0 = No parent 1 present in household.

Description

PELNPAR1 is a variable that indicates whether the person's first parent lived in the same household and, if so, gives the line number (LINENO) of that parent. PELNPAR1 is always the mother when the mother is present. The first parent will be male when parents are same sex. PELNPAR1 makes it easy for researchers to link the characteristics of parents and children and is particularly useful for studying cohabiting families.

Beginning with the 2019 ASEC, parents were no longer referred to as mothers and fathers, but by the gender-neutral term "parent" to accommodate families that include same-sex couples. The line number of the second parent is identified in PELNPAR2. Whether parents are biological, step, or adoptive parents is reported in PEPAR1TYP and PEPAR2TYP. These changes were extended to the Basic Monthly Surveys in January of 2020.

From 2007-2018, respondents have been asked whether each household member resides with his or her father and mother. If they responded yes, the interviewer recorded the father's and mother's line number (PELNDAD and PELNMOM). In addition, respondents reported whether the father is a biological, step, or adoptive parent (PEDADTYP). The same information for the mother is available in PEMOMTYP. Respondents also identified spouses (ASPOUSE), and cohabiting partners (PECOHAB).

IPUMS CPS also constructs a separate set of family interrelationship variables.

Comparability

This variable is comparable across time.

Comparability with IPUMS-USA

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables

• UH_PEPAR1_A1