PROJECT PAGE
Wisconsin Longitudinal Study
The WLS is a long-term study of a random sample of 10,317 men and women who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 and of their randomly selected brothers and sisters. Survey data were collected from the original respondents or their parents in 1957, 1964, 1975, 1992, 2003, and 2011 and from a selected sibling in 1977, 1993, 2004, and 2011. Survey data was collected from the spouses of the graduates in 2004 and the spouses of the siblings in 2005. These data provide a full record of social background, youthful aspirations, schooling, military service, family formation, labor market experiences, and social participation of the original respondents. The survey data from earlier years have been supplemented by mental ability tests (of primary respondents and 2000 of their siblings), measures of school performance, and characteristics of communities of residence, schools and colleges, employers, and industries. The WLS records for primary respondents are also linked to those of three same-sex high school friends within the study population. In 1977 the study design was expanded with the collection of parallel interview data for a highly stratified sub-sample of 2000 siblings of the primary respondents. In the 1992-93 round of the WLS the sample was expanded to include a randomly selected sibling of every respondent with at least one brother or sister, and the content was extended to obtain detailed occupational histories and job characteristics; incomes, assets, and inter-household transfers; social and economic characteristics of parents, siblings, and children and descriptions of the respondents relationships with them; and extensive information about mental and physical health and well-being.
The WLS cohort of men and women, born primarily in 1939, precedes by about a decade the bulk of the baby boom generation, which continues to tax social institutions and resources at each stage of life. For this reason, the WLS can provide early indications of trends and problems that will become important as this larger group passes through its 60s. This is in addition to the value of the WLS in obtaining basic information about the life course as such, independent of the cohort’s vanguard position with respect to the baby boom. Also, the WLS is the first of the large longitudinal studies of American adolescents, and thus it provides the first large-scale opportunity to study the life course from late adolescence through the early/mid-60s, in the context of a complete record of ability, aspiration, and achievement.
Principal Investigator(s): Dr. Pamela Herd
General Information
Country of Data Collection: USA
Years of Data Collection: 1957-2011
Study Status: Completed
Total Number of Assessments Completed: 6 (targets/graduates), 4 (siblings)
Approx. Retention Rate: 82%
Sample
Composition: Community sample; Family study (i.e., target/graduate, siblings, parents)
Note: Survey data was collected from the spouses of the targets/graduates in 2004 and the spouses of the siblings in 2005.
Target/Graduate
Note: Personality data exists at T4 (age 53), T5 (age 64), T6 (age 72); 5,154 individuals completed three measurements of personality.
Sex
SES
Race/Ethnicity
Siblings
Note: Personality data exists at T4 (age 53), T5 (age 64), T6 (age 69); 2,853 individuals completed three measurements.
Sex
SES
Race/Ethnicity
Personality Data
Target/Graduate Sample
Construct
Big Five
Purpose in Life
Self-Acceptance
Autonomy
Depression
Anxiety
Anger Expression
Scale
Big Five Inventory (29 items)
Psychological Well-being Scale
Psychological Well-being Scale
Psychological Well-being Scale
Center for Epidem. Stud. of Depression
Spielberger Anxiety & Anger Indices
Spielberger Anxiety & Anger Indices
Waves
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T5, T6
T5, T6
Method
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Self-, Proxy-Report
Sibling Sample
Construct
Big Five
Purpose in Life
Self-Acceptance
Autonomy
Depression
Anxiety
Anger Expression
Scale
Big Five Inventory (29 items)
Psychological Well-being Scale
Psychological Well-being Scale
Psychological Well-being Scale
Center for Epidem. Stud. of Depression
Spielberger Anxiety & Anger Indices
Spielberger Anxiety & Anger Indices
Waves
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T4, T5, T6
T5, T6
T5, T6
Method
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
Self-Report
academic/school
administrative records data
cognitive ability/iq
genetic data
health behaviors
job/work
mental health
parenting
physical health
relationship functioning
Data Access
Project Website: https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/
Codebook Available Online: Yes, https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/documentation/
Data Available Online: Yes (some), https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/wlsresearch/data/
Project Proposal Required to Use Data: No
Contact
Contact: wls@ssc.wisc.edu