• Component Description
• Eligible Sample
• Interview Setting and Mode of Administration
• Quality Assurance & Quality Control
• Data Processing and Editing
• Analytic Notes
• Codebook
  • SEQN - Respondent sequence number
  • ECD010 - Mother's age when born
  • ECQ020 - Mother smoked when pregnant
  • ECD070A - Weight at birth, pounds
  • ECD070B - Weight at birth, ounces
  • ECQ075 - CHECK ITEM
  • ECQ080 - Weight more/less than 5.5 lbs
  • ECQ090 - Weight more/less than 9.0 lbs
  • ECQ095 - CHECK ITEM
  • WHQ030E - How do you consider your child's weight
  • MCQ080E - Your child was overweight
  • ECQ150 - Help your child control weight

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2013-2014 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Early Childhood (ECQ_H)

Data File: ECQ_H.xpt

First Published: October 2015

Last Revised: NA

Component Description

The Early Childhood section provides personal interview data for children, including the age of the biological mother when the child participant was born, smoking habits of the mother while she was pregnant with the participant, birth weight, and the proxy’s assessment of the participant’s current weight.

Eligible Sample

Participants aged birth to 15 years were eligible. However, the ages of participation for some questions in this section vary. Please review the codebook carefully.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

These questions were asked, in the home, by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interview (CAPI) system.

For details on the administration of the Early Childhood (ECQ_G) section, please refer to the NHANES 2013-14 Interviewer Procedures Manual and the Early Childhood Sample Person Questionnaire on the NHANES website.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The CAPI system is programmed with built-in consistency checks to reduce data entry errors. CAPI also uses online help screens to assist interviewers in defining key terms used in the questionnaire.

For details on the quality control/quality assurance process for this component, please refer to the NHANES 2013-14 Interviewer Procedures Manual on the NHANES website.

Data Processing and Editing

The data were edited for completeness, consistency, and illogical values. Frequency counts were verified during the preparation of the file.

Proxies were given an option of reporting birthweight in pounds and ounces, grams, or kilograms. Birthweights reported in kilograms and grams were converted to pounds and ounces. Proxies unsure of birthweight were asked to report if the birthweight was more or less than 5.5 pounds and more or less than 9.0 pounds.

For ECD070A (weight at birth, pounds) and ECD070B (weight at birth, ounces), all responses of 13 pounds or over were collapsed into a single category, with ECD070A coded as "13" and ECD070B coded as "0". This was done to protect the confidentiality of survey participants.

For ECD010 (age of biological mother when the sample participant was born), any reported values under 14 years were coded as 14 years and younger and any reported values over 45 years were coded as 45 years and older. This was done to protect the confidentiality of participants.

Analytic Notes

Although data in this file were collected as part of the household questionnaire, if they are merged with the MEC exam data, exam sample weights should be used for the analyses.

Please refer to the NHANES Analytic Guidelines and the on-line NHANES Tutorial for further details on the use of sample weights and other analytic issues.

Codebook and Frequencies