Understanding the Sources of Age Misreporting

Samuel H. Preston, Irma T. Elo, Mark E. Hill and Ira Rosenwaike

Chapter Chapter 4 in The Demography of African Americans 1930–1990, 2003, pp 63-73 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The volume of age misreporting among African Americans described in the previous chapter provides a serious challenge to demographic estimation. Age misreporting also poses a vexing problem for demographers who study populations in developing countries where vital registration is often deficient and where the demographic estimates must be based primarily on analysis of age distributions of populations or deaths (United Nations, 1982). There have been few attempts to identify the sources of age misreporting (Ewbank 1981). The record linkage described in the last chapter provides a rare opportunity to investigate the correlates of age misreporting. In addition, we have conducted a supplementary series of 40 in-depth interviews with elderly African Americans in Philadelphia to investigate concepts of age and of age accuracy. These individuals represent a “convenience sample” of persons drawn primarily from senior centers. We acknowledge the efforts of Averil Clarke and Cathleen Riddley, who conducted most of these interviews.

Keywords: Death Certificate; Birth Certificate; Birth Record; Vital Registration; Birth Registration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2003
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:ssdmcp:978-94-017-0325-3_4

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DOI: 10.1007/978-94-017-0325-3_4

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