| Data Dictionary: | ACS 2008 (3-Year Estimates) |
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Survey: ACS 2008 (3-Year Estimates)
| Data Source: | U.S. Census Bureau |
| Table: | B10054. Language and Ability to Speak English of Grandparents Living with Own Grandchildren Under 18 Years by Responsibility for Own Grandchildren and Age of Grandparent [17] |
Universe: Universe: Grandparents living with own grandchildren under 18 years
Table Details
| B10054. | Language and Ability to Speak English of Grandparents Living with Own Grandchildren Under 18 Years by Responsibility for Own Grandchildren and Age of Grandparent | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Universe: Universe: Grandparents living with own grandchildren under 18 years | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Relevant Documentation:
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2006-2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2008-3yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B: Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Grandparents as Caregivers |
Data on grandparents as caregivers were derived from Questions 24a through 24c. Data were collected on whether a grandchild lives with a grandparent in the household, whether the grandparent has responsibility for the basic needs of the grandchild, and the duration of that responsibility.
This was determined by a "Yes" answer to the question, "Does this person have any of his/her own grandchildren under the age of 18 living in this house or apartment?" This question was asked of people 15 years of age and over. Because of the low numbers of persons under 30 years old living with their grandchildren, data were only tabulated for people 30 and over.
This question determines if the grandparent is financially responsible for food, shelter, clothing, day care, etc., for any or all grandchildren living in the household. In selected tabulations, grandparent responsibility is further classified by presence of parent (of the grandchild).
The answer refers to the grandchild for whom the grandparent has been responsible for the longest period of time. Duration categories ranged from less than 6 months to 5 or more years.
Beginning in 2006, the population in group quarters (GQ) is included in the ACS. Some types of GQ populations may have grandparents as caregivers distributions that are different from the household population. The inclusion of the GQ population could therefore have a noticeable impact on the grandparents as caregivers distribution. This is particularly true for areas with a substantial GQ population.
These questions are included starting in the 1999 American Community Survey. The response categories for length of time caring for grandchildren were modified slightly between the 1999 and 2000 American Community Survey questionnaires to match the 2000 decennial census questionnaire.
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2006-2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2008-3yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B: Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Age |
The data on age were derived from answers to Question 4. The age classification is based on the age of the person in complete years at the time of interview. Both age and date of birth are used in combination to calculate the most accurate age at the time of the interview. Inconsistently reported and missing values are assigned or imputed based on the values of other variables for that person, from other people in the household, or from people in other households ("hot deck" imputation). Data on age are used to determine the applicability of other questions for a particular individual and to classify other characteristics in tabulations. Age data are needed to interpret most social and economic characteristics used to plan and analyze programs and policies. Therefore, age data are tabulated by many different age groupings, such as 5-year age groups.
The median age is the age that divides the population into two equal-size groups. Half of the population is older than the median age and half is younger. Median age is based on a standard distribution of the population by single years of age and is shown to the nearest tenth of a year. (See the sections on "Standard Distributions" and "Medians" under "Derived Measures.")
The age dependency ratio is derived by dividing the combined under-18 and 65-and-over populations by the 18-to-64 population and multiplying by 100.
The old-age dependency ratio is derived by dividing the population 65 years and over by the 18-to-64 population and multiplying by 100.
The child dependency ratio is derived by dividing the population under 18 years by the 18-to-64 population, and multiplying by 100.
Caution should be taken when comparing population in age groups across time. The entire population continually ages into older age groups over time and babies fill in the youngest age group. Therefore, the population of a certain age is made up of a completely different group of people in 2000 and 2008. Since populations occasionally experience booms/increases and busts/decreases in births, deaths, or migration (for example, the postwar Baby Boom from 1946-1964), one should not necessarily expect that the population in an age group in Census 2000 should be similar in size or proportion to the population in the same age group in the 2008 ACS. For example, Baby Boomers were age 36 to 54 in Census 2000 while they were age 44 to 62 in the 2008 ACS. Therefore, the age group 55 to 59 would show a considerable increase in population when comparing Census 2000 data with the 2008 ACS data. Beginning in 2006, the population in group quarters (GQ) is included in the ACS. Some types of GQ populations have age distributions that are very different from the household population. The inclusion of the GQ population could therefore have a noticeable impact on the age distribution. This is particularly true for areas with a substantial GQ population.
The 1996-2002 American Community Survey question asked for month, day, and year of birth before age. Since 2003, the American Community Survey question asked for age, followed by month, day, and year of birth. In 2008, an additional instruction was provided with the age and date of birth question on the American Community Survey questionnaire to report babies as age 0 when the child was less than 1 year old. The addition of this instruction occurred after 2005 National Census Test results indicated increased accuracy of age reporting for babies less than one year old.
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2006-2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2008-3yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B: Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Household Type and Relationship -> Relationship to Householder -> Other Relatives -> Grandchild |
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2006-2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2008-3yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B: Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English -> Language Spoken at Home |
Data on language spoken at home were derived from answers to the 2008 American Community Survey Questions 13a and 13b. These questions were asked only of persons 5 years of age and older. Instructions mailed with the American Community Survey questionnaire instructed respondents to mark "Yes" on Question 13a if they sometimes or always spoke a language other than English at home, and "No" if a language was spoken only at school - or if speaking was limited to a few expressions or slang. For Question 13b, respondents printed the name of the non-English language they spoke at home. If the person spoke more than one non-English language, they reported the language spoken most often. If the language spoken most frequently could not be determined, the respondent reported the language learned first.
Questions 13a and 13b referred to languages spoken at home in an effort to measure the current use of languages other than English. This category excluded respondents who spoke a language other than English exclusively outside of the home.
Most respondents who reported speaking a language other than English also spoke English. The questions did not permit a determination of the primary language of persons who spoke both English and another language.
An automated computer system coded write-in responses to Question 13b into more than 380 detailed language categories. This automated procedure compared write-in responses with a master computer code list - which contained approximately 55,000 previously coded language names and variants - and then assigned a detailed language category to each write-in response. The computerized matching assured that identical alphabetic entries received the same code. Clerical coding categorized any write-in responses that did not match the computer dictionary. When multiple languages other than English were specified, only the first was coded.
The write-in responses represented the names people used for languages they spoke. They may not have matched the names or categories used by professional linguists. The categories used were sometimes geographic and sometimes linguistic. The following table provides an illustration of the content of the classification schemes used to present language data.
Four and Thirty-Nine Group Classifications of Languages Spoken at Home with Illustrative Examples
Questions 13a and 13b referred to languages spoken at home in an effort to measure the current use of languages other than English. This category excluded respondents who spoke a language other than English exclusively outside of the home.
Most respondents who reported speaking a language other than English also spoke English. The questions did not permit a determination of the primary language of persons who spoke both English and another language.
An automated computer system coded write-in responses to Question 13b into more than 380 detailed language categories. This automated procedure compared write-in responses with a master computer code list - which contained approximately 55,000 previously coded language names and variants - and then assigned a detailed language category to each write-in response. The computerized matching assured that identical alphabetic entries received the same code. Clerical coding categorized any write-in responses that did not match the computer dictionary. When multiple languages other than English were specified, only the first was coded.
The write-in responses represented the names people used for languages they spoke. They may not have matched the names or categories used by professional linguists. The categories used were sometimes geographic and sometimes linguistic. The following table provides an illustration of the content of the classification schemes used to present language data.
Four and Thirty-Nine Group Classifications of Languages Spoken at Home with Illustrative Examples
| Four-Group Classification | Thirty-nine Group Classification | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Spanish | Spanish or Spanish Creole | Spanish, Ladino, Pachuco |
| Other Indo-European languages | French | French, Cajun, Patois |
| French Creole | Haitian Creole | |
| Italian | Italian | |
| Portuguese or Portuguese Creole | Portuguese, Papia Mentae | |
| German | German, Luxembourgian | |
| Yiddish | Yiddish | |
| Other West Germanic languages | Dutch, Pennsylvania Dutch, Afrikaans | |
| Scandinavian languages | Danish, Norwegian, Swedish | |
| Greek | Greek | |
| Russian | Russian | |
| Polish | Polish | |
| Serbo-Croatian | Serbo-Croatian, Croatian, Serbian | |
| Other Slavic languages | Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian | |
| Armenian | Armenian | |
| Persian | Persian | |
| Gujarathi | Gujarathi | |
| Hindi | Hindi | |
| Urdu | Urdu | |
| Other Indic languages | Bengali, Marathi, Punjabi, Romany | |
| Other Indo-European languages | Albanian, Gaelic, Lithuanian,Rumanian | |
| Asian and Pacific Island languages | Chinese | Cantonese, Formosan, Mandarin |
| Japanese | Japanese | |
| Korean | Korean | |
| Mon-Khmer, Cambodian | Mon-Khmer, Cambodian | |
| Hmong | Hmong | |
| Thai | Thai | |
| Laotian | Laotian | |
| Vietnamese | Vietnamese | |
| Other Asian languages | Dravidian languages (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil),Turkish | |
| Tagalog | Tagalog | |
| Other Pacific Island languages | Chamorro, Hawaiian, Ilocano, Indonesian, Samoan | |
| All other languages | Navajo | Navajo |
| Other Native North American languages | Apache, Cherokee, Dakota, Pima, Yupik | |
| Hungarian | Hungarian | |
| Arabic | Arabic | |
| Hebrew | Hebrew | |
| African languages | Amharic, Ibo, Twi, Yoruba, Bantu, Swahili, Somali | |
| Other and unspecified languages | Syriac, Finnish, Other languages of the Americas, not reported |
| Excerpt from: | Social Explorer; U.S. Census Bureau; American Community Survey 2006-2008 Summary File: Technical Documentation. |
| ACS 2008-3yr Summary File: Technical Documentation -> Appendix B: Subject Definitions -> Population Variables -> Language Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English -> Ability to Speak English |
Respondents who reported speaking a language other than English were asked to indicate their English-speaking ability based on one of the following categories: "Very well," "Well," "Not well," or "Not at all." Ideally, the data on ability to speak English represented a person's perception of their own English-speaking ability. However, because one household member usually completes American Community Survey questionnaires, the responses may have represented the perception of another household member. Respondents were not instructed on how to interpret the response categories in Question 13c.
