RAND HRS Family Data 2018

The RAND HRS Family Data files are user-friendly versions of the HRS family data. They contain a cleaned, processed, and streamlined collection of variables related to the Respondent's family. The files include a subset of available characteristics of all children of HRS Respondents and spouses, data on children-in-law, and data on grandchildren of the Respondent.

The files are longitudinal files that link HRS child families within waves, and link HRS children across waves. They contain consistent variable names across waves, and will easily merge with other RAND HRS data products, as well as those released separately by HRS. The files are distributed as two alternative longitudinal files: one with Respondent-child observations with variables specific to parent-child pairs, and one with Respondent observations with summary variables about the Respondent's children. The files share one codebook, available for download below.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) provided funding for the development of these files. SSA's Office of Research, Evaluation and Statistics provided important research direction in the design of these data files.

For more information, please visit the RAND Center for the Study of Aging website.

Questions regarding RAND HRS files should be directed to randhrshelp@rand.org.