Aging Together: Brothers and Sisters of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

描述(由申请人提供)：我们建议进行第四轮调查数据收集，样本约为5,400名美国女性和男性。参与者--2010年面谈时大多数人的年龄将在60岁至80岁之间--是随机选择的1957年从威斯康星州高中毕业的个人的姐妹或兄弟，自那以来一直受到跟踪。“毕业生”和“兄弟姐妹”的综合数据，加上对毕业生和兄弟姐妹的配偶或遗孀的采访，以及各种行政记录，构成了威斯康星州纵向研究(WLS)的核心。[WLS作为研究中年和老龄化的资源的优势在于其纵向范围、其特殊的样本保留、调查和管理数据的广泛内容和质量以及其关系设计。它成功地跟踪了从高中毕业(及之前)到退休期间的大量社会经济多样性样本，并跟踪了毕业生及其重要其他人：父母、子女、兄弟姐妹、侄子侄子和高中朋友之间的社会和经济关系。没有其他大规模的纵向研究具备所有这些特征。2010年与兄弟姐妹的一轮接触将极大地加强世界最低限度作为健康和老龄化研究资源的独特科学价值。]我们请求支持对WLS兄弟姐妹进行两个小时的个人访谈、认知和表现评估，以及自我管理的留下(或邮寄)调查。调查将复制和扩展世界最低限度以前几波调查中出现的内容，还将包含创新的内容模块，将进一步提高数据的分析价值。参与者之前在1994年和2005年通过电话和邮件进行了调查；1977年，约2100人的高度分层随机子集也通过电话进行了采访。考虑到许多参与者的年龄，我们将对目前不能直接参与的样本成员进行代理访谈。在这里(为兄弟姐妹)和其他地方(为毕业生、配偶和子女)建议的数据收集活动将补充世界劳工组织已经在进行的其他数据收集活动。这些措施包括：从毕业生和兄弟姐妹那里获取大量、稳定的DNA样本；定期链接到医疗保险/医疗补助记录和国家死亡指数；以及连续采访已故毕业生和兄弟姐妹(寡妇或鳏夫、儿童和兄弟姐妹)的幸存者。所有WLS数据一旦被收集、清理和记录后，将立即直接或通过安全的数据飞地发布给研究社区，这符合对研究参与者隐私和机密性的高标准保护。WLS是独一无二的，它是一项跨越半个多世纪的对成年人及其家庭的大规模纵向研究，它的继续下去将支持对健康和老龄化中的社会、心理、生物和经济因素的广泛、跨学科的研究议程。公共卫生相关性：威斯康星州纵向研究(WLS)的最新一轮数据收集-包括这一应用程序-从主要受访者的兄弟姐妹那里收集和分析另一波数据-旨在(1)提供关于健康和老龄化的高质量纵向数据，(2)促进对老年女性和男性健康和福祉决定因素的广泛多学科研究。我们打算并期待我们的新数据，以及世界劳工组织目前提供的丰富数据，将为退休后个人对健康和福祉的责任日益增加的时代的公共政策提供信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to carry out a fourth round of survey data collection with a sample of about 5,400 American women and men. Participants-most of whom will be between the ages of 60 and 80 at the time of their in- person interviews in 2010-are randomly selected sisters or brothers of individuals who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 and who have been followed ever since. The combined "graduate" and "sibling" data-supplemented with interviews of graduates' and siblings' spouses or widows and a variety of administrative records-form the core of the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS). [The strengths of the WLS as a resource for studies of midlife and aging lie in its longitudinal scope, its exceptional sample retention, the broad content and quality of survey and administrative data, and its relational design. It has successfully followed a large and socioeconomically diverse sample from high school graduation (and before) to the retirement years, and it tracks social and economic relationships among the graduates and their significant others: parents, children, siblings, nieces and nephews, and high-school friends. No other large-scale, longitudinal study has all of these features. A 2010 round of contacts with siblings will greatly enhance the unique scientific value of the WLS as a resource for research on health and aging.] We request support for two- hour personal interviews, cognitive and performance assessments, and self-administered leave-behind (or mail) surveys of the WLS siblings. Surveys will replicate and extend content appearing in previous waves of the WLS and will also contain innovative content modules that will further enhance the analytic value of the data. Participants were previously surveyed by telephone and mail in 1994 and 2005; a highly stratified random subset of about 2,100 was also interviewed by telephone in 1977. Considering the age of many of the participants, we will conduct proxy interviews for members of the sample who are not currently able to participate directly. The data collection activities proposed here (for the siblings) and elsewhere (for graduates, spouses, and children) will complement other WLS data collection activities that are already in progress. These include: obtaining large, stable samples of DNA from graduates and siblings; regularly linking to Medicare/Medicaid records and to the National Death Index; and interviewing survivors of deceased graduates and siblings (widows or widowers, children, and siblings) on a continuous basis. All WLS data will be released to the research community-either directly or through a secure data enclave, consistent with high standards of protection for the privacy and confidentiality of research participants-as soon as they have been collected, cleaned, and documented. The WLS is unique as a large scale longitudinal study of adults and their families across more than half a century, and its continuation will support a broad, inter-disciplinary agenda of research on social, psychological, biological, and economic factors in health and aging. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The current round of data collection for the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS)-which includes this application to collect and analyze another wave of data from siblings of the primary respondents-is designed (1) to provide high quality longitudinal data on health and aging and (2) to facilitate a broad array of multidisciplinary research on the determinants of health and well-being of older women and men. We intend and expect that our new data, along with the rich data presently available from the WLS, will inform public policy in an era of increasing individual responsibility for health and well-being in the retirement years.