00 = No mother of this person in the household.

Description

MOMLOC is a constructed variable that indicates whether the person's mother lived in the same household and, if so, gives the person number of the mother (PERNUM). The method by which probable child-mother links are identified is described in MOMRULE.

MOMLOC makes it easy for researchers to link the characteristics of children and their (probable) mothers.

• User Caution: MOMLOC identifies social relationships (such as stepmother and adoptive mother) as well as biological relationships. MOMLOC will also identify the unmarried partner of a child's father identified with POPLOC

If the person identified with MOMLOC has a spouse or partner identified through SPLOC, the spouse or partner will also be identified as a parent through POPLOC (if a different-sex couple) or MOMLOC2 (if a same-sex couple). POPRULE and MOM2RULE will communicate the method through which those relationships are identified.

In 2016, the family interrelationship variables for all samples were revised to increase comparability across IPUMS projects and include same-sex couples. Many researchers who are familiar with the previous version of family interrelationship variables will find it useful to read a brief overview of the key differences of the New IPUMS Family Interrelationship Variables. On this page you'll find information on how family interrelationship variables are constructed, common uses of these variables, and specific examples of how these variables can be used efficiently.

The pre-2016 version of MOMLOC and other IPUMS pointer variables are available here.

Comparability

Due to variation in the information available for linking mothers and children, there are some differences across years. For example, in 1988 and before, the non-ASEC samples did not have a "child" value on RELATE. In these samples, "other relatives" who are under 22 are allowed to link to both "Other relatives" and to the "Head" or the "Spouse" as a mother when the age difference is appropriate.

Comparability with IPUMS-USA

Universe

Flags

Unharmonized Variables