This catalog record includes detailed variable-level descriptions, enabling data discovery and comparison. The data are not archived at ICPSR. Users should consult the data owners (via the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) website) directly for details on obtaining the data. The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) gathers information on pregnancy and births, marriage and cohabitation, infertility, use of contraception, family life, and general and reproductive health. The survey sample is designed to produce national data, not estimates for individual states. Beginning in 1973, NSFG was designed to be nationally representative of ever-married women 15-44 years of age in the civilian, non-institutionalized population of the United States (household population). Later sample changes to NSFG include: Interviewing women aged 15-44 regardless of marital experience (1982) Interviewing an independent sample of men aged 15-44 (2002) Expanding the age range for women and men to 15-49 (2015) Grandparent-Parent-Adult Child triplets: ~1,400 For the 2011-2019 continuous interviewing period, four sets of 2-year public-use data files were released: 2011-2013 NSFG: 10,416 respondents aged 15-44 (5,601 women and 4,815 men) 2013-2015 NSFG: 10,205 respondents aged 15-44 (5,699 women and 4,506 men) 2015-2017 NSFG: 10,094 respondents aged 15-49 (5,554 women and 4,540 men) 2017-2019 NSFG: 11,347 respondents aged 15-49 (6,141 women and 5,206 men) Public-use data files and related documentation, including questionnaires, codebooks, and design and operations reports, can be found for each release on the NSFG Questionnaires, Datasets, and Related Documentation page.

The NSFG Cycle V interviews have been divided into two files. The Respondent File (Part 1) contains one record for each woman in the survey, while the Interval File (Part 2) contains one record for each completed pregnancy experienced by a woman in the survey. An interval can be defined as one of the following: the time between a first intercourse at last contact (in 1988) and a pregnancy that ended after last contact, or the time between a pregnancy that ended before last contact and one that was in progress at the time of the interview. Part 1 offers data on respondents' marital histories, education, family background, sex education, births and pregnancies, first sexual intercourse, sterilizing operations, contraceptive histories, family planning services, infertility services, births -- intended and unexpected, adoption, sexually transmitted diseases/AIDS, religion, race/ethnicity, employment/occupation, income, and insurance. Part 2 supplies data on outcomes of pregnancies and other pregnancy-related information, use of birth control methods during intervals, and "wantedness" of pregnancies.