Page Last Updated: May 15, 2026

Child Demographicsđź”—

Table Name sed_bm_demo_child
Construct Child Demographics
Study Visits V04, V06
Administration Child-specific: Yes
Respondent: Primary Caregiver on Child
Method: HBCD Study Staff, in person (10 min estimated duration)
Quality Control Data dashboard was monitored for variable missingness, possible coding errors, scoring verification when needed, and data consistency. High missingness was noted for income, although this is in line with expectations.
Responsible Use Warning â–¸

When using HBCD data, all data users must agree to responsible use as described in the DUC. When conceptualizing studies, analyzing data, and communicating findings from studies that use variables such as race, ethnicity, country of origin, and socioeconomic data, it is critical to consider strategies to avoid stigmatization of any groups and perpetuating harmful biases.

Race and ethnicity are collected as a part of the HBCD protocol to reflect social experiences (i.e., representing social constructs), and should not be conceptualized as biological, natural, intrinsic, or fixed categories of people. In addition, researchers sometimes use race and/or ethnicity variables as proxies for unmeasured social experiences or environmental exposures. HBCD measures a wide variety of social experiences and environmental exposures. In analyzing HBCD data, race/ethnicity should not be used as a proxy for measured variables.

Data Warning â–¸

Participant-Reported Challenges
Some participants reported challenges in answering certain questions, such as those related to race and ethnicity (e.g. options did not capture how they choose to identify their child).

Withheld Variables/Variable Data With Small Cell Sizes
Some variables do not contain any data in the current data release (e.g., household roster response options allowed for more household members than were reported by the respondents who completed V04 or V06 to date). These variables are currently being retained, as their relevance may change as data collection proceeds.

Some variables in this release have small cell sizes (between 1 and ten people per cell). As a condition of using these data, specified in the DUC, you agree not to identify any individual from whom data was obtained and not to identify their relatives. You agree to a minimum cell threshold of 10 in any public reporting of the data (publications or presentations).

Branching Logic
There are several items with branching logic; please consult the following resources for each questionnaire to see question flow and data dictionaries for information on skip patterns. Topics with branching logic include Household Roster and Child Custody/Guardianship (see items 15 and 16). See Child Demographics Branching Logic for full branching logic details.

Incorrect Interpretation of Days Per Month Living with Child Item
The item “How many days per month do you live with the child?” (sed_bm_demo_child__relat_002__01) appears to have been misunderstood by some participants. An unexpectedly high number of respondents entered “7,” which suggests that they may have interpreted the question as referring to days per week rather than per month. The question formatting has since been revised to emphasize “per month” and to present 30 as the first response option. Users should interpret earlier responses (in V04) with caution, as some values may reflect misunderstanding of the reference period.

Household Roster
For household roster variables, respondents were instructed to exclude the main child when reporting the number of people living in the household (e.g., item 29). Metadata for relevant fields (sed_bm_demo_child__roster_002__02__*) will be updated in the future to make this instruction explicit. This includes fields describing the total number of children younger than 17, the total number of people in the household, and corresponding fields for a second household, if applicable.

Please review the Known Issues & Pending Updates page for updates that may affect data use.

Instrument Detailsđź”—

See Basic Demographics for additional demographics variables derived from HBCD Demographics and administrative records collected during study enrolment/screening.

Demographic information is crucial for understanding the child’s environment and identifying how social, structural, and economic factors influence development over time in a longitudinal study of child development. Beginning at Visit 4, the study includes a child demographic form that captures detailed information about the child’s background, family structure, and household environment (see Sources for Demographic Protocols & Modifications). This includes:

  • Child's sex at birth
  • Child's race and ethnicity (with multiple selections allowed to capture diverse identities)
  • Respondent's relationship to the child, legal guardianship status, and whether the respondent lives with the child (including the number of days per month they share residence)
  • Detailed household composition, including the number of adults and children in the home and a household roster listing all individuals who live with the child at least two nights per week (including their age and sex)
  • Total household income for the past year (if the child resides in more than one household, respondents are asked to provide the average household income across residences)

These data are designed to support a nuanced analysis of the child’s social and family context within the HBCD study. See Cioffredi et al. 2024 for a detailed description of the HBCD Demographics survey.

Referencesđź”—

Barch, D. M., Albaugh, M. D., Avenevoli, S., Chang, L., Clark, D. B., Glantz, M. D., Hudziak, J. J., Jernigan, T. L., Tapert, S. F., Yurgelun-Todd, D., Alia-Klein, N., Potter, A. S., Paulus, M. P., Prouty, D., Zucker, R. A., & Sher, K. J. (2018). Demographic, physical and mental health assessments in the adolescent brain and cognitive development study: Rationale and description. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 32, 55–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2017.10.010

Cioffredi, L.-A., Yerby, L. G., Burris, H. H., Cole, K. M., Engel, S. M., Murray, T. M., Slopen, N., Volk, H. E., Acheson, A., & HBCD Social and Environmental Determinants Working Group. (2024). Assessing prenatal and early childhood social and environmental determinants of health in the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study (HBCD). Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 69(101429), 101429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2024.101429

Federal Register. (2023, January 27). Initial Proposals For Updating OMB’s Race and Ethnicity Statistical Standards (Document No. 2023-01635). 88 FR 5375-5384.

Jones, C. P., Truman, B. I., Elam-Evans, L. D., Jones, C. A., Jones, C. Y., Jiles, R., Rumisha, S. F., & Perry, G. S. (2008). Using “socially assigned race” to probe white advantages in health status. Ethnicity & Disease, 18(4), 496–504. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19157256