Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) [1988 Panel]

This data collection is part of a longitudinal survey designed to provide detailed information on the economic situation of households and persons in the United States. These data examine the distribution of income, wealth, and poverty in American society and gauge the effects of federal and state programs on the well-being of families and individuals. There are three basic elements contained in the survey. The first is a control card that records basic social and demographic characteristics for each person in a household, as well as changes in such characteristics over the course of the interviewing period. The second element is the core portion of the questionnaire, with questions repeated at each interview on labor force activity, types and amounts of income, participation in various cash and noncash benefit programs, attendance in postsecondary schools, private health insurance coverage, public or subsidized rental housing, low-income energy assistance, and school breakfast and lunch participation. The third element consists of topical modules, which are a series of supplemental questions asked during selected household visits. A topical module was not created for the first wave of the 1988 panel. The Wave II Topical Module (Part 3) concerns fertility history. Women were asked the number of children they had and the number they expected to have in the future. They were also asked about their employment status prior to and after their first pregnancies. The Wave III (Part 5) and Wave VI Topical Modules (Part 11) include data on work schedules, child care, child support agreements, support for nonhousehold members, long-term care, disability status of children, and health status and utilization of health care services. The Topical Module for Wave IV (Part 7) contains questions on assets and liabilities, such as savings accounts, stocks, IRA accounts, loans, and credit cards. The Wave V Topical Module (Part 9) covers educational financing and enrollment for persons over the age of 15. Part 15, the Full Panel Research Data File, has not been edited nor imputed although it has been topcoded or bottomcoded and recoded if necessary by the Census Bureau, to avoid disclosure of individual respondents.