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/31322/summary.

Main website: http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/

A Continuing Study of American Youth, Monitoring the Future (MTF), began in 1975 as a repeated annual in-school survey on values, attitudes, and lifestyle orientations of high school seniors in the U.S. Each year, a nationally representative sample of about 16,000 12th graders completes the survey, producing annual snapshots of high school seniors. Additionally, a subset of each annual sample is re-interviewed biannually for twelve years and every five years thereafter producing longitudinal data. MTF also examines the experiences of young adolescents. Since 1991, MTF has included nationally representative samples of 8th through 10th graders. For this Data Tool we focus exclusively on the questions asked of twelfth graders.

The MTF survey public use data are available in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, ASCII, and Delimited) via ICPSR here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NAHDAP/search/studies?start=0&ARCHIVE=NAHDAP&SERIESFULL_FACET_Q=35%7CMonitoring%20the%20Future%20(MTF)%20Public-Use%20Cross-Sectional%20Datasets&sort=TITLE_SORT%20asc&rows=50

Main website: https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/

The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) is a longitudinal study of a nationally representative school-based sample of adolescents in grades 7-12 in the U.S. during the 1994-95 school year. This sample has been interviewed five times: Wave I-conducted in 1994-95; Wave II-conducted in 1996; Wave Ill-conducted in 2001-02 when respondents were 18-26 years old; and Wave IV-conducted in 2007-08 when respondents were 24-32 years old; Wave V data collection began in 2016 and continued through 2018 when respondents were aged 32-42. A publicly available version of the fifth wave is not yet available. As such, this Measures Snapshot only includes data from the first four waves.

Add Health data are available via public-use and restricted-use data sets. The public-use dataset consists of one-half of the core sample, and one-half of the oversample of Black adolescents with a parent who has a college degree. Those included were chosen at random. The resulting number of respondents is about one-third of the full sample.

Public-use data are distributed by four organizations and available in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, ASCII, and Delimited).

• The Carolina Population Center (CPC) Data Portal here: https://data.cpc.unc.edu/projects/2/view#public_li
• The Odum Institute Dataverse Network Here: https://dataverse.unc.edu/dataverse/addhealth;
• The ICPSR Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) project here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/21600?archive=ICPSR&q=21600 and here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/series/1006;
• The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA)) here: http://www.thearda.com/Archive/AddHealth.asp

Restricted-use data includes core files for all respondents, as well as more detailed files on family members, partners, friends, neighborhood and environment, education, and biomarker/genetic data. More detailed information on the specific types of data available and how to secure a contract to access said data is available via the CPC Data Portal here: https://data.cpc.unc.edu/projects/2/view.

Main website: https://www.nlsinfo.org/content/cohorts/nlsy79 and https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy79.htm

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79), as part of the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) program, is a cohort study that chronicles the life-course experiences of U.S. youth through adulthood. Basic funding is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Since 1979, the NLSY79 has collected information annually through 1994 and biennially from 1994-2016 (most recent available data). The NLSY79 yields twenty-seven rounds of panel data for a nationally representative sample of 12,686 young men and women aged 14 to 21 as of December 31, 1978 and is comprised of the following three sub-samples:

• Cross-sectional sample representative of the non-institutionalized civilian population living in the U.S. in 1979 and born between January 1, 1957 and December 31, 1964.
• Supplemental sample designed to oversample civilian Black, Hispanic/Latino, and economically disadvantaged non-Black/non-Hispanic young men and women living in the U.S. in 1979 and born between January 1, 1957 and December 31, 19642
• Military sample designed to represent the population serving in one of the four branches of the U.S. military as of September 20, 1978 and born between January 1, 1957 and December 31, 1961 (aged 17-21 as of December 31, 1978)3

Both public and restricted-use data are available. The public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download available in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, ASCII, and Delimited) via the NLS Investigator here: https://www.nlsinfo.org/investigator/pages/login. The restricted-use data contains geocode data. Information on how to apply for access to these data can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/nls/geocodeapp.htm.

Main website: https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy79-children.htm

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult (NLSCYA) cohort was an off shoot of the NLSY79. It follows the biological children of the women in the NLSY79. Direct data from this cohort is available biannually for the years 1986 through 2016. Data from 1986-1992 were answered by the mothers. Any data prior to 1986 was taken from their mothers’ survey responses. Beginning in 1994, children who had reached the age of 15 completed their own personal interviews. The age range was expanded to include those aged 12-14 in 2016. To date, over 5,000 children aged 12 and older have been interviewed as young adults. Tutorials on linking NLSY79 mothers with their children are also available. In this Data Tool we focus on questions asked of the child about their own relationships. Note, questions about their parents’ relationships and subsequent data are also available.

For a Measures Snapshot of these questions for survey years 1988-2008 please see: https://www.bgsu.edu/content/dam/BGSU/college-of-arts-and-sciences/NCFMR/documents/Data/measures-snapshots/relationship-quality/NLSY79/Parents-Snapshot.pdf.

As with the NLSY79 public and restricted-use data are available. The public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, R, and Delimited) via the NLS Investigator here: https://www.nlsinfo.org/investigator/pages/login.

The restricted-use data contains geocode data. Information on how to apply for access to these data can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/nls/geocodeapp.htm.

Main website: https://www.nlsinfo.org/content/cohorts/nlsy97 and https://www.bls.gov/nls/nlsy97.htm

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97), as part of the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) program, is a cohort study that chronicles the life-course experiences of U.S. youth through adulthood. Basic funding is provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Since 1997, the NLSY97 has collected information annually from 1997-2011 and then biannually from 2011-2017 (most recent available data). The NLSY97 yields eighteen rounds of panel data for a nationally representative sample of 8,984 young men and women who were born between 1980 and 1984. They were aged 12 to 18 when initially interviewed in 1997. Nearly 75 percent (6,734) of the round 1 sample were interviewed in round 18. For rounds 1 through 17 most interviews were conducted face-to-face with a small share being done over the telephone. Beginning with round 18 this trend reversed with most interviews conducted over the telephone and a small share done face-to-face. Once the Screener, Household Roster, and Nonresident Roster Questionnaires were complete the youth were then interviewed via CAPI in either English or Spanish, whichever the respondents preferred. Both public and restricted-use data are available.

The public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, R, and Delimited) via the NLS Investigator here: https://www.nlsinfo.org/investigator/pages/login.

The restricted-use data contains geocode data. Information on how to apply for access to these data can be found here: https://www.bls.gov/nls/geocodeapp.htm.

Main website: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/index.htm

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) was designed as a nationally representative survey to be conducted primarily via in-person interviews conducted by female interviewers. There is also a self-administered questionnaire used for the administration of more sensitive questions. The survey is designed to gather information on families, marriage, divorce, pregnancy, infertility, contraception, general health, and reproductive health. Cycle 1 of the NSFG was administered in 1973 followed by Cycle 2 in 1976, Cycle 3 in 1982, Cycle 4 in 1988, Cycle 5 in 1995, and Cycle 6 in 2002. Beginning in 2006 the NSFG was administered as a continuous survey. Under continuous interviewing, fieldwork takes place continually (48 weeks, or four 12-week quarters, each year).

The public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, and Stata) via the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) webpage here: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/nsfg_questionnaires.htm

Restricted-use data are also available via the NCHS or Census Research Data Centers (RDCs). Information regarding accessing data via RDCs can be found here: https://www.cdc.gov/rdc/. This Data Tool includes data beginning with Cycle 6 administered in 2002. The survey sample is designed to produce national data, not estimates for individual states.

Main website: https://www.nyu.edu/projects/england/ocsls/

Data from the Online College Social Life Survey (OLCSLS) were collected between Fall of 2005 through the Spring of 2011 at twenty-one four-year colleges and universities in the U.S. on 24,131 college students. The survey was designed by Dr. Paula England and includes information on college students’ demographics, sexual history, attitudes, relationships, dating experiences, and hookups.

The OLCSLS public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in Stata and R formats via New York University here: https://pages.nyu.edu/ocsls/2010/

Main website: https://www.pewresearch.org/american-trends-panel-datasets/

The American Trends Panel (ATP), was created by Pew Research Center. It is a nationally representative panel of randomly selected U.S. adults that began in 2014. The initial panel in 2014 had 5,338 members and has recruited new members for a total of four times—the first two refreshes were done via landline/cell random digit dialing techniques and the two more recent times with address-based recruitment. To reach panelists via address-based recruitment invitations were sent to a random, address-based sample (ABS) of households from the U.S. Postal Service’s Delivery Sequence File. In each household, the adult with the next birthday was asked to go online to complete a survey, at the end of which they were invited to join the panel. For a random half-sample of invitations, households without internet access were instructed to return a postcard. These households were contacted by telephone and sent a tablet if they agreed to participate. As of the most recent recruitment there were a total of 15,494 active panelists. Our tool focuses on Wave 50 which was self-administered by panelist in the ATP via web surveys from June 25 through July 8 of 2019. Panelists who do not have internet access at home are provided with a tablet and wireless internet connection.

The ATP public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in Stata and R formats via Pew Research Center here: https://www.pewresearch.org/american-trends-panel-datasets/. For more information regarding how to download the ATP, see: https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Codebook-and-instructions-for-working-with-ATP-data.pdf.

Main website: https://psidonline.isr.umich.edu/Studies.aspx

The PSID (main interview) began in 1968. At its onset it was a nationally representative sample of more than 18,000 individuals living in 5,000 families in the U.S. In 2005, the Transition into Adulthood Supplement (TAS) began. Its intent was to follow children of the original PSID Child Development Supplement cohort into young adulthood. (The CDS cohort included up to two children per PSID household who were between the ages of 0 and 12 in 1997.) Information is collected on psychological functioning, family formation, fertility-related behavior, cohabitation, childhood adversity, computer skills, responsibilities, employment and income, education and career goals, and health. The original plan was to collect six waves of data through 2015. In 2017 the TAS was relaunched with the goal of following all PSID sample children who are entering early adulthood. This snapshot includes biannual TAS data from 2005 through 2015.

PSID public-use data and its associated documentation are available for download in multiple formats (SAS, SPAA, Stata, ASCII, Excel, dBase Data file, and SAS V9 Transport) via the University of Michigan Data Center here: https://simba.isr.umich.edu/default.aspx.

Restricted data are also available through a contract with the University of Michigan. More information on the data available under the restricted use contract, and how to obtain the data can be found on the Restricted Use Data page.

Main website: https://rdsl.kinsey.iu.edu/

The Relationship Dynamics and Social Life Study (RDSL) is a study based on a representative sample of 1,003 women between the ages of 18 and 22 who were residing in Genesee Count, Michigan. It aims to study the types of romantic relationships that produce early and/or unintended pregnancies. The baseline survey was collected from March 2008 through July 2009. The survey was administered via face-to-face interviews. Information on young women’s attitudes and behaviors, intimate and familial relationships, contraceptive use, reproductive history, self-reported height and weight, and socio-demographic characteristics were collected.

RDSL public-use and its associated documentation are available for download in multiple formats (SAS, SPSS, Stata, R, ASCII, and Delimited) via ICPSR here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/DSDR/studies/34626

Restricted-use RDSL data can also be found at this link.

Main website: https://www.norc.org/Research/Projects/Pages/survey-on-teen-realtionships-and-intimate-violence.aspx

Conducted by NORC, the National Survey on Teen Relationships and Intimate Violence (STRiV) is a nationally representative study (based on a random sample of households in the U.S. with at least one resident youth recruited from the GfK/KnowledgePanel) focused on teen relationships and dating violence in the U.S. At the baseline interview 2,354 youth aged 10-18 were enrolled with the intention of each youth participating in six annual survey waves. NORC, in conjunction with Ipsos (a market research company), are conducting the study with an online panel of respondents (GfK/KnowledgePanel) via a secure web survey with toll-free telephone and online help available. This snapshot includes measures from the first four waves of STRiV data.

Both public- and restricted-use data are maintained by the ICPSR and can be found here: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/ICPSR/studies/36499. Documentation such as the user guide, codebooks, and questionnaire are available to be downloaded as PDFs. To access STRiV data, users must apply through ICPSR. STRiV data is available in SPSS format.

Main website: https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/DSDR/series/252

The original Toledo Adolescent Relationship Study (TARS) project was designed as a 4-wave multi-method, longitudinal study. Wave 5 built upon the first four waves and continues the original study’s intent of exploring the relationship qualities and subjective meanings motivating adolescent behavior. Specifically, it focuses on the determinants of sexual risk-taking behaviors. The sampling frame was derived from public and private school enrollment records in Lucas County, Ohio. School attendance was not a requirement for inclusion. A stratified, random sample (n=1,316) was then drawn from all 7th, 9th, and 11th grade youth residing in Lucas County in the fall of 2000. All waves were administered via structured in-home interviews utilizing laptop computers and a self-enumerated questionnaire.

Public and restricted-use data are maintained by the Demographic Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) through ICPSR. Documentation such as the user guide, codebooks, and questionnaire are available to be downloaded as PDFs. To access TARS data, users must apply through ICPSR. TARS data is available for download in SAS and Stata formats.