Table 1.

Description of Long-term Child Wellbeing Outcomes

Measure	Age Range	Objective	Format	Method of Assessment
Body Mass Index	4–14 years	To measure weight to height ratio. BMI is considered to be reliable indicator of body fat for most people.	Measurements of height and weight obtained during interview. BMI calculated by dividing current weight by height squared. Reported in kilograms per squared meters (kg/m2).	63.96% obtained by interviewer; 33.29% obtained via maternal report; and 2.76% obtained by child report.
Obesity	4–14 years	To determine if respondent’s BMI is exceeds the 95th percentile.	Dichotmous variable coded as 1 if child’s BMI is at or exceeds 95th percentile for age- and sex-specific distributions and 0 if child’s BMI falls below the 95th percentile.	All calculations based on sex-specific BMI-for-age growth charts for the U.S. generated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and conducted by NLSY staff.
Asthma	4–14 years	To measure whether the respondent currently has asthma	Dichotomous variable coded as 1 if parent reported that child has asthma and 0 if parent reported child does not have asthma.	Maternal Report
Hyperactivitya	4–14 years	To measure the frequency and range of childhood behavioral problems attributable to hyperactivity	Subset of six questions from Behavior Problem Index (BPI): (1) has difficulty concentrating or paying attention; (2) is easily confused or seems to be in a fog; (3) is impulsive or acts without thinking; (4) has a lot of difficulty getting his/her mind off certain thoughts; and (5) is restless or overly active and cannot sit skill. Answer of “not true” is given value of 0 and answers of “sometimes true” or “often true” are given value of 1.	Maternal report
Parental Attachment	4–7 years	To measure aspects of the child’s usual behavior related to secure/insecure parental attachment.	Subset of seven questions based on Campos and Kagan’s Compliance Scale: (1) trouble soothing child; (2) child stays close when playing; (3) child copies your actions; (4) child upset when you leave; (5) child is demanding; (6) child is empathetic; (7) child wants to help with things.	Maternal report
Behavioral Compliance	4–7 years	To measure aspects of the child’s usual behavior regarding following/not following household rules.	Subset of seven questions based on Campos and Kagan’s Compliance Scale: (1) child resists eating meals; (2) child obeys when told to eat; (3) child resists going to bed; (4) child obeys going to bed; (4) child protests TV rules; (6) child obeys TV rules.	Maternal report
PIAT Matha	5 – 14 years	To measure academic achievement in mathematics as taught in mainstream education for children ages 5 through 14.	Test consisting of 84 multiple-choice items of increasing difficulty, begining with such early skills as recognizing numerals and progressing to measuring advanced concepts in geometry and trigonometry.	Interviewer Assessment
PIAT Readinga	5–14 years	To measure word and letter recognition as well as pronunciation ability for children ages 5 through 14.	Test of 84 questions of increasing difficulty; child matches letters, names letters, and reads single words aloud.	Interviewer Assessment
Peabody Picture Vocabularya,b	4–14 years	To measure hearing and receptive vocabulary for Standard American English.	Interviewer says a word and the child points to 1 of 4 pictures that best portrays the word’s meaning.	Interviewer Assessment
Weschler Intelligence Scale (WISC)a,b	7–14 years	To measure child’s short-term auditory memory and ability to manipulate verbal information from temporary storage	Digits Forward: The child listens to and repeats a sequence of numbers said by the interviewer. Digits Backwards: The child listens to a sequence of numbers and repeats them in reverse order.	Interviewer Assessment
Scholastic Competenceb	8–14 years	To measure child’s sense of self- competence in the domain of academic skills.	Six item Likert scale measure that asks child, “How true of you is this statement?” (1) Some kids feel they are very good at school work; (2) Some kids feel they are just as smart as other kids their age; (3) Some kids are pretty slow in finishing their school work; (4) Some kids often forget what they learn; (5) Some kids do very well at their school work; (6) Some kids have trouble figuring out the answers in school.	Child Report

Source: National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 - Children’s Sample (NLSY-Childrens).

^aDependent variables are standardized by age.

^bAge range did vary slightly over time.