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The Chicago Community Adult Health Study (CCAHS) consists of four interrelated components that were conducted simultaneously: (1) a survey of adult health on a probability sample of 3,105 Chicago adults, including direct physical measurements of their blood pressure and heart rate and of height, weight, waist and hip circumference, and leg length; (2) a biomedical supplement which collected blood and/or saliva samples on a subset of 661 survey respondents; (3) a community survey in which individuals described aspects of the social environment of all survey respondents' neighborhoods; and (4) a systematic social observation (SSO) of the blocks in which potential survey respondents resided, including a lost letter drop (Milgram et al. 1965) as an unobtrusive measure of neighborhood social capital/sense of responsibility to help others. The latter two extend a community survey and SSO of neighborhoods carried out by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) in 1995. The adult health survey and the community survey were conducted jointly through face-to-face interviews with a stratified, multistage probability sample of 3,105 individuals aged 18 and over and living in the city of Chicago, with a response rate of 72 percent that is about the highest currently attainable in large urban areas. In addition, blood pressure, heart rate, and physical measurements (of height, weight, waist and hips, and leg length) were collected during the survey interview, and blood and saliva samples from 661 respondents or 60 percent of those doing the survey in the 80 "focal" neighborhood clusters (NCs). SSOs were conducted on 1,663 of the 1,672 city blocks on which each respondent lived. The CCAHS is the largest of five projects under the NIH-funded Michigan Interdisciplinary Center on Social Inequalities, Mind and Body Mind (#P50HD38986), one of five Mind-Body Centers funded by the National Institutes of Health in late 1999. This study will advance the understanding of socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in health, a major priority of the Public Health Service and the National Institutes of Health.

The PI-supplied summary mentions that the study is comprised of four components. However, for the purposes of this data release there are three distinct datasets. Demographic variables include age, birth year, race, ethnicity, number of children in the household, number of children living elsewhere, number of times the respondent has been married, and relationship status, religious preference, and sex.

This study of 678 adults in the Detroit metropolitan area in 1960 provides measures of their job satisfaction and use of leisure time, as well as information on their friendships, buying patterns, and political preferences. Questions on job satisfaction queried respondents about job preferences, hours worked at current job, preference for self-employment, type of supervisors at workplace, chances for promotion, and the work culture and environment at respondents' current jobs. Questions on leisure time elicit information on time spent watching television and the programs watched often, newspapers and magazines read regularly and favorite columnists, books read, time spent on other hobbies and crafts such as photography, music, and sports, vacation time, use of spare time, memberships in clubs and organizations, and time spent socializing with friends, relatives, colleagues, and neighbors. Other items probed respondents' opinions about causes of unemployment, their feelings about their standard of living, and their future plans, financial obligations, buying patterns, use and ownership of telephones, self-perceived social class, political party preference, and choice of gubernatorial and presidential candidates in the last election. Additional items probed respondents' attitudes toward Blacks as neighbors and co-workers. Demographic variables specify age, sex, race, education, place of birth, length of residence in the Detroit area, home ownership, length of time at present residence, marital status, number of children, original nationality of paternal family, income, occupation, religious preferences, and class identification.