National Survey of Family Growth

The National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) is a nationally representative survey of adults in the United States that collects data on topics related to sexual behavior, fertility, infant health, marriage, and family life. It has been conducted periodically since 1973, and the first five administrations of the NSFG (1973, 1976, 1982, 1988, and 1995) collected information from women aged between 15 and 44 years only (considered the age range most likely to give birth); the most recent NSFG, conducted in 2002, collected information from both men and women and included more questions about sexual behavior than the previous surveys. Although the NSFG sample is nationally representative, it is not sufficiently large to allow analyses at geographic levels smaller than the four census regions (Northeast, ...