COUNTING FAMILIES: Household Matrices with Multiple Family Members

描述（由申请人提供）：这项研究的拟议目标是收集和发布新的数据，这些数据将为研究人员和政策制定者提供对美国家庭复杂结构的更全面的估计。该项目提供公共基础设施支持，并以支持家庭和人口研究中心（HD050959）的父母赠款为基础。随着美国家庭生活变得越来越复杂（例如，多个家庭的过渡和跨越家庭界限的关系），研究需要调整家庭的衡量标准，以承认这种复杂性。人们普遍认为，数据收集跟不上美国家庭最近的变化。对家庭组成和家庭关系的高质量测量对于准确评估家庭变化和制定满足儿童和家庭需求的公共政策和项目至关重要。虽然关系矩阵数据是一种新被接受的工具，可以从一个人那里收集关于家庭组成和家庭相互关系的数据（Brandon 2007），但这只代表了一个人对家庭关系的看法。进一步的限制是，这种方法不承认超出传统家庭界限的关系，这些关系已经变得越来越普遍，需要纳入对家庭生活的理解（例如，兼职或短时间居住的孩子）（Hill和Callister 2007）。我们在此方法的基础上收集和传播家庭矩阵关系，包括受访者、配偶/伴侣（如果有的话）和居住在家庭中的青少年子女（13岁以上）。通过使用基于网络的格式，这种创新的方法具有成本效益，并且可以在短时间内（9个月）为研究界所接受。这些数据将通过ICPSR的人口统计研究数据共享发布。该项目将有助于创造就业机会，支持经济发展，并加快衡量家庭和住户的研究步伐。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed goal of the research is to collect and distribute new data that will provide researchers and policy makers with more comprehensive estimates on the complex structure of American families. This project provides Public Infrastructure support and builds on the aims of the parent grant which supports the Center for Family and Demographic Research (HD050959). As American family life has become more complex (i.e., multiple family transitions and relationships that cross household boundaries), research needs to adjust measurement of the family to acknowledge this complexity. It is widely acknowledged that data collections have not kept pace with the recent changes in the American family. High quality measurement of family composition and relationships is critical for accurate assessments of family change and development of public policies and programs to meet children and families' needs. While relationship matrix data is a newly accepted tool to collect data from a one person about the composition of the household and household relationships to one another (Brandon 2007), this represents just one person's view of the relationships in the household. A further limitation is that this method does not recognize relationships that extend beyond traditional household boundaries which have become more common and need to be incorporated into understanding family life (e.g., children who reside part-time or short periods of time) (Hill and Callister 2007). We build on this method to collect and disseminate household matrix relationships from a respondent as well as spouse/partner (if available) and teenage children (13+) living in the household. By using a web-based format this innovative approach is cost efficient and accessible to the research community in a short time window (9 months). The data will be released via Data Sharing for Demographic Research at ICPSR. This project will contribute to job creation, support economic development, and accelerate the pace of research on the measurement of families and households. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This application will contribute to public health by assessing the measurement of families and households, which is critical for our understanding of the context in which children are raised and provides information necessary for public policies and programs targeted at families and children. The proposed project will benefit the broad research community by proving data for substantive research as well as the basis for methodological advances in the measurement of families and households.