Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (ICPSR 39141)
The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study SM is the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded leading researchers in the fields of adolescent development and neuroscience to conduct this ambitious project. The ABCD Research Consortium consists of a Coordinating Center, a Data Analysis, Informatics & Resource Center, and 21 research sites across the country, which have invited 11,880 children ages 9-10 to join the study. Researchers will track their biological and behavioral development through adolescence into young adulthood.
Arts measures in ABCD include how can arts experiences be best used to enhance development of each individual? How can arts experience be best used to promote health and address developmental disorders? And also, how can neuroscience research provide a foundation for rational approaches to how we integrate arts into development?
ABCD enables us to track a trajectory of broad measures of cortical area thickness of the brain over time and see whether individuals keep on with the mean, go higher, lower, and so forth. And what factors might affect those trajectories.The data shows the relationship between music engagement and brain and behavioral developmental trajectories in childhood and adolescence, using rich characterization of brain, behavior, demographics, and genetics available in ABCD.
Arts experiences in ABCD are captured largely as part of something called the activities questionnaire, which is a pretty detailed questionnaire given to parents, which includes detailed information about participation in a wide range of activities, which include many different sports, but also performance in the arts, music, dance, drama, visual and crafts. Activities such as active engagement, learning, lessons, playing in bands, creating art (school, outside school, private lessons, and self-study). The data offers insights into effects of arts-related activities on cognitive outcomes like fluid and crystallized intelligence, executive function, working memory-specific measures, risk scores for IQ, and educational attainment.
Watch the recording of NADAC's webinar featuring Dr. Gay Dowling, Director of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Project, and Dr. Iversen, a cognitive neuroscientist. Dr. Dowling provides an overview of the ABCD study, while Dr. Iversen discusses the arts-specific measures within the ABCD data and explains how these measures, combined with comprehensive brain and cognitive assessments, reveal the impact of the arts on brain development.
Additional ABCD resources:
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The Sound Health Network
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The ABSD Data Dictionary
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NIMH Data Archive
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ABCD GitHub
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ABCD Study Infographics
Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE), United States, 1999-2001 (ICPSR 4248)
The data producers have recompiled the ACTIVE data into a new study which is available as of December 2023, ICPSR 38821; data users should plan to use study 38821 instead.
ACTIVE (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly), 1999-2001 [United States] was a multisite randomized controlled trial conducted at six field sites with New England Research Institutes (NERI) as the coordinating center. The field sites included the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged in Boston, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Florida/Wayne State University (Detroit). The primary aim of the trial was to test the effects of three distinct cognitive interventions -- previously found to be successful in improving elders' performance on basic measures of cognition under laboratory or small-scale field conditions -- on measures of cognitively demanding daily activities. Trainings consisted of an initial series of ten group sessions followed by four-session booster trainings at one and three years. The three cognitive interventions focused on memory, executive reasoning, and speed of processing. The design included a no-contact control group. Participants were assessed at baseline, immediately after training, and annually thereafter. A total of 2,832 older adults were enrolled in the trial, and 2,802 were included in the analytical sample. Twenty-six percent of the participants were African American.
Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE), United States, 1999-2008 (ICPSR 36036)
The data producers have recompiled the ACTIVE data into a new study which is available as of December 2023, ICPSR 38821; data users should plan to use study 38821 instead.
ACTIVE (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly), 1999-2008 was a multisite randomized controlled trial conducted at six field sites with New England Research Institutes (NERI) as the coordinating center. The field sites included the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Hebrew Senior Life (formerly Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged) in Boston, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Pennsylvania State University, and Wayne State University (Detroit). Data in this study are drawn from measures of cognitively demanding daily activities performed by participants who received a variety of cognitive interventions. Measures included both cognitive functioning (memory, inductive reasoning, speed processing, and general knowledge) and daily functioning (everyday problem solving, observations of daily living, complex reaction time, and general functional ability). Secondary to these measures, the study also includes data on health care and service utilization, driving habits, and mobility. Data were collected at the start of the study (baseline) as well as one, two, three, five, and ten years into the study. This collection includes the data from the tenth year of the study as well as a comprehensive analytical dataset, incorporating data from the previous collections (data from previous waves of the study as well as participant demographic data can be found in ICPSR 4248). A total of 2,832 older adults were enrolled in the trial, and 2,802 were included in the analytical sample. Twenty-six percent of the participants were African American.
Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly (ACTIVE), United States, 1999-2019 (ICPSR 38821)
ACTIVE (Advanced Cognitive Training for Independent and Vital Elderly) was a multisite randomized controlled trial conducted at six field sites with New England Research Institutes (NERI) as the coordinating center. The field sites included the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Hebrew Senior Life (formerly Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for the Aged) in Boston, Indiana University, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Pennsylvania State University, and Wayne State University (Detroit). Data in this study are drawn from measures of cognitively demanding daily activities performed by participants who received a variety of cognitive interventions. Measures included both cognitive functioning (memory, inductive reasoning, speed processing, and general knowledge) and daily functioning (everyday problem solving, observations of daily living, complex reaction time, and general functional ability). Secondary to these measures, the study also includes data on health care and service utilization, driving habits, and mobility. Data were collected at the start of the study (baseline) as well as one, two, three, five, and ten years into the study.
This collection integrates data from two previous collections (ICPSR 4248 and ICPSR 36036) and fills in gaps that existed in these two collections. In addition, this collection features composite scores for constructs like memory, reasoning speed, Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), Social Determinants of Health (SDOH), as well as data from the National Death Index and state driving records.
Please read the collection notes for important analysis details.
Americans' Changing Lives: Waves I, II, III, IV, V, and VI, 1986, 1989, 1994, 2002, 2011, and 2021 (ICPSR 4690)
The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey series is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study focusing especially on differences between Black and White Americans in middle and late life. These data constitute the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waves in a panel survey covering a wide range of sociological, psychological, mental, and physical health items. Wave I of the study began in 1986 with a nation face-to-face survey of 3,617 adults ages 25 and up, with Black Americans and people aged 60 and over over-sampled at twice the rate of the others. Wave II constitutes face-to-face re-interviews in 1989 of those still alive. Survivors have been re-interviewed by telephone, and when necessary face-to-face, in 1994 (Wave III), 2001/02 (Wave IV), 2011 (Wave V), and 2019/21 (Wave VI).
Please note that for Wave VI, the majority of data collection occurred in 2019, with only a small subset (n=39) of participants surveyed in 2021.
ACL was designed and sought to investigate the following: (1) The ways in which a wide range of activities and social relationships that people engage in are broadly "productive," (2) how individuals adapt to acute life events and chronic stresses that threaten the maintenance of health, effective functioning, and productive activity, and (3) sociocultural variations in the nature, meaning, determinants, and consequences of productive activity and relationships. Among the topics covered are interpersonal relationships (spouse/partner, children, parents, friends), sources and levels of satisfaction, social interactions and leisure activities, traumatic life events (physical assault, serious illness, divorce, death of a loved one, financial or legal problems), perceptions of retirement, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight, rest), and utilization of health care services (doctor visits, hospitalization, nursing home institutionalization, bed days). Also included are measures of physical health, psychological well-being, and indices referring to cognitive functioning.
Demographic information provided for individuals includes household composition, number of children and grandchildren, employment status, occupation and work history, income, family financial situation, religious beliefs and practices, ethnicity, race, education, sex, and region of residence.
ArtsEdSearch (ICPSR 36959)
ArtsEdSearch is an online clearinghouse that collects and summarizes high quality research studies on the impacts of arts education and analyzes their implications for educational policy and practice.
ArtsEdSearch is a project of the Arts Education Partnership (AEP), and builds on Critical Links: Learning in the Arts and Student Academic and Social Development, a compendium of research that AEP published in 2002 exploring the impact of arts education on student success in school, life, and work. AEP has developed ArtsEdSearch as a resource for policymakers and education stakeholders and leaders to better understand and articulate the role that arts education can play in preparing students to succeed in the changing contexts of the 21st Century.
ArtsEdSearch currently includes summaries of over 200 research studies, syntheses of the major findings of these studies, and implications of the collected research for educational policy.
ArtsEdSearch focuses on research examining how education in the arts--in both discrete arts classes and integrated arts lessons--affects students' cognitive, personal, social and civic development, as well as how the integration of the arts into the school curriculum affects educators' instructional practice and engagement in the teaching profession.
ArtsEdSearch does not include research studies about how to teach the arts well or about how to assess student content knowledge and technical skill in the arts. These topics are of great importance to ensuring that students receive a high quality arts education and are the subject of other clearinghouses devoted to research on teaching and learning within particular arts disciplines.
Carolina Abecedarian Project (ABC) and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE), Age 21 Follow Up Study, 1993 - 2003 (ICPSR 32262)
The Carolina Abecedarian (ABC) Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE) projects consist of two consecutive longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of early childhood educational intervention for children at high risk for developmental delays and school failure. Combined, the two studies test the hypothesis that child care, home visit, and home school resource interventions can enhance cognitive and academic outcomes for children at risk for school failure due to factors such as poverty, low maternal IQ, or low parental education. These studies provide the only experimental data regarding the efficacy of child care interventions that began during early infancy and lasted until the child entered kindergarten. In addition, the data allow for tests of the efficacy of intervention during the primary grades.
Research hypotheses include:
- Within this high-risk sample, early cumulative risk will be negatively associated with young adult educational outcomes, employment outcomes, avoidance of teen parenthood, and avoidance of criminal behavior.
- Early intervention will moderate the effects of risk such that the effects of increased risk would be weaker for those who received the intervention than for those who did not.
- The early home environment would mediate any found effects for early risk and that early educational intervention would moderate the effects of the early home environment such that the effects of a poor-quality home environment would be weaker for those who received treatment compared to those who did not.
Further information can be found on the Carolina Abecedarian Project Web site.
Carolina Abecedarian Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE), United States, 1972-1992 (ICPSR 4091)
The Carolina Abecedarian (ABC) Project and the Carolina Approach to Responsive Education (CARE) projects consist of two consecutive longitudinal studies on the effectiveness of early childhood educational intervention for children at high risk for developmental delays and school failure. Combined, the two studies test the hypothesis that child care, home visit, and home school resource interventions can enhance cognitive and academic outcomes for children at risk for school failure due to factors such as poverty, low maternal IQ, or low parental education. These studies provide the only experimental data regarding the efficacy of child care interventions that began during early infancy and lasted until the child entered kindergarten. In addition, the data allow for tests of the efficacy of intervention during the primary grades.
Research hypotheses include:
- Within this high-risk sample, early cumulative risk will be negatively associated with young adult educational outcomes, employment outcomes, avoidance of teen parenthood, and avoidance of criminal behavior.
- Early intervention will moderate the effects of risk such that the effects of increased risk would be weaker for those who received the intervention than for those who did not.
- The early home environment would mediate any found effects for early risk and that early educational intervention would moderate the effects of the early home environment such that the effects of a poor-quality home environment would be weaker for those who received treatment compared to those who did not.
Demographic variables included in this collection: gender, age, level of education.
Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR): Etiological and Prospective Family Study in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Baseline and Follow-Up Data, 1990-2014 (ICPSR 33444)
China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) (ICPSR 36524)
These data are not available through ICPSR. To apply for access to the data please visit the China Family Panel Studies Web site.
The China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) is a nationally representative, annual longitudinal general social survey project designed to document changes in Chinese society, economy, population, education, and health. The CFPS was launched in 2010 by the the Institute of Social Science Survey (ISSS) of Peking University, China. The data were collected at the individual, family, and community levels and are targeted for use in academic research and public policy analysis. All members over age 9 in a sampled household are interviewed. These individuals constitute core members of the CFPS and follow-up of all core members of the CFPS is designed to take place on a yearly basis. CFPS focuses on the economic and non-economic well-being of the Chinese people, and covers topics such as economic activities, educational attainment, family relationships and dynamics, migration, and physical and mental health.
Cognition and Aging in the USA (CogUSA) 2007-2009 (ICPSR 36053)
Cognitive Effects of Music and Dance Training in Children (ICPSR 37080)
Musical training is popularly believed to improve children's cognitive ability. Early research evidence, mostly correlational, suggests that musicians outperform non-musicians on many cognitive abilities. However, recent experimental evidence has failed to replicate most benefits, leaving it unclear whether previously demonstrated effects were a direct result of learning music. While a few studies have shown some change with as little as a few weeks of training, the larger training literature shows that transfer of skills between unrelated areas is extremely rare, especially in properly controlled studies.
This study used an experimental design to assess the cause (whether music uniquely produces change) and the effect (which cognitive abilities are impacted) of the link between music and cognition. Six- to nine-year-old children (n=75) with no prior training were randomly assigned to three weeks of music or dance training. Cognitive performance before and after training was compared between trained groups, since both training forms share features of training, plus with a non-trained control group to isolate training-induced change from normal maturation. No changes were found on any measured ability (inhibitory control, working memory, task switching, processing speed, receptive vocabulary, and non-verbal intelligence).
Findings confirm evidence from the general training literature that training-induced improvements on cognitive performance are unlikely. Short-term training effects have a much narrower scope than previous evidence suggests.
Color-sharing Bonus Project 1, Groningen/Idaho, 2013 (ICPSR 35640)
Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP), 1990-1996 (ICPSR 4711)
The Comprehensive Child Development Program (CCDP) was implemented as a result of the Comprehensive Child Development Act (Public Law [PL] 100-297), originally enacted by Congress in 1988 in an effort to increase the educational potential of young children from low-income families and to decrease the likelihood that they would be caught in the cycle of poverty. The CCDP was designed to provide intensive, comprehensive, integrated, and continuous support services for children from low-income families from birth, or before, through their entrance into elementary school, to enhance their intellectual, social, emotional, and physical development. Additionally, the CCDP was designed to offer support services for parents and other household family members to enhance their life management skills and economic self-sufficiency. The Comprehensive Child Development Act also mandated that programs collect data on the individuals and geographic areas served, including the types of services provided, the estimated costs of providing comprehensive services, the types and nature of conditions and needs identified and met, and other information that may be required.
Thus, there are two components of the CCDP data collection: the Evaluation of the Comprehensive Child Development Program and the Comprehensive Child Development Program Management Information System (MIS). The families in the MIS included all CCDP families in the CCDP evaluation and all families who replaced CCDP families that dropped out of the study any time during the demonstration. More than 4,000 families participated in the CCDP study. Those that were selected were randomly assigned to either an experimental or control group.
Evaluation Data
The CCDP evaluation data are taken from parental self-report and child assessments and consist of 25 data files that can be grouped into several broad categories. Some of the data files are longitudinal in nature, that is, there are multiple observations (e.g., interviews and tests) for each family or child. Other files, however, are at the family or child level, and they contain data describing outcomes at the end of the study. The categories covered in the CCDP evaluation data files include:
- Baseline Data -- contain information from recruitment and enrollment forms on background and demographic characteristics, information on focus child birth outcomes, and the mother's behavior during the prenatal period.
- Parent/Family Data -- contain information about household composition and stability, economic self-sufficiency, maternal physical and psychological health, parenting, coping and life skills, early childhood services, health care services, and case management.
- Child Status Data -- are comprised of information related to child health status. This includes topics such as hospitalization, health problems, special health needs, learning problems, and health maintenance.
- Assessments of Child Social-Emotional Development -- contain information about adaptive and presocial behaviors for two, three, and four-year-olds, the prevalence of behavioral and emotional problems for such children, and adaptive social behavior for the five-year-olds.
- Assessments of Child Cognitive Development -- information on children's cognitive development at age two, and children's receptive vocabulary cognitive development (mental processing and achievement) at age three, four, and five.
- Parenting Measures -- are comprised of information about parenting attitudes and beliefs, the home environment for 18-, 36-, and 48-months-old children, parent-child interactions, birth-level data on risk behaviors during pregnancy, and birth outcomes for children.
- Economic Self-Sufficiency Measures -- provide information about employment, income, dependence on public assistance, and steps to employment.
Management Information System Data
For research and monitoring purposes, the CCDP mandated that all contacts and services must be recorded and entered into the management information system (MIS). The MIS was designed to monitor the nature and number of services received by families participating in each of the CCDP projects. The MIS contains both qualitative and quantitative data for CCDP families at all of the 24 project sites. MIS data is composed of 23 data collection forms spanning 4 broad categories: (1) CCDP grantee administration, (2) CCDP program descriptions, (3) CCDP family characteristics and service plans, and (4) CCDP services utilization. MIS data include information about CCDP family goals, service utilization, and program and staff characteristics.
The CCDP MIS was the primary source of the quantitative data used in the CCDP evaluation. Supplemental MIS verification data was a secondary source of qualitative information. The CCDP also collected qualitative data in the form of ethnographer reports that provide information about program characteristics, operations, implementation, service delivery, program attrition, diversity among families, and family satisfaction. Sixteen ethnographer reports were produced for each of the 24 project sites.
Danish 1905 Cohort Study, 1998 (ICPSR 3960)
ECIN Replication Package for "High-Stakes Examinations and Educational Inequality: Evidence from Transitory Exposure to Air Pollution" (ICPSR 183261)
Education Longitudinal Study (ELS), 2002: Base Year (ICPSR 4275)
English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) (ICPSR 139)
The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing is a study of aging and quality of life for people over the age of 50. Established in 2002, the original sample was drawn from households that had previously responded to the Health Survey for England (HSE) between 1998 and 2001. The same group of respondents are surveyed every two years to see how their health, economic, and social circumstances may change over time. One of the study's aims is to determine the relationships between functioning and health, social networks, resources, and economic position as people plan for, move into, and progress beyond retirement. It is patterned after the Health and Retirement Study, a similar study based in the United States.
Although new topics can be introduced at different waves, every module has been reviewed to ensure that it will provide data that can measure change over time. This is achieved by repeating some measures exactly, by asking directly about change, and by adopting questions to allow people to update or amend past responses.
The information collected provides data about: Household and individual demographics; Health - physical and psychosocial; Social care (from Wave 6); Work and pensions; Income and assets; Housing; Cognitive function; Social participation; Effort and Reward (voluntary work and caring); Expectations; Walking speed; Weight.
Examining the Effects of the TASER on Cognitive Functioning, Arizona, 2012-2013 (ICPSR 36150)
These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
These data were collected as part of an effort to investigate the effects of the TASER on cognitive functioning. To explore this issue, the authors carried out a pilot study with 21 police recruits who received a TASER exposure as part of their training at the San Bernardino County (CA) Training Center. Following the pilot study, the researchers conducted a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) where healthy human volunteers were randomly assigned to four groups, two of which received a TASER exposure. Participants completed a battery of cognitive tests before and after receiving their assigned treatment.
Florida Elder Abuse Survey in Seven Sites, 2007-2008 [United States] (ICPSR 25941)
Follow-up 1974 Survey of a Representative Sample of Men Employed in Civilian Occupations in the United States in 1964, and Initial Survey of Their Wives (ICPSR 22412)
Forensic Markers of Physical Elder Abuse, Los Angeles, California, 2014-2017 (ICPSR 37050)
These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
This study sought to: (1) document the spectrum of injuries and injury characteristics observed among physically-abused older adults reported to Adult Protective Services (APS) and compare those findings to injuries found among non-abused older adults, (2) identify observable injury characteristics and abuse circumstances that healthcare providers, law enforcement and prosecutors consider to be key forensic markers of physical abuse, (3) document information and evidence integral for achieving successful criminal prosecution, and (4) describe approaches that community-based frontline workers can employ to better document evidence of physical abuse.
The data included in this collection were collected under a National Institute of Justice-funded project that sought to document the spectrum and characteristics of injuries observed among physically abused, community-dwelling APS clients.
The collection includes two SAS datasets: injury.sas7bdat (with 47 variables and 403 cases) and subjectleveldata.sas7bdat (with 122 variables and 165 cases); and three SAS System Program Files: analysis-code-v1.sas, cleaned-injury-datasets-v1.sas, and formats.sas. Demographic variables in the collection are in the subjectleveldata.sas7bdat dataset, and include age, year of birth, gender, race, language, and level of education.
The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS), Public Use, United States, 1998-2024 (ICPSR 31622)
The Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS, formerly known as the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study) follows a cohort of nearly 5,000 children born in large, U.S. cities between 1998 and 2000. The study oversampled births to unmarried couples; and, when weighted, the data are representative of births in large U.S. cities at the turn of the century. The FFCWS was originally designed to address four questions of great interest to researchers and policy makers:
- What are the conditions and capabilities of unmarried parents, especially fathers?
- What is the nature of the relationships between unmarried parents?
- How do children born into these families fare?
- How do policies and environmental conditions affect families and children?
The FFCWS consists of interviews with mothers, fathers, and/or primary caregivers at birth and again when children are ages 1, 3, 5, 9, 15, and 22. The parent interviews collected information on attitudes, relationships, parenting behavior, demographic characteristics, health (mental and physical), economic and employment status, neighborhood characteristics, and program participation. Beginning at age 9, children were interviewed directly (either during the home visit or on the telephone). The direct child interviews collected data on family relationships, home routines, schools, peers, and physical and mental health, as well as health behaviors.
A collaborative study of the FFCWS, the In-Home Longitudinal Study of Pre-School Aged Children (In-Home Study) collected data from a subset of the FFCWS Core respondents at the Year 3 and 5 follow-ups to ask how parental resources in the form of parental presence or absence, time, and money influence children under the age of 5. The In-Home Study collected information on a variety of domains of the child's environment, including: the physical environment (quality of housing, nutrition and food security, health care, adequacy of clothing and supervision) and parenting (parental discipline, parental attachment, and cognitive stimulation). In addition, the In-Home Study also collected information on several important child outcomes, including anthropometrics, child behaviors, and cognitive ability. This information was collected through interviews with the child's primary caregiver, and direct observation of the child's home environment and the child's interactions with his or her caregiver.
Similar activities were conducted during the Year 9 follow-up. At the Year 15 follow-up, a condensed set of home visit activities were conducted with a subsample of approximately 1,000 teens. Teens who participated in the In-Home Study were also invited to participate in a Sleep Study and were asked to wear an accelerometer on their non-dominant wrist for seven consecutive days to track their sleep (Sleep Actigraphy Data) and that day's behaviors and mood (Daily Sleep Actigraphy and Diary Survey Data).
An additional collaborative study collected data from the child care provider (Year 3) and teacher (Years 9 and 15) through mail-based surveys. Saliva samples were collected at Year 9 and 15 (Biomarker file and Polygenic Scores). The Study of Adolescent Neural Development (SAND) COVID Study began data collection in May 2020 following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It included online surveys with the young adult and their primary caregiver.
The FFCWS began its seventh wave of data collection in October 2020, around the focal child's 22nd birthday. Data collection and interviews continued through January 2024. The Year 22 wave included a young adult (YA) survey with the original focal child and a primary caregiver (PCG) survey. Data were also collected on the children of the original focal child (referred to as Generation 3, or G3).
In 2017, the FFCWS team announced the Fragile Families (FF) Challenge, a collaborative effort in which participants were tasked with using machine learning methods and FFCWS data (Baseline to Year 9) to build a model that would predict six key outcomes at Year 15. Materials used in the FF Challenge have been archived in this collection.
Documentation for these files is available on the FFCWS website under Data and Documentation. For details of updates made to the FFCWS data files, please see the project's Data Alerts page.
Data collection for the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) of the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01HD36916, R01HD39135, and R01HD40421, as well as a consortium of private foundations.
Below is the citation for use of the FFCWS data accessed through ICPSR. For information on additional citation requirements when using FFCWS in publications, please refer to this FAQ on the FFCWS project site.
Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), 2002-2006 [United States] (ICPSR 29462)
Since its beginning in 1965 as a part of the War on Poverty, Head Start's goal has been to boost the school readiness of low income children. Based on a "whole child" model, the program provides comprehensive services that include preschool education; medical, dental, and mental health care; nutrition services; and efforts to help parents foster their child's development. Head Start services are designed to be responsive to each child's and family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage.
In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, Congress mandated that the United States Department of Health and Human Services determine, on a national level, the impact of Head Start on the children it serves. This legislative mandate required that the impact study address two main research questions:
- What difference does Head Start make to key outcomes of development and learning (and in particular, the multiple domains of school readiness) for low-income children? What difference does Head Start make to parental practices that contribute to children's school readiness?
- Under what circumstances does Head Start achieve the greatest impact? What works for which children? What Head Start services are most related to impact?
The Head Start Impact Study addresses these questions by reporting on the impacts of Head Start on children and families during the children's preschool, kindergarten, and first grade years. It was conducted with a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 three- and four-year old preschool children across 84 nationally representative grantee/delegate agencies in communities where there are more eligible children and families than can be served by the program. The children participating were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (which had access to Head Start services) or a comparison group (which did not have access to Head Start services, but could receive other community resources). Data collection began in the fall of 2002 and ended in spring 2006, following children through the spring of their first grade year. Baseline data were collected through parent interviews and child assessments in fall 2002. The annual spring data collection included child assessments, parent interviews, teacher surveys, and teacher-child ratings. In addition, during the preschool years only, data collection included classroom and family day care observations, center director interviews, care provider interviews, and care provider-child ratings.
The study examined differences in outcomes in several domains related to school readiness: children's cognitive, social-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes (e.g., reading to the child, use of spanking and time out, exposing children to cultural enrichment activities, safety practices, parent-child relationships). It also examined whether impacts differed based on characteristics of the children and their families, including the child's pre-academic skills at the beginning of the study; the child's primary language; whether the child has special needs; the mother's race/ethnicity; the primary caregiver's level of depressive symptoms; household risk; and urban or rural location.
The Head Start Impact Study differs from other evaluations of early childhood programs in that it:
- represents children from the majority of Head Start programs,
- represents a scaled-up federal program,
- represents the full range of quality within the national program,
- employs a randomized control design, the strongest design for testing impacts,
- examines all domains of children's school readiness, as well as parenting outcomes,
- follows children through their early years of elementary school, and
- compares children who have access to Head Start to a control group that includes many children in center-based and other forms of early childhood education programs.
Head Start Impact Study (HSIS), 2002-2008 with Center Analysis File [United States] (ICPSR 36968)
Since its beginning in 1965 as a part of the War on Poverty, Head Start's goal has been to boost the school readiness of low income children. Based on a "whole child" model, the program provides comprehensive services that include preschool education; medical, dental, and mental health care; nutrition services; and efforts to help parents foster their child's development. Head Start services are designed to be responsive to each child's and family's ethnic, cultural, and linguistic heritage.
In the 1998 reauthorization of Head Start, Congress mandated that the United States Department of Health and Human Services determine, on a national level, the impact of Head Start on the children it serves. This legislative mandate required that the impact study address two main research questions:
- What difference does Head Start make to key outcomes of development and learning (and in particular, the multiple domains of school readiness) for low-income children? What difference does Head Start make to parental practices that contribute to children's school readiness?
- Under what circumstances does Head Start achieve the greatest impact? What works for which children? What Head Start services are most related to impact?
The Head Start Impact Study addresses these questions by reporting on the impacts of Head Start on children and families during the children's preschool, kindergarten, and first grade years. It was conducted with a nationally representative sample of nearly 5,000 three- and four-year old preschool children across 84 nationally representative grantee/delegate agencies in communities where there are more eligible children and families than can be served by the program. The children participating were randomly assigned to either a treatment group (which had access to Head Start services) or a comparison group (which did not have access to Head Start services, but could receive other community resources). Data collection began in the fall of 2002 and ended in spring 2006, following children through the spring of their first grade year. Baseline data were collected through parent interviews and child assessments in fall 2002. The annual spring data collection included child assessments, parent interviews, teacher surveys, and teacher-child ratings. In addition, during the preschool years only, data collection included classroom and family day care observations, center director interviews, care provider interviews, and care provider-child ratings.
The study examined differences in outcomes in several domains related to school readiness: children's cognitive, social-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes (e.g., reading to the child, use of spanking and time out, exposing children to cultural enrichment activities, safety practices, parent-child relationships). It also examined whether impacts differed based on characteristics of the children and their families, including the child's pre-academic skills at the beginning of the study; the child's primary language; whether the child has special needs; the mother's race/ethnicity; the primary caregiver's level of depressive symptoms; household risk; and urban or rural location.
The Head Start Impact Study differs from other evaluations of early childhood programs in that it:
- represents children from the majority of Head Start programs,
- represents a scaled-up federal program,
- represents the full range of quality within the national program,
- employs a randomized control design, the strongest design for testing impacts,
- examines all domains of children's school readiness, as well as parenting outcomes,
- follows children through their early years of elementary school, and
- compares children who have access to Head Start to a control group that includes many children in center-based and other forms of early childhood education programs.
The Third Grade Follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study builds upon the existing randomized control design in the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) in order to determine the longer-term impact of the Head Start program on the well-being of children and families through the end of third grade. The data collection for the Third Grade Follow-up to the Head Start Impact Study was conducted during the spring of the children's third grade year (2007 and 2008). In addition to the child assessments, parent interviews, teacher surveys, and teacher-child-ratings used for the Head Start Impact Study (HSIS) data collection, a principal survey was added to collect school data, including school demographics, and characteristics and quality indicators for schools, teachers and classrooms. As part of the third grade child assessment, self-reported data also was collected on the child's perception of his/her academic and social skills.
Both studies, for different grade levels, examined differences in outcomes in several domains related to school readiness: children's cognitive, social-emotional, health, and parenting outcomes (e.g., use of spanking, exposing children to cultural enrichment activities, and parenting styles). It also examined whether impacts differed based on characteristics of the children and their families, including the child's pre-academic skills at the beginning of the study; the child's primary language; whether the child has special needs; the mother's race/ethnicity; the primary caregiver's level of depressive symptoms; household risk; and urban or rural location.
This collection also includes the Center Analysis file, which contains data from a variety of publicly available data sources and provides information about the HSIS centers' communities, including population and household characteristics, crime statistics, labor, and housing data. The Center Analysis file is a new file for the collection to be accessed only through the VDE.
Housing and Children's Healthy Development Study (HCHD) Wave 1, Cleveland, Ohio, and Dallas, Texas Metropolitan Areas, 2017-2018 (ICPSR 39274)
The Housing and Children's Healthy Development (HCHD) Study included four main aims:
- to learn how parents make choices about where to live while negotiating tradeoffs between dwelling unit quality, neighborhood quality, and school quality;
- to assess how features of the child's social contexts--home, neighborhood, and school--combine to influence key cognitive, socio-emotional, and health outcomes among parents and their children;
- to examine how the quality of housing affects parenting practices and outcomes for children and their caregivers; and
- to enhance the study of child development through theoretical and methodological advances in the study of housing and the other social contexts related to housing.
For this collection, the study team conducted Wave 1 data collection with families in Cleveland, Ohio (Cuyahoga County) and Dallas, Texas, United States, using a randomized controlled trial design. One-half of the sample was an experimental sample consisting of applicants for a federal housing voucher, including both voucher winners (treatment group) and voucher losers (control group). The other half of the sample was generated through a random selection and screening process in census blocks that varied by household income weighted toward lower-income blocks.
Interviews were conducted with primary caregivers, lasting about 90 minutes, and included the collection of anthropometric measures from primary caregivers and children and administration of Woodcock-Johnson tests to children. Primary caregiver voucher sample participants were asked for three blood pressure measurements, and blood spots were collected from voucher sample primary caregivers and children. The data collection also includes laser tape measurement of all rooms in a household, 8 block face neighborhood observations, and post-interview observations. Four-day leave-behind child time diary data were collected but are not available.
Housing and Children's Healthy Development Study (HCHD) Wave 2, Cleveland, Ohio, and Dallas, Texas Metropolitan Areas, 2020-2021 (ICPSR 39275)
The Housing and Children's Healthy Development (HCHD) Study included four main aims:
- to learn how parents make choices about where to live while negotiating tradeoffs between dwelling unit quality, neighborhood quality, and school quality;
- to assess how features of the child's social contexts--home, neighborhood, and school--combine to influence key cognitive, socio-emotional, and health outcomes among parents and their children;
- to examine how the quality of housing affects parenting practices and outcomes for children and their caregivers; and
- to enhance the study of child development through theoretical and methodological advances in the study of housing and the other social contexts related to housing.
This collection includes data from Wave 2 of the HCHD Study. In Wave 2, telephone interviews were completed with 1,413 primary caregivers (PCGs) from the Wave 1 data collection. The PCGs also provided reports for 1,954 focal children who were still living in the household of the caregiver at the time of the Wave 2 survey. Wave 2 data collection included a coverscreen to gather updated location and contact information for the PCGs and children to determine household eligibility, and a PCG questionnaire based largely on the Wave 1 protocol with modifications for telephone interviewing.
Infant Health and Development Program, Phase IV, 2001-2004 [United States] (ICPSR 23580)
The Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP) was a multisite, randomized, controlled trial of an educational intervention until three years of age for low birth weight preterm infants born in 1984-1985. There were three components to the intervention: (1) an educational program delivered through home visits (weekly during the first year and every other week during the second and third years of life), (2) a daily center-based program beginning at 12 months corrected for duration of gestation, and (3) parent support groups coinciding with the start of the center-based program. Previously, the subjects were assessed at baseline up to age 3 (Phase I), age 5 (Phase II), and age 8 (Phase III). Phase IV assessed them at age 18.
This data collection contains selected variables from all four phases that were used in analyses reported in two articles by the principal investigators and others:
- McCormick, Marie C., Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Stephen L. Buka, Julie Goldman, Jennifer Yu, Mikhail Salganik, David T. Scott, Forrest C. Bennett, Libby L. Kay, Judy C. Bernbaum, Charles R. Bauer, Camilia Martin, Elizabeth R. Woods, Anne Martin, and Patrick H. Casey. "Early Intervention in Low Birth Weight Premature Infants: Results at 18 Years of Age for the Infant Health and Development Program." Pediatrics 117.3 (2006): 771-780.
- Martin, Anne, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, Pamela Klebanov, Stephen L. Buka, and Marie C. McCormick. "Long-term maternal effects of early childhood intervention: Findings from the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP)." Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology 29 (2008): 101-117.
As such, the collection comprises only some of the variables that were collected for Phase IV and the other phases.
The collection contains information about the children and their mothers/caregivers. Data on the children include treatment group, sex, birth weight group, and an index of neonatal health, plus indices of receptive vocabulary, intelligence, and adult-child activities at age 5, indices of intelligence, receptive vocabulary, reading ability, math ability, and behavioural problems and competencies at ages 8 and 18, and indices of risk behaviors, physical health, future expectations, and engagement towards school at age 18. Information about the mothers/caregivers includes maternal age and mother's race, as well as educational achievement at baseline and ages 5, 8, and 18; smoking at ages 5 and 18; measures of employment, physical health, and mental health at ages 5, 8, and 18; indices of parenting style, educational aspirations for the child, and yelling frequency at the child at ages 8 and 18; and indices of connectedness to the community and involvement with the child's school at age 18. Other variables include measures of home literacy and the presence of televisions in the household at age 5, and indices of family cohesion and conflict at ages 8 and 18.
The Iowa Adoption Studies, 1975-2008 (ICPSR 34369)
The Iowa Adoption Studies were conducted between 1975 and 2008. The group of studies consist of 5 independent waves of data collection each of which examined genetic (biological) and environmental influences on psychopathology. The adoption paradigm allowed separation of genetic and environmental influences on behavior, as well as joint influences due to gene x environment interaction. Adoptees were interviewed about lifetime psychopathology including substance abuse and dependence, antisocial personality, and mood disorders. A follow-up study was conducted from 2000-2004 that recruited all previous participants and natural offspring of the adoptive parents when available. Standardized psychiatric assessments were administered along with measures of personality disorders and traits, retrospective reports on childhood experiences with adoptive parents, and current symptomatology. An extensive neurocognitive assessment was conducted on a subset of participants who had standardized school achievement scores. The goal of this last wave of assessment was to evaluate the influence of substance use on mid-life cognition and health.
The respondents were assessed using a number of different surveys over the study period. The following describes the notable variables as well as descriptions of the surveys included in the dataset.
The first variables in the dataset identify sibling pairs and provides data on whether the respondents' biological parents suffered from mental health or substance abuse issues. Next birth records are provided that give basic information about the health of the person when he or she was born. This information is followed by the survey results of "The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality" (SNAP) as well as variables that reflect the diagnosis of personality disorders and nonadaptive personality traits based on the SNAP survey responses.
The next section includes responses from "The Iowa Personality Disorder Screen," a quick personality disorder screen developed in 1999 intended for use in clinical and research settings.
Next, responses to Pearson Assessments "Brief symptoms inventory" are included as well as the scores calculated based on these survey responses. The results of this survey assess the mental state of the patient including scales on Somatization, Obsessive-Compulsive, Interpersonal Sensitivity, Depression, Anxiety, Hostility, Phobic Anxiety, Paranoid Ideation and Psychoticism.
The respondents also completed the "Buss-Durkee Hostility Questionnaire" and were assessed on measure regarding the following hostility traits: negativism, resentment, indirect hostility, assault, suspicion, irritability and verbal hostility.
Reponses to the "The Social Provisions Scale" survey are also included. The purpose of this survey is to assess the relationship the respondents have to other people. The 6 social provisions assessed include: guidance, reliable alliance, reassurance of worth, attachment, social integration, and opportunity for nurturance.
"The Parental Bonding Instrument" instrument was utilized to assess the respondents' relationships to their mothers and fathers.
A series of cognitive tests were administered to respondents. ICPSR is unable to provide the survey instruments used in the cognitive test due to copy write issues. These tests include:
Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT)
North American Adult Reading Test (NAART)
Rey Figure and Rey Complex Figure Test and Recognition Trial (RCFT)
Shipley Institute of Living Scale (SILS)
Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT)
Tower of Hanoi (TofH)
Comprehensive Trailmaking Test (CTMT)
Weschler Adult Intelligence Test (WAIS)
Weschler Memory Test (WMS)
The dataset also includes respondents' results of the Comprehensive Performance Test (CPT) and the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT)
Scores from the "Iowa Test of Basic Skills," a test of academic achievement that evaluates students knowledge in subjects including, mathematics, reading comprehension, and science, are included in the dataset. Respondents are evaluated in grades 4, 8 and 11.
The final section of the dataset includes two waves of the "Semi Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism," a survey intended to assess the physical, psychological, and social manifestations of alcohol abuse. These survey responses make up the bulk of the dataset and include variables on a variety of topics including: demographics, medical history, substance use, eating disorders, depression, dysthymia, mania, ASP, suicide, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, OCD, social phobia, agoraphobia, panic disorder, home environment, gambling, and ADHD. Substances use investigated includes alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, sedatives, stimulants, cocaine, opiates, solvents, hallucinogens, and other drugs.
This dataset includes 934 cases and 9,370 variables.
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA), Wave 2, 2012-2013 (ICPSR 37105)
This catalog record includes detailed variable-level descriptions, enabling data discovery and comparison. The TILDA Series data, including studies 34315, 38681, 37105, 37106, 38670, 38674, are currently unavailable at the request of the data producer due to concerns related to EU and Irish data privacy and data sharing rules. We are working to determine the best solution to continue to share these data with the research community. Individuals interested in obtaining TILDA data access at this time should reach out to the TILDA project directly (https://tilda.tcd.ie/data/accessing-data/).
The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) is a major inter-institutional initiative led by Trinity College Dublin which aims to produce a massive improvement in the quantity and quality of data, research and information relating to older people and ageing in Ireland. Eligible respondents for this study include individuals aged 50 and over and their spouses or partners of any age. The study involves interviews on a two yearly basis with a sample cohort of 8,504 people aged 50 and over (or their spouses/partners) and resident in Ireland, collecting detailed information on all aspects of their lives, including the economic (pensions, employment, living standards), health (physical, mental, service needs and usage) and social aspects (contact with friends and kin, formal and informal care, social participation). Both survey interviews and physical and biological measurements are utilized.
The second wave of TILDA interviews were undertaken between February 2012 and March 2013. Of the 8,504 interviewed in Wave 1, a second interview was obtained for 7,445 respondents. These consisted of the self, proxy and end-of-life interviews types. In addition to the returning respondents, 170 interviews were obtained from eligible household members who had chosen not to take part in Wave 1 or the new spouses/partners of existing respondents.
Demographic and background variables include age, sex, marital status, household composition, education, and employment.
Long Beach Longitudinal Study (ICPSR 26561)
The Long Beach Longitudinal Study (LBLS) was created in 1978 to obtain normative data for the Schaie-Thurston Adult Mental Abilities Test (STAMAT). From 1994 to 2003 it was extended under the guiding principle that cognitive aging is a largely contextual phenomenon. Individual differences in abilities and change in those abilities over adulthood are associated not only with cognitive mechanisms, but with sociodemographic phenomena such as birth cohort, or gender, and within-individual characteristics, including health, affect, self-efficacy, personality, and other variables that impact health. This principle is reflected in the testing measures added to the original panel. Besides the original ability measures used by Schaie, the Life Complexity Inventory, has been included in all testing. Because these measures were included in the later generations of testing, independent and direct comparisons can be made with Seattle Longitudinal Study (ICPSR 00158) to replicate findings and to generalize longitudinal samples.
Panel 1
The initial panel was sampled in 1978 and consisted of 65 adults aged 28-33 and 518 adults aged 55-84. This sample was tested using the STAMAT, as well as a 20-item list of common English nouns for testing free recall, and a brief essay to test text recall. In 1981, 264 participants from this sample were retested, 106 were again retested from 1994-1995, and 42 in 1997. Finally, 15 participants of the original sample were tested from 2000-2002 using additional tests adopted for the creation of a second panel, described below, as well as a test for measuring executive function.
Panel 2
In 1994, a second panel of 630 participants aged 30-97, a third of which were over 80, was added to the study. The testing for this sample included multiple indices of list recall, text recall, working memory, perceptual speed, and vocabulary for structural equation modeling. Assessment of language, autobiographical memory, personality, depression, health, health behaviors and other measures were also incorporated into the study. In 1997, 352 members of this second panel were retested. From 2000-2002, 179 participants of this second panel completed the 1994-1995 measures, as well as several tests extending the battery to indices of executive function. In 2003, 133 participants were retested.
Panel 3
A third sample was recruited during the 2000-2002 time frame consisting of 911 participants aged 30-98, again approximately a third of which were over the age of 80. In 2003, 513 members of this third panel were retested.
Datasets
The data are provided in 6 datasets.
Panel 1 and 2 1978 - 2003 Longitudinal File
Dataset 1 is a longitudinal file of data from Panel 1 for tests performed in 1978, 1981, 1994, 1997, and 2000-2002, and data from Panel 2 for tests performed in 1994, 1997, 2000-2002 and 2003.
Panels 1 and 2 1994 STAMAT File
Dataset 2 contains the STAMAT test variables for Panels 1 and 2.
Panel 1 and 2 1994-2000 Master Data Longitudinal File
Dataset 3 is a second longitudinal file containing the complete catalog of variables from Panels 1 and 2 for test performed in 1994, 1997 and 2000.
Panel 2 Wave 1 1994 Cross File
Dataset 4 contains variables for the first wave of Panel 2 which took place in 1994.
Panel 2 Wave 2 1997 Cross File
Dataset 5 contains variables for the second wave of Panel 2 which took place in 1997.
Panel 3 Wave 1 2000 Master File
Dataset 6 contains variables from the first wave of Panel 3 which took place in 2000.
Longitudinal Study of Aging Danish Twins, 1995 (ICPSR 21041)
The Longitudinal Study of Older People in Anhui Province, China, 2001-2003 (ICPSR 36388)
The Longitudinal Study of Older People in Anhui Province, China, 2001-2003 examined the physical and psychological well-being of older adults (aged 60 and above) living in rural Anhui Province, China. The original purpose of the study was to study the impact of rural-to-urban migration on the physical and psychological well-being of older adults left behind in rural villages by their adult children.
This collection contains two parts; Part 1: 2001 Survey and Part 2: 2003 Follow-up Survey. Similar Questions were asked in the two surveys to assess intergenerational transfers and relations of the respondents, including social support, caregiving, emotional cohesion, remittances, grandchild care, and filial piety. Respondents were also asked about their health status (physical, emotional, and cognitive). Demographic information includes age, sex, marriage status, and education.
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Cognitive Project, 2004-2006 (ICPSR 25281)
In 1994/1995, the MacArthur Midlife Research Network carried out a national survey of over 7,000 Americans aged 25 to 74. The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors in understanding age-related differences in physical and mental health. A description of the study and findings from it are available at the MIDUS website.
With support from the National Institute on Aging, a longitudinal follow-up of the original MIDUS samples (core sample (N = 3,487), metropolitan over-samples (N = 757), twins (N = 957 pairs), and siblings (N = 950)) was conducted in 2004-2006. Guiding hypotheses, at the most general level, were that behavioral and psychosocial factors are consequential for health (physical and mental). The purpose of the Cognitive Project was to determine how cognition is related to overall mental and physical health. Specific goals were: (1) to characterize the nature and range of midlife cognitive performance, relative to those younger and older, across multiple domains in a nationally representative sample (MIDUS); and (2) to examine the relationship between biopsychosocial factors (e.g., SES, health status, health-promoting behaviors, metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers, depression, personality, control beliefs, stressful life events) and individual differences in cognitive functioning.
The development of a cognitive battery for the second wave of testing of the Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) study provided an opportunity to examine the cognitive performance of young, middle-aged and older adults from a wide range of education levels in a large-scale, national sample. As part of the Cognitive Project of the MIDUS II the Brief Test of Adult Cognition by Telephone (BTACT) (Lachman & Tun, 2008; Tun & Lachman, 2006) was administered. More information about the BTACT can be found at the Brandeis website. The BTACT represents the first comprehensive cognitive battery, including measures of speed and reaction time, to be administered by telephone to a national sample across the adult years and into later life. With a response rate of over 86 percent for the cognitive testing component of the MIDUS II, a cognitive data set of unprecedented range in terms of age, gender, socioeconomic status (SES), education, and geographic diversity was produced.
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 3): Cognitive Project, 2013-2017 (ICPSR 37095)
In 1995-1996, the MacArthur Midlife Research Network carried out a national survey of over 7,000 Americans aged 25 to 74 [ICPSR 2760]. The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors in understanding age-related differences in physical and mental health. The study was innovative for its broad scientific scope, its diverse samples (which included siblings of the main sample respondents and a national sample of twin pairs), and its creative use of in-depth assessments in key areas (e.g. daily diary of stressful experiences [ICPSR 3725] and cognitive functioning [ICPSR 3596]) on a subset of participants. A detailed description of the study and findings generated by it are available at: http://www.midus.wisc.edu.
With support from the National Institute on Aging, a follow-up of the original Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) sample was conducted in 2004 (MIDUS 2 [ICPSR 4652]). The daily stress and cognitive functioning projects were repeated and expanded at MIDUS 2; in addition the protocol was expanded to include biomarkers and neuroscience.
In 2013 a third wave (MIDUS 3) of survey data was collected on longitudinal participants. Data collection for this follow-up wave largely repeated baseline assessments (e.g., phone interview and extensive self-administered questionnaire), with additional questions in selected areas such as economic recession experiences. Cognitive functioning data were also collected at the same time, while data collection for the daily diary, biomarker, and neuroscience projects commenced in 2017.
Data in this collection are related to MIDUS 3 [ICPSR 36346]. Data collection for the MIDUS 3 largely repeated baseline assessments (e.g., phone interview and extensive self-administered questionnaire), with additional questions in selected areas (e.g., economic recession experiences, optimism and coping, stressful life events, and caregiving).
In 2013-2014, a second wave of cognitive assessments (Project 3) were carried out on individuals who had recently completed the MIDUS 3 phone survey (Project 1). This assessment, known as the Brief Test of Adult Cognition via Telephone (BTACT), was carried out approximately 9 years after the first wave of cognitive data collection was completed in 2004-2005. MIDUS 3 BTACT data were collected from 2,693 MIDUS 3 participants. Further, a second wave of cognitive assessments were also carried out on respondents to the MIDUS Milwaukee Wave 2 survey that was conducted in 2016-2017. BTACT data were collected from 330 Milwaukee respondents. Finally, BTACT data was collected in 2017 from another 268 respondents (called the Refielding sample) who did not complete this project during the M3 field period. This M3 BTACT dataset contains a total of 3,291 respondents. More details on the fielding of these cases can be found in the MIDUS field reports for the M3 survey [ICPSR 36346] and the Milwaukee 2 survey [ICPSR 37120].
The dataset includes 245 variables and 3,291 cases. Demographic variables in this collection include sex and age.
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 3): Neuroscience Project, 2017-2022 (ICPSR 38862)
From 2004-2009, an initial follow-up of the original Midlife Development in the United States samples (MIDUS 2) was conducted with expansion of the protocol to include Neuroscience Project data collection and a sample of Black Americans from Milwaukee, WI. The MIDUS Neuroscience Project performed a second follow-up from 2017-2022 of the MIDUS Main and Milwaukee samples (MIDUS 3) on a subsample of those who completed the MIDUS 3 Survey and Biomarker Projects.
The goal was to examine indices of brain aging, function, and structure with a focus on the brain circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style, and to characterize the peripheral consequences of these central profiles for biological systems that may be relevant to health. The primary aims were to: (1) characterize individual differences in emotional reactivity, recovery, and sustaining processes using corrugator and zygomatic electromyography and eyeblink startle magnitude, (2) characterize individual differences in brain morphology and connectivity using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) (3) characterize individual differences in functional activity within the neural circuitry of emotion using task and resting state fMRI, (4) calculate brain age, and (5) test the ability of these indices to predict the comprehensive array of health, wellbeing, cognitive, psychological, social, and life challenge factors assessed in other MIDUS projects. To probe individual differences in emotional processes, psychophysiological and fMRI measures of emotional responses to the presentation of negative, positive, and neutral pictures, and these same measures during a post-picture period were examined.
Emotion-influenced memory was assessed at both the psychophysiological and imaging sessions: (1) Free recall of the presented affective pictures at the end of the psychophysiological session. (2) Memory and likeability ratings for neutral faces paired with the affective pictures in the imaging task. Finally, selected tasks from the CANTAB assessed affective biases and cognitive processes important for emotion regulation.
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS): Boston Longitudinal Study (BOLOS) of Cognition in Midlife, 1995-2008 (ICPSR 3596)
This survey of adult management tasks began in 1995 as part of a larger national project (MIDUS) to investigate the patterns, predictors, and consequences of midlife development in the areas of physical health, psychological well-being, and social responsibility. Conducted in Boston, the survey was designed to examine how adults manage tasks in three domains of life -- work, family, and health. Further goals were to describe the subjective experience of goal attainment in midlife and to link it with objective measures of short-term longitudinal changes and cognitive functioning. During the national study, the Boston area was intentionally oversampled in order to create a subset to be used for in-depth study of management processes in midlife.
The Boston study began six months after the national study, and consisted of three interviews: a 30-minute phone interview followed by a 20-minute mail questionnaire (Time 1), a 90-minute in-person combination of cognitive tests, cortisol testing, photograph taking, and interview (Time 2), and a 30-minute phone interview (Time 3), conducted at six-month intervals. The focus was on projects related to family, work, and health that participants were working on during the period of the study. Each successive interview investigated participants' assessments of their progress in the present, recollection of six months in the past, and prediction six months into the future. Two waves of data collection were completed for this study. There were 151 respondents who participated in the first wave, 151 respondents who participated in both waves, and 26 additional respondents who participated in the second wave of data collection.
At Time 1, participants generated a list of two important family, work, and health tasks, then chose one of each as the most important in that domain. For each of the most important tasks, questions were asked about deadlines, whether participants were doing tasks because they had to do them, felt that they should do them, or chose to do them, and whether participants were doing tasks for themselves, others, or both. All six projects were ranked according to importance, and participants divided all their time into percentages spent on family, work, and health. The majority of questions on the mail questionnaire at Time 1 were taken from the Midlife Development Inventory (MIDI), the instrument created for the national study.
Respondents were asked to rate their control over health, to make assessments about present, past, and future health, to list any serious illnesses, and to indicate their physical health status. Study participants also rated their mental health, and discussed stressful life events in the last six months for self, spouse/significant other, parents, and children. Other questions focused on depression, mastery and constraints, community involvement, family, work, and life satisfaction. Scales used included the Ryff Well-Being Scales, the Eysenck Personality Inventory, the Staudinger and Baltes Wisdom Scale (1995), and the Ways of Coping Scale.
Time 2 was done in-person, and included a 50-minute series of cognitive tests followed by a 40-minute interview. The cognitive testing consisted of nine measures of cognitive ability completed in the following order: WAIS Forward Digit Span, WAIS Backward Digit Span, WAIS Vocabulary, counting backwards test, letter comparison test, dual-task test involving the counting backwards and letter comparison tests, WAIS Digit Symbol, Schaie-Thurston Letter Series, and Raven's Advanced Progressive Ma Matrices.
The Time 2 interview began with a series of questions asking about each of the family, work, and health tasks elicited from the participants in Time 1. Many questions were repeated from the MIDI including rating physical health, family life, work situation, and life overall, rating physical and mental health from poor to excellent, and a measure of stressful life events in the last six months for self, spouse/significant other, parents, and children. Participants were asked to rate how old they felt and how old they looked and to indicate their total yearly household income. Lastly, a series of open-ended questions asked about best and worst aspects of family, work, and health, how participants managed their daily life, the most challenging aspect of life and how it was managed, and what participants found most helpful in carrying out their daily life. Photographs were taken of participants at the conclusion of the interview.
Time 3 asked again about each of the most important family, work, and health tasks elicited from the participants in Time 1. Newly developed questions asked participants about ideas related to middle age, including when the participant believed middle age begins and ends, whether the participant was younger than, in, or older than middle age, the biggest changes in middle age, the best and worst aspects of middle age, whether the participant knew anyone who had had a "midlife crisis," and whether he or she would have or had had a midlife crisis. Participants were asked to rate how often they had problems and how often things went well with respect to a list of 26 domains, and how much stress and how much control they had in these domains. Lastly, participants were asked whether they had ever returned to a degree-oriented educational program after being out of school for five or more years, whether they were presently taking classes to further their education, and whether being a participant in the study had influenced the ways they thought about their family, work, and health projects.
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher 1): Cognitive Project, 2011-2014 (ICPSR 37081)
The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher): Cognitive Project, 2011-2014 collection includes data collected as part of the MIDUS Refresher study. The MIDUS Refresher study (2011-2014, ICPSR 36532) recruited a national probability sample of 3,577 adults, aged 25 to 74, designed to replenish the original MIDUS 1 baseline cohort and paralleling the five decadal age groups of the MIDUS 1 baseline survey (ICPSR 2760). Participants in the MIDUS Refresher survey were recruited for the Brief Test of Adult Cognition via Telephone (BTACT) interview. All recruited participants who completed the initial telephone interview were invited to complete the questionnaires, and, whether or not they returned the questionnaires, were invited to participate in the Cognitive Interview. In addition to the national MIDUS Refresher sample, respondents to the MIDUS Milwaukee Refresher sample (see ICPSR 36722) were also eligible to participate in the BTACT interview. From February, 2012, through September, 2014, respondents completed the cognitive interview. For the Cognitive Project MIDUS Refresher BTACT data were collected from 2,763 MIDUS Refresher participants.
The BTACT is the first comprehensive cognitive battery--including measures of speed and reaction time--to be administered by telephone to a national sample across the adult years and into later life. It includes seven subtests: word list recall immediate, word list recall delayed, backward digit span, number series, counting backward speed task, category fluency, and an attention switching reaction time task. The Refresher cognitive project provides a rich data set to examine individual differences in cognitive functioning with a diverse national sample in terms of age, sex, socioeconomic status (income, education) and geographical region.
Demographic variables in this collection include sex and age
Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher 1): Neuroscience Project, 2012-2016 (ICPSR 37094)
The MIDUS Refresher Neuroscience Project studied 138 participants from the Refresher sample. These respondents included two distinct subsamples, all of whom completed both the Survey Project and the Biomarker Project's assessment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison: the Main Refresher (n = 93) and Milwaukee Refresher (n = 45) samples.
The purpose of the Neuroscience Project is to examine the central circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style that represent a continuum from vulnerability to resilience, and to characterize the peripheral consequences of these central profiles for biological systems that may be relevant to health.
National Children's Study (NCS) Vanguard Study Arts Module (ICPSR 39142)
The National Children's Study (NCS), authorized by the Children's Health Act of 2000, was a large-scale study to investigate environmental influences on child health and development. The NCS Vanguard (Pilot) Study, launched in 2009, tested methods for the larger Main Study and enrolled approximately 5,000 children across 40 locations by July 2013. The Main Study followed 100,000 children from before birth to age 21. On December 12, 2014, the NIH Director closed the study per advice from the expert review group.
The NCS Archive, created after the study's closure, offers researchers access to over 250,000 data and samples, including nearly 19,000 biological and 5,500 environmental samples from the Vanguard Study. The archive contains study visit data from preconception to 42 months post-birth, neuro-psychosocial and cognitive assessments, physical examinations, study protocols, operation manuals, data collection instruments, and more.
The NCS Archive includes various arts-related variables that were part of the study questionnaires and interviews conducted with participants and covered a range of activities and exposures. Specifically, the study captured data on children's participation in artistic activities, including music, dance, drama, and visual arts. Information was collected on the frequency and type of arts engagement, such as attending classes, participating in performances, or creating art. Examples include:
DANCE_DAYS: The average number of days per week someone dances with the child.
THEATER_DAYS: The average number of days per week someone engages in theater, play-acting, or make-believe with the child.
MUSIC_DAYS: The average number of days per week someone plays musical instruments, sings, or listens to music with the child.
DRAWPAINT_DAYS: The average number of days per week someone spends drawing or painting with the child.
ART_EVENT_DAYS: The average number of days per week someone takes the child to arts-related events outside the home.
DAYS_READ: The number of days in the past week that family members read stories to the child.
TOTAL_NUMBER_BOOKS: The total number of children's books in the home, including library books.
FREQ_BOOKS: The average number of days per week someone reads or looks at books with the child.
READ_STORIES: The number of days per week stories are read to the child.
TELL_STORIES: The number of days per week stories are told to the child.
The NCS Archive is available in NICHD's Data and Specimen Hub (DASH) for researchers to request access and conduct their own studies. For more information, researchers can consult the National Children's Study Archive: Study Description and Guide or contact NICHD's Data and Specimen Hub at [email protected].
National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988 (ICPSR 9389)
National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988: First Follow-up (1990) (ICPSR 9859)
National Education Longitudinal Study, 1988: Second Follow-Up (1992) (ICPSR 6448)
National Education Longitudinal Study: Base Year Through Fourth Follow-Up, 1988-2000 (ICPSR 3955)
National Education Longitudinal Study: Base Year through Third Follow-up, 1988-1994 (ICPSR 6961)
National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), [United States] (ICPSR 37107)
The National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) began in 2011 and fosters research to guide efforts to reduce disability, maximize health and independent functioning, and enhance quality of life at older ages. NHATS aims to provide the basis for understanding trends in late-life functioning, how these differ for various population subgroups, and the economic and social consequences of aging and disability for individuals, families, and society.
NHATS gathers information on a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries ages 65 and older. The sample is refreshed periodically so that researchers may study national-level disability trends as well as individual trajectories. Annual, in-person interviews collect detailed information on the disablement process and its consequences.
The NHATS interview is guided by a conceptual framework that recognizes physical and cognitive capacity is distinct from the environment in which activities take place. Among the specific content areas included are: the physical, social, technological and service environment, physical and cognitive capacity, use of assistive devices and rehabilitation, help received with daily activities (self-care, household, and medical), participation in valued activities, and wellbeing. A last month of life interview focuses on quality of end of life care. Periodically caregivers of NHATS respondents are interviewed in the supplemental National Study of Caregiving (NSOC). Linkages to Medicare records are also available.
Content was developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the fields of demography, geriatric medicine, epidemiology, health services research, economics, and gerontology. NHATS is being led by the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in collaboration with the University of Michigan, with data collection by Westat, and support from the National Institute on Aging.
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 1999-2000 (ICPSR 25501)
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2001-2002 (ICPSR 25502)
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003-2004 (ICPSR 25503)
The National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) is a program of studies designed to assess the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. The NHANES combines personal interviews and physical examinations, which focus on different population groups or health topics. These surveys have been conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) on a periodic basis from 1971 to 1994. In 1999 the NHANES became a continuous program with a changing focus on a variety of health and nutrition measurements which were designed to meet current and emerging concerns. The surveys examine a nationally representative sample of approximately 5,000 persons each year. These persons are located in counties across the United States, 15 of which are visited each year.
For NHANES 2003-2004, there were 12,761 persons selected for the sample, 10,122 of those were interviewed (79.3 percent) and 9,643 (75.6 percent) were examined in the mobile examination centers (MEC). Many of the NHANES 2003-2004 questions were also asked in NHANES II 1976-1980, Hispanic HANES 1982-1984, NHANES III 1988-1994, and NHANES 1999-2002. New questions were added to the survey based on recommendations from survey collaborators, NCHS staff, and other interagency work groups. As in past health examination surveys, data were collected on the prevalence of chronic conditions in the population. Estimates for previously undiagnosed conditions, as well as those known to and reported by survey respondents, are produced through the survey. Risk factors, those aspects of a person's lifestyle, constitution, heredity, or environment that may increase the chances of developing a certain disease or condition, were examined. Data on smoking, alcohol consumption, sexual practices, drug use, physical fitness and activity, weight, and dietary intake were collected. Information on certain aspects of reproductive health, such as use of oral contraceptives and breastfeeding practices, were also collected. The diseases, medical conditions, and health indicators that were studied include: anemia, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and lower extremity disease, environmental exposures, equilibrium, hearing loss, infectious diseases and immunization, kidney disease, mental health and cognitive functioning, nutrition, obesity, oral health, osteoporosis, physical fitness and physical functioning, reproductive history and sexual behavior, respiratory disease (asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema), sexually transmitted diseases, skin diseases, and vision. The sample for the survey was selected to represent the United States population of all ages. Special emphasis in the 2003-2004 NHANES was on adolescent health and the health of older Americans. To produce reliable statistics for these groups, adolescents aged 15-19 years and persons aged 60 years and older were over-sampled for the survey. African Americans and Mexican Americans were also over-sampled to enable accurate estimates for these groups. Several important areas in adolescent health, including nutrition and fitness and other aspects of growth and development, were addressed. Since the United States has experienced dramatic growth in the number of older people during the twentieth century, the aging population has major implications for health care needs, public policy, and research priorities. NCHS is working with public health agencies to increase the knowledge of the health status of older Americans. NHANES has a primary role in this endeavor. In the examination, all participants visit the physician who takes their pulse or blood pressure. Dietary interviews and body measurements are included for everyone. All but the very young have a blood sample taken and see the dentist. Depending upon the age of the participant, the rest of the examination includes tests and procedures to assess the various aspects of health listed above. Usually, the older the individual, the more extensive the examination. Some persons who are unable or unwilling to come to the examination center may be given a less extensive examination in their homes.
Demographic data file variables are grouped into three broad categories: (1) Status Variables: provide core information on the survey participant. Examples of the core variables include interview status, examination status, and sequence number. (Sequence number is a unique ID assigned to each sample person and is required to match the information on this demographic file to the rest of the NHANES 2003-2004 data). (2) Recoded Demographic Variables: these variables include age (age in months for persons through age 19 years, 11 months; age in years for 1- to 84-year-olds, and a top-coded age group of 85 years of age and older), gender, a race/ethnicity variable, current or highest grade of education completed, (less than high school, high school, and more than high school education), country of birth (United States, Mexico, or other foreign born), Poverty Income Ratio (PIR), income, and a pregnancy status variable (adjudicated from various pregnancy related variables). Some of the groupings were made due to limited sample sizes for the two-year data set. (3) Interview and Examination Sample Weight Variables: sample weights are available for analyzing NHANES 2003-2004 data. For a complete listing of survey contents for all years of the NHANES see the document -- Survey Content -- NHANES 1999-2010.