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AGEKID
Age of youngest child in household

Codes and Frequencies



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Description

AGEKID is a four-category indicator of the age of the youngest child in household.

AGEKID2 reports the age of the youngest child in the household if the child is under 18. Users may also see NCHILD, which reports the total number of children aged under 18 in the household.

AGEKID_HU reports the age of the youngest child in the household using different age categories than AGEKID.

Comparability — Index

GENERAL
Austria
Canada
Finland
South Korea
United Kingdom
United States

Comparability

Users should note specific differences in how AGEKID was constructed and limited availability of some categories across samples.

Comparability — Austria [top]

In Austria 1992, there is no variable per se for the age of the youngest child. All household members aged 10+ were asked to keep diaries, and MTUS was able to compute the age of the youngest diarist. They also knew the number of children aged under 15 in the household. If there are children aged under 15 and no child diarists, these children must be at least aged 5 or older. In these cases, AGEKID is set to 2 and AGEKID2 to 9. We then turn to the diary codes. If the household includes a child aged under 10 and one or more diarists in the household report looking after an infant, then the youngest child in the household most likely is aged under 5. Also, if the childcare time is above 250 for the household for the day, the likelihood is high that the youngest child is very young. In such cases, AGEKID is set to 1 and AGEKID2 to 3.

Comparability — Canada [top]

In Canada 2005 and 2010, AGEKID=1-4 were created first using the original variable for the youngest child of the respondent then corrected by running the same coding on the original variable for the youngest child in the household (except it is capped at 25 because not all those over 25 living in a household are someone's children). AGEKID= 4 includes also non-single children that were identified via the variable asking for number of children of the respondent, single or less than 0.

In 2015, according to the documentation available, this variable is recoded in the following way:
1: 0-4
2: 5-14
3:15-19
4: older than 19

Comparability — Finland [top]

In 1979, there is no relationship to the household reference person variable. There is a variable includes a category for an unmarried person still living with one or both parents. Some of the people coded in this category are coded as adult children. Nevertheless, users should note that some adult respondents who live with a parent cannot be identified as such for this survey.

Comparability — South Korea [top]

There were three households with pregnant women. These cases were coded as 1 and youngest child age as 0.

Also it was not possible to distinguish between children and son/daughter in-law in case of married children in the household. For AGEKID2, the possible son/daughter-in-law cases were coded as -8 when aged over 18. (84 households)

Comparability — United Kingdom [top]

In 1995 and 2005, the source data contain information about the number of children aged 0-4, 5-10 and 11-15. The number of co-resident children aged 16-18 are not captured in the survey. The children's age categories in the source data do not map precisely onto the MTUS categories. Therefore, some households where the youngest child is aged 11 or 12 will be coded in the MTUS as having a youngest child 13-17 rather than 5-12.

In addition, in 2005, when the respondent is aged 16 or 17 and there is no younger child, AGEKID is coded based on the respondent's age. In cases where the respondent is an adult and there is one or more dependent children in the household who is not 15 or under, AGEKID is coded as 4. Users should note that this may result in some households where the age of the youngest child is coded as being greater than it actually is.

Comparability — United States [top]

In 1965, there is no variable noting the age of the youngest child. Based on other information available, however, we create AGEKID. If there are children under 5 in the household, we code AGEKID as 1. If there is no child under 5 in the household, but there is a child under 18 in the household, we assign AGEKID to 2.

In 1992-94, the survey only collected the age of the youngest person if there was a household member under 18.

In 1995, there is no variable noting the age of the youngest child. Based on other information available, however, we create AGEKID. If there are children under 5 in the household, we code AGEKID as 1. If there is no child under 5 in the household, but there is a child under 18 in the household, we assign AGEKID to 3.

For 1998-2001, the 1998-99 FISCT did not collect the age of the youngest child. 1999-2001 NSP is a sample of parents with at least one child under 18. Because the NSP did not collect household grid information, it is not possible to distinguish where parents of young children also live with their parents. There are no AGEKID=4 cases in either survey as this information was not available in the source data.

Universe

  • All persons with child(ren) in the household.

Availability

  • Austria: 1992, 2008
  • Bulgaria: 2001
  • Canada: 2005, 2010, 2015
  • Finland: 1979, 2009
  • France: 1985
  • Israel: 1991
  • Italy: 2002, 2008
  • Netherlands: 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000
  • South Korea: 2004, 2009
  • Spain: 2002
  • United Kingdom: 1983, 1987, 1995, 2000, 2005
  • United States: 1985, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2003-2021