Table 1.
Overview of WLS variables across study waves.
| WLS Data Collection Wave | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1957 | 1965 | 1975 | 1993 | 2004 | 2011 | 2020 | |
| Age of Graduate Respondents (years) | 18 | 25 | 36 | 54 | 65 | 72 | 81 |
| Mode of Survey | |||||||
| In-Person Interview | x | x | x | ||||
| Telephone Interview | x | x | x | x | |||
| Mail-in Survey | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Social Participation | |||||||
| Religious orientation | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Marital history and quality | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Civic engagement (voting) | x | x | x | x | |||
| Community engagement | x | x | x | x | |||
| Caregiving | x | ||||||
| Social relationships, support and engagement | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Density of social networks | |||||||
| Popularity | |||||||
| Voting data | |||||||
| Physical Health | |||||||
| Physical Functioning (gait speed, grip strength, peak flow, chair rise) | x | ||||||
| Anthropometric measures | x | x | x | x | |||
| Self-report of health and disease | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Cause and date of death | |||||||
| Menopause/Hormone Replacement | x | x | x | ||||
| Signs of physical aging | |||||||
| Genetic Markers | x | ||||||
| Wisconsin State Tumor Registry | |||||||
| Medicare Records | |||||||
| Vision screener | x | ||||||
| Facial attractiveness | |||||||
| Mental Health | |||||||
| Psychological well-being | x | x | x | ||||
| Depression | x | x | x | x | |||
| Personality inventories | x | x | x | ||||
| Stressful life events | x | x | x | ||||
| Early Life Socioeconomic Conditions | |||||||
| Parental education and occupation | |||||||
| Income data form 1939 & 1957 | |||||||
| Parental encouragement for education | x | ||||||
| Occupation, income, and Wealth | |||||||
| Work trajectories | x | x | x | x | x | ||
| Cognitive and physical job demands | x | x | x | ||||
| Social Security lifetime earnings | |||||||
| Midlife assets data | x | x | x | ||||
| Parental Earnings (1957–1960) | |||||||
| 1940 Census data | |||||||
| Geographic Data | |||||||
| Geographic identifiers | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
| Farm status | |||||||
| Area resource files | |||||||
| Lifestyle Behaviors | |||||||
| Smoking history | x | x | x | x | |||
| Alcohol use history | x | x | x | x | |||
| Exercise and physical activity | x | x | x | x | |||
| Sexual activity | x | x | x | ||||
| End of life preparations | x | x | |||||
| Internet use | x | x | |||||
| Cognitive/Functional Measures | |||||||
| Henmon-Nelson IQ Scores (1954–7) | |||||||
| Letter/Category Fluency | x | x | x | ||||
| WAIS-III Similarities | x | x | x | ||||
| Word Recall | x | x | x | ||||
| Digit ordering | x | x | |||||
| Number series task | x | x | |||||
| Health literacy | x | ||||||
| Financial literacy | x | ||||||
| UDS3 Neuropsychological Battery | x | ||||||
| Daily Functioning (ADL/IADLs) | x | x | x | ||||
| Education | |||||||
| High school class rank | |||||||
| School district data | |||||||
| College/University characteristics | |||||||
| Participation in school activities | |||||||
| Educational attainment reports | x | x | x | x | x | x | |
Note: All italicized variables are Administratively Collected Data (not part of survey).