Factors Associated with Change in Retrospective Reports of Life Events

• Activity Number: 445
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 11, 2015 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Survey Research Methods Section
• Author(s): Mary Beth Ofstedal* and William Chopik and Jacqui Smith
• Companies: University of Michigan and University of Michigan and University of Michigan
• Keywords: retrospective data ; life events ; data quality

Abstract

There is increasing interest in understanding the long-term influences of early-life factors on late-life outcomes. Most studies of older adults rely on retrospective reports of events that occurred earlier in life. Yet we know little about the quality of these reports. We address this using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), an ongoing panel study of people age 51+ in the U.S. Participants are interviewed every two years, alternating between telephone in one wave and in-person the next. At the end of each in-person interview, they are asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) on psychosocial topics. The 2006-2012 SAQs included a set of questions on important life events and experiences, including several from childhood. We distinguish between two sets of events-those that are more factual and those that are more qualitative--and examine changes in reports of these events over four years and factors that predict these changes. The magnitude of change differed between these two sets of events. Demographic and physical and mental health factors are significant predictors of change in reports, though not always in a consistent or expected way.