National Survey of Family Growth, cycle III (1982)

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG), cycle III, conducted in 1982, contains information about fertility and family formation gathered through inhome interviews with 7,969 women between the ages of 15 and 44. This sample was the result of a 5-stage area probability design, and is intended to represent all women ages 15 through 44 in the noninstitutional population of the conterminous United States. Due to the complexity of sample design and the intentional oversampling of certain population subgroups, the NSFG user documentation recommends that the weights included in the data set be used when estimating from the sample.

Subjects covered in the NSFG include reproductive knowledge and sex education, births and pregnancies, adoptions, contraceptive knowledge and use, sterility and subfecundity, births intended and expected, infertility services, familyplanning services, child care, detailed information about pregnancies (prenatal care, outcome, and child health), marital history, and demographic characteristics.

The NSFG was commissioned by the National Center for Health Statistics. A listing of publications based on the NSFG and copies of the cycle III questionnaire can be obtained by writing to the Family Growth Survey Branch, Division of Vital Statistics, National Center for Health Statistics, 3700 East West Highway, Hyattsville, MD 20782. References: National Survey of Family Growth, cycle III (1982) (machine-readable data file), prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville (1984); and National Survey of Family Growth, cycle III (1982) (public-use data-tape documentation), prepared by the National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville (1984).