Description

SPRULE_HIST reports why the IPUMS variable SPLOC linked the person to a probable spouse in samples prior to 1970. IPUMS establishes spouse-spouse links according to seven basic rules, and SPRULE reports the number of the rule for the link in question. If a link could be made according to more than one rule, the lowest-numbered rule was applied. See "Family Interrelationships" and New IPUMS Family Interrelationship Variables for more information.

The following codes are included in SPRULE_HIST:
0 = No spouse of this person present in household.
1 = A married woman and a married man were linked because she was listed immediately after him on the form and both persons' relationship to the household head/householder, when compared with one another, justified a link. The following pairings justified links:

• a) they had one of the relationship sets listed in rule 1;
• b) the woman was at least 13 years old;
• c) the man was at least 15 years old;
• d) the man was not more than 25 years older than the woman; and e) the woman was not more than 10 years older than the man.

4 = A married woman whose relationship to the head was not listed, or did not match the married man's as specified in rule 1, was still linked to a married man because he was listed immediately before her on the form, their ages fit parts b, c, and d of rule 3, and the resulting link did not link a nonrelative to a relative.
5 = Same as rule 4, but the married woman was listed immediately before the married man on the form.
6 = A married woman and a married man who did not appear adjacently on the form were linked according to the criteria (excepting adjacent listing) of rule 4.
7= This rule only applies to pairings in which one person has an allocated marital status (MARST). As in rule 4, their ages fit parts b, c, and d of rule 3, and the link does not link a non-relative to a relative. However one of them has an allocated marital status that is not 'married.' In this case, the spouse link is made and the allocated marital status is set to '1' ('married').

Comparability

For 1850-1870, relationships to the household head are imputed (using IMPREL) rather than based on RELATE. In other respects, this variable works the same way for all years.

The 1960 Census does not include SURSIM, so spouse links are not made for nonadjacent unspecified relatives and nonrelatives. These links are made in years with SURSIM (prior to 1960) under rule 6.

Universe

Availability

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• 1960: All samples
• 1950: All samples
• 1940: All samples
• 1930: All samples
• 1920: All samples
• 1910: All samples
• 1900: All samples
• 1880: All samples
• 1870: All samples
• 1860: All samples
• 1850: All samples

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• 1990: --
• 1980: --
• 1970: --
• 1930: All samples
• 1920: All samples
• 1910: All samples

Flags

Editing Procedure

There is no editing procedure available for this variable.