CALL FOR PAPERS:

 2008 National Research Conference on the National Survey of Family Growth

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) announces the 2008 Research Conference on the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) and issues this Call for Papers.  The Conference will be held on Thursday and Friday, October 16 and 17, 2008, at NCHS located in Hyattsville, Maryland, just outside Washington, DC.

The purpose of the conference is to present and discuss original, unpublished analyses of the National Survey of Family Growth.  Participants in the conference (discussants and 1 presenter per accepted paper) will be reimbursed for travel and lodging expenses.  About 20 papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference.  Topical sessions will be organized around the themes represented by the accepted papers.

Papers are welcome on any topic provided the principal data source is one or more cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth.  Priority will be given to papers using Cycle 6 of the NSFG (2002), based on 12,571 interviews with men & women aged 15-44.  Papers or extended abstracts (3 or more pages) should be submitted electronically (preferably in PDF or Word format) to nsfg@cdc.gov or mailed by overnight mail to William Mosher for receipt by 5 pm EDT Tuesday, June 17, 2008. 

 William Mosher, PhD
National Center for Health Statistics
3311 Toledo Road, Room 7421
Hyattsville, MD 20782

Authors will be notified by e-mail of acceptance or rejection of their papers by 5 pm EDT Monday, July 14, 2008.

Some of the topics that may be studied with the Cycle 6 NSFG are: 

• male or female fertility; contraceptive use; infertility;
• marriage and cohabitation; attitudes toward family life;
• reproductive health, including use of health care;
• sexual behavior and orientation;
• parenting activities by men (fatherhood roles); and
• socio-economic, religious, and contextual variations in these behaviors.

Public use data and documentation files for all 6 cycles of the NSFG are available on CD-ROM, and may be requested free of charge by e-mailing nsfg@cdc.gov.  Documentation files (questionnaires, user’s guides, and codebooks) for Cycles 1-6 are also on the NSFG website (www.cdc.gov/nchs/nsfg.htm).

 In addition to the Cycle 6 public use data files, an Audio CASI file (of sensitive items), and a Contextual Data File are also available.  Instructions on obtaining access to these files are available on the web site or by e-mailing nsfg@cdc.gov.

 For further information, please contact the NSFG staff at nsfg@cdc.gov or 301-458-4222.