IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cen/wpaper/24-18.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Where Are Your Parents? Exploring Potential Bias in Administrative Records on Children

Author

Listed:
  • Jennifer Bernard
  • Kelsey Drotning
  • Katie R. Genadek

Abstract

This paper examines potential bias in the Census Household Composition Key's (CHCK) probabilistic parent-child linkages. By linking CHCK data to the American Community Survey (ACS), we reveal disparities in parent-child linkages among specific demographic groups and find that characteristics of children that can and cannot be linked to the CHCK vary considerably from the larger population. In particular, we find that children from low-income, less educated households and of Hispanic origin are less likely to be linked to a mother or a father in the CHCK. We also highlight some data considerations when using the CHCK.

Suggested Citation

  • Jennifer Bernard & Kelsey Drotning & Katie R. Genadek, 2024. "Where Are Your Parents? Exploring Potential Bias in Administrative Records on Children," Working Papers 24-18, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    • Handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-18
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.census.gov/library/working-papers/2024/adrm/ces/CES-WP-24-18.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2024
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Brittany Bond & J. David Brown & Adela Luque & Amy O’Hara, 2014. "The Nature of the Bias When Studying Only Linkable Person Records: Evidence from the American Community Survey," CARRA Working Papers 2014-08, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Katie Genadek & Joshua Sanders & Amanda Stevenson, 2022. "Measuring US fertility using administrative data from the Census Bureau," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 47(2), pages 37-58.
    3. Reichman, Nancy E. & Teitler, Julien O. & Garfinkel, Irwin & McLanahan, Sara S., 2001. "Fragile Families: sample and design," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(4-5), pages 303-326.
    4. Elizabeth Martin, 2007. "Strength of attachment: Survey coverage of people with tenuous ties to residences," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(2), pages 427-440, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gloria G. Aldana, 2024. "Comparison of Child Reporting in the American Community Survey and Federal Income Tax Returns Based on California Birth Records," Working Papers 24-55, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    2. Leticia Fernandez & Rachel Shattuck & James Noon, 2018. "The Use of Administrative Records and the American Community Survey to Study the Characteristics of Undercounted Young Children in the 2010 Census," CARRA Working Papers 2018-05, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    3. Allison Dwyer Emory, 2019. "Unintended Consequences: Protective State Policies and the Employment of Fathers with Criminal Records," Working Papers wp19-04-ff, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    4. Julia S. Goldberg, 2011. "Identity Salience and Involvement among Resident and Nonresident Fathers," Working Papers 1323, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    5. McGovern, Mark E. & Rokicki, Slawa & Reichman, Nancy E., 2022. "Maternal depression and economic well-being: A quasi-experimental approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    6. Kelly Noonan & Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Dhaval Dave, 2007. "Prenatal drug use and the production of infant health," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(4), pages 361-384, April.
    7. Lee, Shawna J. & Altschul, Inna & Gershoff, Elizabeth T., 2015. "Wait until your father gets home? Mother's and fathers’ spanking and development of child aggression," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 158-166.
    8. Terry-Ann Craigie, 2008. "Effects of Paternal Presence and Family Stability on Child Cognitive Performance," Working Papers 1015, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    9. Rachel A. Razza & Anne Martin & Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, 2011. "ATTENTION AND SCHOOL SUCCESS: The Long-Term Implications of Attention for School Success among Low-Income Children," Working Papers 1330, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    10. Chelsea R. Miller & Kaylee B. Crockett & Karen L. Cropsey & Jamie M. Gajos, 2024. "The association between criminal legal attitudes and healthcare utilization among adolescents: differences by gender and race," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-4, December.
    11. Nancy E. Cohen, 2003. "Unmarried African American Fathers' Involvement with Their Infants: The Role of Couple Relationships," Working Papers 954, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    12. Zachary H. Seeskin, 2016. "Evaluating the Use of Commercial Data to Improve Survey Estimates of Property Taxes," CARRA Working Papers 2016-06, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Nancy E. Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Dhaval Dave, 2006. "Typically Unobserved Variables (TUVs) and Selection into Prenatal Inputs: Implications for Estimating Infant Health Production Functions," NBER Working Papers 12004, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. repec:pri:crcwel:wp10-03-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    15. Lawrence M. Berger & Sara S. McLanahan, 2011. "Child Wellbeing in Two-Parent Families: How Do Characteristics and Relationships Matter?," Working Papers 1322, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    16. Maureen R. Waller, 2009. "Family Man in the Other America: New Opportunities, Motivations, and Supports for Paternal Caregiving," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 624(1), pages 156-176, July.
    17. repec:pri:crcwel:wp09-18-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    18. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-16-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Bzostek, Sharon H. & Beck, Audrey N., 2011. "Familial instability and young children's physical health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 282-292, July.
    20. Samara Gunter, 2012. "Informal Labor Supply in the United States: New Estimates from the Fragile Families Survey," Working Papers 1426, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    21. Kim, Yeonwoo & Padilla, Yolanda C. & Zhang, Anao & Oh, Sehun, 2018. "Young children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors after mothers exit welfare: Comparisons with children of non-welfare mothers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 316-323.
    22. Corman, Hope & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E. & Schultz, Jennifer, 2012. "Effects of financial insecurity on social interactions," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 41(5), pages 574-583.
    23. Chan, Kwok Ho & Fung, Ka Wai Terence, 2013. "The Effect of Social Fathers on the Cognitive Skills of Out-of-Wedlock Children," MPRA Paper 52875, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • C55 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-18. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dawn Anderson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.