Description
For persons aged 16 and older who are in scope, MARSTATRD reports the person's marital status, in round. When the person's marital status in a given round differed from the previous round, then the value was edited to reflect that this marital status changed during the round (e.g. "Married in round" or "Divorced in round").
AHRQ performed data quality edits in cases where two individuals within a family report conflicting marital status values. AHRQ documentation notes that persons may not be coded as "Never Married" or out of universe because of age restrictions if they were ever assigned a different valid marital status in an earlier round. Additionally, persons cannot be coded as "Married in round" in a round immediately after being coded as "Married", and cannot be coded as "in round" in two subsequent rounds.
In 1999 and 2000, the frequency of "Married" values are very low, while the "Married in round" values for Round 1 are markedly higher than in adjacent years. AHRQ documentation notes that:
"When marital status was missing in the preceding round and provided in the current
round, then the person was coded to the 'in Round' marital state. For example, if marital
status was not available from the National Health Interview Survey and the person's
marital status was reported as married in Round 1 of MEPS, then the person would be
coded as 7 'Married in Round' for Round 1 of MEPS." Other full year consolidated files do not include this information. IPUMS has retained the original assignments provided by AHRQ, but discourages users from using the additional detail from "in round" marital status values in Round 1 for 1999 and 2000.
Codes and Frequencies
Comparability
In 1999 and 2000, the frequency of "Married" values are very low, while the "Married in round" values for Round 1 are markedly higher than in adjacent years. AHRQ documentation notes that:
"When marital status was missing in the preceding round and provided in the current
round, then the person was coded to the 'in Round' marital state. For example, if marital
status was not available from the National Health Interview Survey and the person's
marital status was reported as married in Round 1 of MEPS, then the person would be
coded as 7 'Married in Round' for Round 1 of MEPS." Other full year consolidated files do not include this information.
IPUMS has retained the original assignments provided by AHRQ, but discourages users from using the additional detail from "in round" marital status values in Round 1 for 1999 and 2000.
In 1996, MARSTATRD only includes eligible persons aged 16 and older in rounds 1 and 2 of data collection; in subsequent years, MARSTATRD is available for all inscope persons aged 16 and older.
Otherwise, there are no comparability issues.
Universe
- 1996: Persons aged 16 and older who are eligible (ELIGRD = 4) and in rounds 1 or 2 of data collection.
- 1997-2021: Persons aged 16 and older who are in scope, in round.
Availability
- 1996-2021
Weights
- 1996-2021 : PERWEIGHT
