Veterans’ Grandchildren Mortality Plus: Vital Records, Census and Draft Cards Across Three Generations

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Dora L. Costa, University of California-Los Angeles. California Center for Population Research

Version:  View help for Version V2

Name File Type Size Last Modified
Veterans_Grandchildrens_Mortality_Plus_Codebook.pdf application/pdf 6.8 MB 02/01/2024 07:44:AM
grandchildren_pt1_csv.csv text/csv 87.5 MB 01/16/2024 07:03:AM
grandchildren_pt1_excel.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 157.4 MB 01/10/2024 05:48:AM
grandchildren_pt1_sas.sas7bdat application/x-sas-data 1.3 GB 01/10/2024 05:58:AM
grandchildren_pt1_spss.sav application/x-spss-sav 285.7 MB 01/17/2024 09:54:AM
grandchildren_pt1_stata.dta application/x-stata-dta 1.4 GB 01/16/2024 03:28:AM
grandchildren_pt2_csv.csv text/csv 88.4 MB 01/10/2024 05:46:AM
grandchildren_pt2_excel.xlsx application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet 158 MB 01/10/2024 06:03:AM
grandchildren_pt2_sas.sas7bdat application/x-sas-data 1.3 GB 01/10/2024 06:13:AM
grandchildren_pt2_spss.sav application/x-spss-sav 285.7 MB 01/16/2024 03:28:AM

Project Citation: 

Costa, Dora L. . Veterans’ Grandchildren Mortality Plus: Vital Records, Census and Draft Cards Across Three Generations. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-02-05. https://doi.org/10.3886/E197701V2

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary The Veterans’ Grandchildren Mortality Plus sample consists of the records of more than 35,700 total grandchildren
  • both male and female in nearly equal numbers,
  • about 28,000 of which survived to age 45,
  • who were born after the war to 16,791 children of 2,825 veterans,
  • and contains an oversample of ex-POW veterans.
The primary purpose of the project was to explore how grandfathers’ trauma affects the longevity and overweight of descendants. 

The dataset contains birth and death dates of grandchildren, census information on their parents' household, select socioeconomic and education information from the 1930 and 1940 census, and height and weight information from WWII draft cards for the grandsons. This multigenerational dataset can be used for researching the intergenerational transmission of longevity, overweight and socioeconomic status and the sex-specific pathways of this transmission and for testing mechanical linkage algorithms. 

Researchers built on a previously collected NIA-funded project containing census and death information of children of ex-POW and non-POW veterans (“Early Indicators, Intergenerational Processes, and Aging,” NIA grant P01AG10120, PI: Costa). The Veterans’ Grandchildren Mortality Plus data set contains the newly collected records of the veterans’ grandchildren, as well as the previously collected data of the veterans and their children.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health (R21 AG064460); University of California-Los Angeles

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms demography; American Civil War; prisoners of war; trauma; aging; health; longevity; nineteenth century; twentieth century; Union Army; mortality rates; US Civil War; birth records; death records; census data; veterans; families; intergenerational; multigenerational; paternal transmission of trauma; grandchildren of veterans; grandchildren of POWs; children of veterans; children of POWs; intergenerational transmission of trauma; draft cards; census records
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage United States
Collection Notes:  View help for Collection Notes
The data are available as csv, Stata, Excel, SAS, and SPSS file types.

The data set has been divided into two parts. To use the entire data set, append part 1 and part 2. For example, using Stata: 
use grandchildren_pt1_stata.dta , clear
append using grandchildren_pt2_stata.dta


Related Publications

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Published Versions

V2 [2024-02-05]

V1 [2024-02-02]

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DDI 2.5

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