• 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
  • ACQBOX1 - CHECK ITEM
  • ACD011A - Speak English at home - NHW or NHB
  • ACD011B - Speak Spanish at home - NHW or NHB
  • ACD011C - Speak other language at home -NHW or NHB
  • ACD040 - Language(s) spoken at home - Hispanics
  • ACD110 - Language(s) spoken at home - Asians

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

2017-2018 Data Documentation, Codebook, and Frequencies

Acculturation (ACQ_J)

Data File: ACQ_J.xpt

First Published: February 2020

Last Revised: NA

Component Description

The Acculturation section (variable name prefix ACQ) provides personal interview data on language use in the home. Questions asked and response categories used were customized, based on self-identified race and Hispanic origin, as shown in the table below.

Participants' Self-Identification	Question Asked	Response Categories	Variable Name for Data Release
Non-Hispanic white, Non-Hispanic black, or other race - including multi-racial	What language(s) do you usually speak at home?	Check all that apply: English (ACD011A) Spanish (ACD011B) Other languages (ACD011C)	ACD011A-C
Mexican American or other Hispanic	What language(s) do you usually speak at home? Do you speak only Spanish, more Spanish than English, both equally, more English than Spanish, or only English?	Only Spanish More Spanish than English Both equally More English than Spanish Only English	ACD040
Non-Hispanic Asian	Do you speak only (NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE), more (NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE) than English, both equally, more English than (NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE), or only English? Note: Participant self-reported "NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE" used at home is pre-filled in this question during the interview.	Only non-English language More non-English than English Both equally More English than non-English language Only English	ACD110

Eligible Sample

Participants aged 3 and older were eligible.

Interview Setting and Mode of Administration

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

Persons 16 years of age and older and emancipated minors were interviewed directly. A proxy provided information for survey participants who were under 16 years of age and for persons who could not answer the questions themselves.

Quality Assurance & Quality Control

The ACQ data were systematically reviewed for logical, processing, and data input errors on a periodic basis during the process of data collection.

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

Data Processing and Editing

Edits were made to ensure the completeness, consistency and analytic usefulness of the data.

Analytic Notes

Prior to 2012, the eligible sample for ACQ was 12 years and older. In 2012, the participant age was lowered to 3 years and older, to match the protocol for ACQ during the NHANES National Youth Fitness Survey (NNYFS).

ACD011A, ACD011B and ACD011C (Language spoken at home for non-Hispanic white, non-Hispanic black, and other races including multiracial)
These variables encoded the information on language(s) spoken at home for non-Hispanic white and non-Hispanic black participants, and participants of other races including multiracial. Responses to the question were collected as “check all that apply,” which means that the participants could report more than one language and all of their responses were recorded. Please note that these variables also apply to participants sampled as non-Hispanic Asian but self-identified as multiracial.

Language spoken at home for non-Hispanics (NHANES 2011-2018 [ACD011 A,B,C] vs. NHANES 1999-2010 [ACD010 A,B,C])
Prior to 2011, one single question was used to collect information on language spoken at home for all non-Hispanic participants and the responses were released as variables ACD010A, ACD010B, and ACD010C. Starting in 2011, to accommodate the Asian oversample, information on language spoken at home was collected separately for non-Hispanic Asians and other non-Hispanics using two different questions (i.e., ACQ110 and ACQ011). Analysts who wish to include “language spoken at home” data in analyses that use multiple 2-year NHANES cycles, may recode variables ACD011A, ACD011B, ACD011C, and ACD110 to create variables compatible with those released with the NHANES 1999-2010 data (i.e., ACD010A, ACD010B, and ACD010C) using the following SAS programming code:

     If SDDSRVYR in (7, 8, 9, 10) then do;
       ACD010B = ACD011B;
       If ACD110 in (2, 3, 4, 5) then ACD010A = 1;
       Else ACD010A = ACD011A;
       If ACD110 in (1, 2, 3, 4) then ACD010C = 9;
       Else ACD010C = ACD011C;
    End;

ACD040 (Language spoken at home for Hispanics)
In the current ACQ, the item number for this question is ACQ041. However, to keep the data release variable names the same as those in previous years, the responses to ACQ041 were renamed ACD040.

ACD110 (Language spoken at home for non-Hispanic Asian, single race)
Question ACQ110, which asks language spoken at home of non-Hispanic Asian participants, was added to NHANES 2011–2012, to compliment the Asian oversample. More detailed data on specific Asian language(s) used by participants at home is available through the National Center for Health Statistics’ Research Data Center (RDC). Please note that acculturation data on participants sampled as non-Hispanic Asian, but who self-identified as multiracial, are reported in variables ACD011A, ACD011B and ACD011C in this public data set. If you wish to combine these participants with single Asian race participants in your analysis, you can request access to more detailed Asian language use data through the RDC as well.

Although these data 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