New Family Structures Study

The New Family Structure Study (NFSS) is a comparative, social-science data-collection project, which focused on American young adults (ages 18-39) who were raised in different types of family arrangements with varying household experiences. The sample included respondents that had lived in biologically-intact households, lived with cohabiting parents, adoptive, step, or single parents, with parents who had same-sex relationships, or with parents who remarried after divorce. Respondents were asked about a range of topics, including social behaviors: such as educational attainment and performance, work history, risk-taking, and religiosity; health behaviors: such as substance abuse, sexually transmitted infections, and emotional states (depression, anger, and stress), and relationships: including the quality and stability of romantic relationships, marital history, fertility, sexual orientation, and family connectedness. Additional questions asked whether respondents voted in the 2008 presidential election, how much time they spent on various activities; watching TV, gaming, and on social networking sites, and how many Facebook "friends" they had. Demographic information includes age, education level, race, gender, income, marital status, employment status, and household size.