ArticleThe journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences2022
The Validity and Reliability of Retrospective Measures of Childhood Socioeconomic Status in the Health and Retirement Study: Evidence From the 1940 U.S. Census.
Article in The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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20 citing papers in PubMed.
- The association of adverse childhood experiences and life course relationship quality with late-life cognitive health: Moderation by race/ethnicity and gender.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2026Article
- Modulations of the P3b effect as a function of bilingual language experience.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Non-genetic component of height as a surrogate marker for childhood socioeconomic position and its association with cardiovascular and brain health: results from HCHS/SOL.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Social mobility and parenting: Testing associations in a prospective longitudinal cohort study.Child development · 2026Article
- Early life adversity, educational attainment, and cardiometabolic risk among middle-aged and older adults in the United States.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2026Article
- Early-life influences on the risk for later-life Alzheimer's and non-Alzheimer's dementia: A nearly full life course prospective cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Childhood SES gradients in adult functional limitations: Does state-level macro-economic context matter?Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Article
- An unbreakable bond? Maternal adverse childhood experiences and mothers' relationships with adult children.Social forces; a scientific medium of social study and interpretation · 2025Article
- Both childhood and adult perceived financial strain impact age trajectories of change in emotional health in late adulthood.Aging & mental health · 2025Observational
- Cognitive Electrophysiology in Socioeconomic Context in Adulthood.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Building Survey Data Infrastructure on Aging: The Legacy of NIA.The Gerontologist · 2025Article
- Long-term Effects of Local Area New Deal Work Relief in Childhood on Late-Life Depression.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Childhood Family Income and Adult Cardiovascular Health: Indirect Effects Through Childhood Neighborhood Socioeconomic Advantages and Disadvantages in a Prospective Sample of Young Men.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Early-life disadvantage and parent-to-child financial transfers.Journal of marriage and the family · 2025Article
- Linking the 1940 U.S. Census to the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project: Novel Opportunity to Understand the Effects of Early-Life Residential Environment on Cognitive Aging.The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences · 2025Article
- Childhood socioeconomic position and healthy ageing: results from five harmonised cohort studies in the ATHLOS consortium.BMJ public health · 2025Article
- The IPUMS Multigenerational Longitudinal Panel: Progress and Prospects.Historical methods · 2025Article
- Foreclosure, memory decline, and dementia probability: A longitudinal cohort study.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2024Article
- Is there intergenerational continuity in early life experiences? Findings from the Harvard Study of Adult Development.Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43) · 2023Article
- Socioeconomic Status at Birth and Breast Tissue Composition in Adolescence and Adulthood.Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology · 2023Article
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Abstract
objectivesRetrospective measures of childhood socioeconomic status (SES) in cohort studies of aging that first observe people late in life-such as the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)-are widely used. However, their measurement validity and reliability are unknown. We assess the reliability and validity of the HRS's retrospective measures of parental education and childhood family finances.
methodsWe use records for 6,343 HRS sample members who were children in 1940 that have been linked to records from the complete-count 1940 U.S. Census. We assess interrater reliability by comparing (a) retrospective reports of childhood SES collected from sample members in the 1992-2018 HRS to (b) prospective measures of parallel concepts collected from HRS sample members' parents in the 1940 Census. We assess predictive validity by comparing the results of analyses that model later-life outcomes as a function of childhood SES as measured both prospectively and retrospectively.
resultsInterrater reliabilities of retrospective measures of parental education are high; however, the same is not true of the retrospective measure of childhood family finances. Both retrospective and prospective measures of childhood SES are predictive of later-life outcomes, and with similar strengths and directions of associations for most outcomes. DISCUSSION: Researchers who rely on retrospective indicators of childhood SES from the HRS should be aware of their measurement properties. They are measured with error, and that error modestly attenuates estimates of their associations with later-life outcomes. However, prospective and retrospective measures of childhood SES have similar predictive validity. These findings should reassure researchers who rely on retrospective measures of childhood SES in the HRS and similarly designed surveys.
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