Mary Beth Ofstedal

Introducing a web option in interviewer-administered surveys could increase response rates and reduce costs. However, this requires careful assessment of the effects of mixed-mode designs on data quality and key measures, especially across important sociodemographic subgroups. In 2018 and 2020, the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) experimentally introduced web in a sequential mixed-mode design for panelists assigned to the telephone mode. Initial analyses found a limited number of mode effects on key outcome distributions and data quality measures. This paper extends this initial analysis by assessing possible heterogeneity in these effects among sociodemographic subgroups defined by race/ethnicity, sex, and others. We interact mode with each sociodemographic indicator in statistical models for each outcome. Overall, we found limited evidence of heterogeneity in the mode effects, with 3% of the 204 interaction terms we tested emerging as significant. For example, previous work showed that more household roster changes are reported in the web-first group, and we found that this was more pronounced for females and those with some college education. Although some heterogeneity in mode effects was observed across subgroups, the effects were generally too small to cause data quality concerns. We conclude with a discussion of broader considerations for survey researchers.

Measuring childlessness is complicated by the increasing complexity of family structure. Using data from the 2014 Health and Retirement Study, in this research note we compared three definitions of childlessness: (1) respondent never fathered/gave birth to a child, (2) respondent had no children who were living and in contact, and (3) respondent and spouse/partner had no children or stepchildren who were living and in contact. Results showed that the prevalence of childlessness among Americans aged 55 or older ranged from 9.2% to 13.6% depending on which definition was used. The association between select individual characteristics (gender and marital status) and the likelihood of childlessness, as well as the association between childlessness and loneliness and living arrangements, also varied depending on how childlessness was defined. Therefore, how we define childlessness can affect our understanding of its prevalence, correlates, and relationships with well-being. Future research on childlessness should carefully consider the choice of definition and its implications for research and policy discussions.

Living arrangements of older adults have important implications for their well-being and healthcare and long-term care needs. However, prior research has focused on older adults with living children while little is known about living arrangements of childless elders who account for approximately 15% of the U.S. elderly population. To address this knowledge gap, we examined the living arrangements of childless older Americans and how they changed over time. Data on 751 community-dwelling childless persons aged 65 years or older in 1998 were obtained from the Health and Retirement Study with repeated observations biennially until 2014. Living arrangements were categorized as living independently (alone or with spouse), living with others, or living in nursing homes. We estimated a multilevel mixed effects model to examine how a person’s living arrangements changed over time and the associated risk factors. As opposed to living independently, the likelihood of childless elders living in a nursing home increased over time (odds ratio [OR] associated with each year lapsed = 1.22, p<0.001), whereas the likelihood of living with others decreased (OR=0.93, p=0.02). Hispanics were less likely than non-Hispanic whites to live in nursing homes (OR=0.04, p=0.01). Being married and having greater income or wealth significantly reduced a person’s likelihood of living with others or in a nursing home, whereas childless elders with greater physical or cognitive impairments were more likely to live with others or in nursing homes. These differences in living arrangements of childless older adults by sociodemographic and health characteristics can inform targeted interventions.

J.A. Ailshire ¹ , Y. Zhang ¹ , E. Crimmins ¹ , M. Ofstedal ² , 1. Andrus Gerontolgoy Center, Univ Southern California, Los Angeles, California,2. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

We report on two experiments to encourage record use by respondents in an Internet survey. The experiments were conducted in the 2009 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Internet Survey, administered to those in the HRS panel with Internet access, and in the 2011 HRS Internet Survey. Encouraging respondents to consult records at the relevant point in the questionnaire significantly increased reported record use (from 39 percent to 47 percent), but was insufficient to produce significant changes in the precision (amount of rounding) of the information reported. Including the encouragement in the mailed invitation to the Web survey in 2011 resulted in a lower response rate (77 percent with encouragement, 80 percent without), but increased reported record use among respondents (from 46 percent to 55 percent). In neither case was the increase in reported record use large enough to produce significant differences in the precision of the information reported between the groups with and without encouragement.