PROJECT PAGE
Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS)
The Rochester Adult Longitudinal Study (RALS) is a 50-year, 4-cohort, 5-wave sequential study of Eriksonian psychosocial development in adulthood. RALS examines how individuals move through Eriksonian stages of psychosocial development over time and the bidirectional relationships of individual differences in the trajectory of these developmental paths, with a particular focus on the relationship of role transitions to development and physical health, work, and psychological well-being outcomes.
Principal Investigator(s): Drs. Jennifer Lodi-Smith, Erica Baranski, Lauren Mitchell, and Susan Whitbourne
General Information
Country of Data Collection: USA
Years of Data Collection: 1965-present
Study Status: Ongoing
Total Number of Assessments Completed: 2-5
Approx. Retention Rate: 33-44%
Sample
Composition: Accelerated cohort sequential design
*Note: There are four cohorts that were assessed, who graduated in 1965-1968, 1976-1977, 1988-1989, and 2000-2002 respectively. The sample sizes for each cohort were 348, 298, 291, and 287. Cohort 1 has five waves of data; Cohort 2 has four waves of data; Cohort 3 has three waves of data; Cohort 4 has two waves of data. There are ongoing plans to assess again in approx. 2024.
Sex
SES
Race/Ethnicity
Personality Data
Construct
Psychosocial Development
Identity
Generativity
Psychological Well-Being
Meaning in Life
Scale
Inventory of Psychosocial Development
Identity Status Questionnaires
Loyola Generativity Scale
Ryff Psychological Well-Being Scale
Steger Meaning in Life Scale
Waves
T1-T5
T2, T3
T4, T5
T4, T5
T5
Method
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Academic/school
health behaviors
life events
life satisfaction
physical health
work
Data Access
Project Website: https://osf.io/ya4ph/
Codebook Available Online: Yes, https://osf.io/mbcxw
Data Available Online: Not yet, but in process
Project Proposal Required to Use Data: Users of RALS data agree to cite the RALS repository, preregister secondary data analyses following best practices in secondary data analysis (Weston et al., 2019), review prior studies and preregistrations from the RALS data and cite where appropriate, link preregistrations with the RALS Registry on OSF, and provide code and deidentified data as a supplement to any conference presentation or manuscript.
Contact
Contact: Jennifer Lodi-Smith (lodismij@canisius.edu); Erica Baranski (erica.baranski@csueastbay.edu); Lauren Mitchell (mitchelll@emmanuel.edu); Susan Whitbourne (Susan.Whitbourne@umb.edu)