Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, 2004-2009 (ICPSR 28683)

Version Date: Jan 23, 2019

Cite this study |

Principal Investigator(s):
Carol D. Ryff, University of Wisconsin--Madison; Richard J. Davidson, University of Wisconsin--Madison

Series:

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28683.v4

Version V4 ()

  • V4 [2019-01-23]
  • V3 [2017-11-20] unpublished
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Alternate Title

MIDUS 2 Neuroscience Project

Summary

The Neuroscience study is Project 5 of the MIDUS longitudinal study, a national survey of more than 7,000 Americans (aged 25 to 74) begun in 1994. The purpose of the larger study was to investigate the role of behavioral, psychological, and social factors in understanding age-related differences in physical and mental health. 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.

The Neuroscience Project of MIDUS 2 contains data from 331 respondents. These respondents include two distinct subsamples, all of whom completed both the Project 1 Survey and the Project 4 biomarker assessment at University of Wisconsin-Madison: (1) longitudinal (n = 223) and (2) Milwaukee (n = 108). The Milwaukee group contained individuals who participated in the baseline MIDUS Milwaukee study, initiated in 2005.

The purpose of the Neuroscience Project was to examine the central circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style that represent a continuum from vulnerability to resilience, and characterize some of 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 both emotional reactivity and emotional recovery using psychophysiological measures such as corrugator electromyography and eyeblink startle magnitude, (2) characterize individual differences in brain morphology, in particular amygdala and hippocampal volume, using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), (3) characterize individual differences in activity within the neural circuitry of emotion regulation using both electroencephalography and fMRI, and (4) test the ability of the central indices in this project to predict the comprehensive array of health, cognitive, psychological, social, and life challenge factors assessed in the other MIDUS projects.

To probe individual differences in emotional reactivity and recovery (a key component of regulation) the Neuroscience Project examined both psychophysiological and fMRI measures during the presentation of emotional (positive and negative) and neutral pictures, and these same measures during a post-picture period. The logic of this strategy is that continued activation during the recovery period following a negative stimulus is indicative of poor automatic emotion regulation. Respondents in the Neuroscience Project are a representative subsample of the MIDUS (Midlife in the United States) survey.

National respondents in the Neuroscience Project are a representative subsample of the MIDUS 2 survey sample (#4652).

The raw neuro-imaging data are not available through NACDA/ICPSR; please see the README file for more information about how to obtain them.

Citation

Ryff, Carol D., and Davidson, Richard J. Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, 2004-2009. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-01-23. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28683.v4

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Funding

United States Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Institute on Aging (P01-AG020166)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

No geographic information is included other than for the Milwaukee cases.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2004 -- 2009

Date of Collection

2004-08 -- 2009-05

Data Collection Notes

  1. All data files in the MIDUS study (both longitudinal and cross-sectional) can be linked using a key variable called M2ID.

  2. Only the psycho-physiological and behavioral data are available in this dataset; the structural and fMRI data are available through the MIDUS Administrative Core. Researchers will need to request access which is granted on a case-by-case basis. Users interested in obtaining these data should email icpsr-nacda@umich.edu or follow the contact information on the MIDUS website.

  3. The DDI codebook (PDF file) and the XML file (contained in a .zip package) released by ICPSR were provided by MIDUS and were not changed in any way by ICPSR. These original files do not reflect any of the processing done by ICPSR.

  4. The title of this study was changed from National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS II): Neuroscience Project, to Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, on May 9, 2017.

  5. Additional information about the Midlife Development in the United States study can be found at the MIDUS website.
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Study Purpose

The purpose of the Neuroscience Project was to examine the central circuitry associated with individual differences in affective style that represent a continuum from vulnerability to resilience, and characterize some of the peripheral consequences of these central profiles for biological systems that may be relevant to health.

Sample

All respondents participating in MIDUS 2 (ICPSR 4652) or the Milwaukee study (ICPSR 22840) who completed both Project 1 and Project 4 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were eligible to participate in the Neuroscience assessments.

Time Method

Longitudinal

Universe

Adult non-institutionalized population in the contiguous United States.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Response Rates

The response rates for each subsample were: (1) longitudinal (67.1 percent) and (2) Milwaukee (53.7 percent).

Presence of Common Scales

DPES- Dispositional Positive Emotion Scale; PANAS- Positive and Negative Affect Schedule; RASQ- Reactivity to Affective Stimuli Quesionnaire; STXS- Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory; ERQ- Emotional Regulation Questionnaire

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Original Release Date

2010-09-24

Version History

2019-01-23 This collection was updated to include filter, date, and additional electroencephalography (EEG) related variables. The study title was also updated to include the study time period.

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:

  • Ryff, Carol D., and Richard J. Davidson. Midlife in the United States (MIDUS 2): Neuroscience Project, 2004-2009. ICPSR28683-v4. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-01-23. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR28683.v4

2017-11-20 This collection is being updated, per request from the PI, to reflect a title change; the corresponding downloadable files are only being updated to reflect the title change, where applicable.

2011-10-25 The document titled DDI codebook has been renamed Codebook.

2010-09-24 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Created online analysis version with question text.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

NACDA logo

This study is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging (NACDA), the aging program within ICPSR. NACDA is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Heath (NIH).