Understanding Society key survey and socio-demographic variables

For the analysis of individual response data

Topic domain	Variable name	In datafiles	Description
Identifiers	pidp	All individual level files	unique cross-wave person identifier
	w_hidp	All wave-specific files	wave-specific household identifier
	w_pno	All wave-specific individual level files	wave-specific person number in the household
Sampling & interview variables	w_ivfio	indresp, indall, indsamp	individual interview outcome
	w_ivfho	hhresp, hhsamp	household interview outcome
	w_indmode	indresp	individual interview mode
	w_modetype	indall	mode in which household grid was completed
	w_hholdmodedv	hhresp	mode for the completion of the household interview
	w_psu	Most files (as psu in xwavedat, xwaveid)	Primary sampling Unit
	w_strata	Most files (as strata in xwavedat, xwaveid)	Strata
	w_intdatd_dv w_intdatm_dv w_intdaty_dv	indresp, indall, youth, child	Individual interview dates, adult & youth
	w_intdatey w_intdatem w_intdated	hhresp	Household interview date
Residence variables	w_country	Most wave-specific files	whether lives in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland
	w_gor_dv	Most wave-specific files	lives in which of the 12 UK regions in the UK
	w_urban_dv	Most wave-specific files	whether lives in urban or rural area, derived
Socio-economic & demographic characteristics	doby_dv	Most individual level files	year of birth (derived from multiple sources)
	w_age_dv	Most wave-specific individual level file	age at time of interview
	w_sex_dv	Most individual level files	sex (derived from multiple sources)
	ukborn	xwavedat	whether born in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or outside the UK (self-reported)
	bornuk_dv	xwavedat	whether born in the UK or outside the UK (derived from multiple sources)
	racel_dv	xwavedat, indresp, indall	ethnic group (self-reported)
	ethn_dv	xwavedat, indresp, indall	ethnic group – derived from multiple sources
	w_mastat_dv	indresp, indall	de-facto marital status
	w_marstat_dv	indresp, indall, child	Harmonised de-facto marital status
	w_nchild_dv	indresp, indall	no. of own (biological, adopted, step) children under the age of 16 in the household
	w_hiqual_dv	indresp	highest qualification status
	w_qfhigh_dv	indresp	highest academic qualifications
	scend_dv	xwavedat	school leaving age
	w_jbstat	indresp	current labour force status
	w_jbsoc00_cc	indresp	Socio-economic Classification of current job, SOC 2000 three digit version
	w_jbnssec8_dv w_jbnssec5_dv w_jbnssec3_dv	indresp	Socio-economic Classification of current job, NS-SEC Eight/Five/Three Class
Health & wellbeing	w_sf1 w_scsf1 (response from these should be combined)	indresp	General health
	w_sf12mcs_dv	indresp	SF-12: mental health component score
	w_sf12pcs_dv	indresp	SF-12: physical health component score
	w_health	indresp	long-standing illness or disability status
	w_scghq1_dv	indresp	subjective wellbeing (GHQ): Likert status
	w_scghq2_dv	indresp	subjective wellbeing (GHQ): Caseness status
	w_sclfsato	indresp	Overall life satisfaction
Individual and family background	j1soc00_cc	xwavedat	Standard Socio-economic Classification (SOC 2000) of first job after leaving full-time education. Condensed three-digit version
	maid	xwavedat	mother’s ethnic group
	macob	xwavedat	mother’s country of birth
	maedqf	xwavedat	mother’s educational qualification when respondent was aged 14
	masoc90_cc masoc00_cc masoc10_cc	xwavedat	Standard Occupational Classification 1990/2000/2010 of mother’s job when respondent was aged 14
	paid	xwavedat	father’s ethnic group
	pacob	xwavedat	father’s country of birth
	paedqf	xwavedat	father’s educational qualification when respondent was aged 14
	pasoc90_cc pasoc00_cc pasoc10_cc	xwavedat	Standard Occupational Classification 1990/2000/2010 of father’s job when respondent was aged 14
Household-level characteristics	w_hhsize	hhresp	number of individuals in the household
	w_nkids_dv	hhresp	number of children aged under 16 in the household
	w_hhtype_dv	hhresp	household composition
	w_tenure_dv	hhresp	housing tenure

Variables without a wave prefix can be merged in from the xwavedat data file using pidp. Household-level characteristics variables are from the household data file and can be merged in using w_hipd.