Apr 7 -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invites the general public and other federal agencies to comment on a proposed information collection project titled The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). This survey is designed to provide nationally representative, scientifically credible data on factors related to birth and pregnancy rates, family formation and dissolution patterns, and reproductive health. CDC must receive written comments on or before June 6, 2023.
Section 306 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 242k), as amended, authorizes that the Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS), acting through NCHS, shall collect statistics on “family formation, growth, and dissolution,” as well as “determinants of health” and “utilization of health care” in the United States. This clearance request includes the data collection in 2024–2026 for the continuous National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG).
The NSFG was conducted periodically between 1973 and 2002, continuously from 2006–2010, and after a break of 15 months, continuously from 2011–2019, by the NCHS, CDC. Each year, about 13,500 households will be screened, with about 5,000 participants interviewed annually. Participation in the NSFG is completely voluntary and confidential. Interviews are expected to average 50 minutes for males and 75 minutes for females. The response rate during the 2011–2019 data collection period ranged from 64.5% to 74%, and the cumulative response rate for this eight-year fieldwork period was 67.7%.
The NSFG program produces descriptive statistics which document factors associated with birth and pregnancy rates, including contraception, infertility, marriage, cohabitation, and sexual activity, in the U.S. household population 15–49 years (15–44 prior to 2015), as well as behaviors that affect the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STD). The survey also disseminates statistics on the medical care associated with contraception, infertility, pregnancy, and related health conditions.
NSFG data users include the DHHS programs that fund the survey, including CDC/NCHS and 11 others within DHSS:
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development (NIH/NICHD)
Office of Population Affairs (OPA)
Children's Bureau in the Administration for Children and Families (ACF/CB)
Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (ACF/CB)
Office on Women's Health (OASH/OWH)
CDC's Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention (CDC/NCHHSTP/DHAP)
CDC's Division of STD Prevention (CDC/NCHHSTP/DSTDP)
CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (CDC/NCHHSTP/DASH)
CDC's Division of Reproductive Health (CDC/NCCDPHP/DRH)
CDC's Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (CDC/NCCDPHP/DCPC)
CDC's Division of Violence Prevention (CDC/NCIPC/DVP)
The NSFG is also used by state and local governments (primarily for benchmarking to national data); private research and action organizations focused on men's and women's health, child well-being, and marriage and the family; academic researchers in the social and public health sciences; journalists; and many others.
This submission requests approval for a revision to NSFG data collection for three years. The revision request includes the increase of the main survey incentive from $40 to $60, a small set of questionnaire revisions beginning in Year 3 (2024) data collection and to conduct several methodological studies designed to improve the efficiency and validity of NSFG data collection for the purposes described above.
NSFG:
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg/index.htm
Draft survey instrument and technical documentation available at
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/sat3tkztm11dukay4l9fo/h?dl=0&rlkey=oc9ju30qidsaeyibfpb7d6h7l
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-07350