FSD2074 Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Interviews of the Parents of 14-Year-Olds 1974
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Pulkkinen, Lea (n. Pitkänen, Lea) (University of Jyväskylä. Department of Psychology)
Other Identification/Acknowlegements
Six psychology students from the University of Jyväskylä participated in data collection.
Abstract
The data are part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS), in which the same individuals have been followed over 30 years. At this research stage, 14-year-olds' social behaviour and living circumstances were explored. The research stage also includes peer nominations, teacher ratings, interviews of 14-year-olds, and interviews of their parents. This data include the interviews of the parents. The themes included family and its common activities, as well as the schooling and leisure of the 14-year-old. No predetermined response categories were used. The recorded interviews were classified only afterwards, when it was possible to observe the whole range of responses. The interviews of 14-year-olds and their parents were structured and conducted similarly.
First, the parents were asked about housing and the size, condition, and ownership of their place of residence. They were also asked whether the family liked their home, and whether there was enough room for the children's activities. Opinions on the living environment, alternative leisure activities, and services were charted. The interviewees were asked whether their family went out together to the theatre, library, sports events, etc. The parents' own hobbies, as well as their attitudes to their child's hobbies and friends were queried. The interviewees were also asked whether they restricted their child's leisure activities, whether they had visitors often, and whether their child was allowed to bring his/her friends home.
In relation to work, the respondents were asked whether both parents worked, what kind of working hours they had, whether they liked their job, and how they had organised their housework. They were also asked whether their working hours had affected their family, whether all family members participated in housework, and how child day care was organised in the family.
The health of the family members and the effects of potential diseases or accidents on the life of the family's 14-year-old child were surveyed. The divorced respondents were asked how often their child saw the absent parent, and how they related to their stepfather/stepmother. Views on the 14-year-old's character, self-esteem, adolescence, violence, drug and alcohol use, schooling, school success, and truancy were discussed. The interviewees also told about their parenting methods and communication with their child's teachers.
The background variables included the 14-year-old's gender.
Keywords
academic achievement; adolescents; aggressiveness; alcoholism; child day care; educational sociology; families; family life; health; hobbies; housing; interpersonal relations; leisure time; occupational life; parent-child relationship; parents; schools; smoking; social behaviour
Topic Classification
developmental psychology; education; educational psychology; psychology; social psychology (FSD Topics Classification)
compulsory and pre-school education; family life and marriage (including household composition and generations); housing; leisure, tourism and sport; psychology; social behaviour and attitudes; youth (CESSDA Topics Classification)
Series Name
Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS)
Restrictions
Access to the data granted for scientific purposes only. Two-step application procedure. Please contact FSD for further information.
Collection Date
1974
Nation
Finland
Geographical Coverage
Finland, Jyväskylä
Analysis Unit
Individual
Universe
Sampling Procedure
This survey is part of the longitudinal study which began in 1968, when the respondents were second-graders (ca. 8 years old) in primary schools in Jyväskylä. The sample consisted of 12 school classes randomly selected from the primary schools in the city. Half of the classes in the sample were from the city centre school, and the other half from two suburb schools. There were altogether 369 pupils in the classes.
At this research stage, the aim was to reach all the pupils who had participated in the first wave. Most of them were either eighth-graders in primary school or fourth-graders in secondary school at the time of the survey. The pupils were now scattered in 78 different classes and 91% of them still lived in Jyväskylä or in the surrounding municipalities. The teacher ratings and peer nominations at this research stage were conducted in every class with at least one pupil from the original sample. The teacher ratings were conducted by teachers of record or by some other teacher who knew the pupil the best. 356 of all the pupils in the original sample were reached.
The pupils who had belonged to the social behaviour extreme groups either at the age of 8 or 14 and one of their parents were selected as interviewees. The criterion for belonging to these extreme groups was that over two thirds of the pupils' classmates had mentioned them in the questions covering constructiveness, aggressiveness, compliance, or anxiety. The interview requests were delivered to 191 parents, and 135 of them agreed to be interviewed.
Those pupils whose parents refused to be interviewed mostly belonged to the aggressive and the socially passive (the anxious and compliant) groups. Information on the non-responders was collected from social services and child health clinics. There appeared to be for example more insecurity and alcohol abuse in the families refusing to be interviewed than in the families agreeing to it. The young, deliberate families refused the least.
Each parent interview (the interviewees were mostly mothers) took approximately 2 hours and they were interviewed at home.
Collection Mode
Teemahaastattelu
Research Instrument
Semi-structured questionnaire
Time Method
Longitudinal: Cohort/Event-based
Collection Size
Data: SPSS portable file. Data available also in other file formats.
Data version
1.0 (9.8.2006)
Other Material
Background information: a pdf file of publications based on the JYLS research data
Codebook: pdf file in Finnish
Questionnaire: pdf file in Finnish
Table on the methods used (in Finnish)
Related Studies
FSD2073 Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Teacher Interviews, Peer Nominations and School Reports of 14-Year-Olds 1974
FSD2075 Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Interviews of 14-Year-Olds 1974
Data Appraisal and Notes
In addition to the interviewed parents, the data have been complemented by interviewing additional 12 parents of other 14-year-olds in the sample (see variable rvan14uu).
Citation Requirement
The source must be acknowledged in any publication based wholly or in part on the data. The bibliographic citation may be in the form required by the publication, or in the form suggested by the archive.
Bibliographical Citation
Pulkkinen, Lea: Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Interviews of the Parents of 14-Year-Olds 1974 [computer file]. FSD2074, version 1.0 (2006-08-09). Tampere: Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor], 2006.
Depositing Requirements
The archive must be informed of all publications where the data have been used.
Special Permissions
Please note: access to the data is possible only by the permission of the depositors Lea Pulkkinen or Katja Kokko. Access decisions are made on a case-to-case basis. The depositors continue to actively use the data.
Disclaimer
The depositor and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the secondary use of the data.
Related Publications
To view publications based on the JYLS research data click on the link Background found in a box on the upper hand right corner of this data description.
