Survival Analysis of Backward Recurrence Times

Abstract Many surveys include questions that attempt to measure the time of the most recent occurrence of some event, for example, last visit to a physician. Although it is tempting to apply survival (failure-time) methods to such data, the conditions under which such applications are appropriate have not been apparent. In this article it is shown that standard methods may be applied when the data arise from certain well-known stochastic processes. Special procedures may be necessary if the models include duration dependence, however. The methods are illustrated by the estimation of regression models for data on residential mobility.