LONGWEIGHT is a 11-digit numeric variable with 3 implied decimals. That is, values of 01234567891 should be interpreted as 1234567.891. The command files delivered with IPUMS extracts automatically divide LONGWEIGHT by 1,000, so no further adjustment is needed.

Description

LONGWEIGHT is the final Longitudinal Weight offered in the original NHIS public use files. LONGWEIGHT was created to allow analysis of individual-level changes from 2019 to 2020 in the longitudinal sample.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, about half of the original NHIS sample allocated for the last five months of 2020 was replaced with persons that completed a Sample Adult interview in the 2019 NHIS. This group of sample adults that completed interviews in the 2019 and 2020 NHIS are referred to as the "longitudinal" sample. Persons in the longitudinal sample were interviewed for the 2020 NHIS at least 12 months after their initial 2019 interview date. According to the 2020 Survey Description, the longitudinal sample was introduced "due to concerns about possible loss of coverage and lower response rates typically associated with telephone interviewing." See the user note on COVID-related changes to the NHIS for more information. Due to methodological concerns, sample children were not included in the longitudinal sample.

Researchers may use NHISPID in 2019 and NHISPIDPRVYR in 2020 to link the longitudinal sample across these two years of data. Please see NHISPIDPRVYR for more information.

See the User Note on the use of sampling weights for additional information.

Comparability

There are no comparability issues.

Universe

Availability

• 2020

Weights

• No weights are available for this variable. Please refer to LONGWEIGHT for more information.