Table 3.
Summary of WLS content
| 1957 (Self-administered questionnaire) |
| Marital aspirations and plans |
| Occupational aspirations and plans |
| High school coursework |
| Friends’ occupational aspirations and plans |
| Parents’ occupational and educational attainment |
| 1964 (Parent reporting on the graduate) |
| Detailed current schooling and attainment since high school |
| Current and past job history |
| Marital status |
| Spouse’s current schooling and occupation |
| 1975 (Graduate and sibling respondents) |
| 1964 Measures |
| Civic engagement (i.e. participation in fraternal organizations) |
| Time spent with family and friends |
| Religious orientation and participation |
| Marital history |
| Detailed military history |
| Detailed unemployment history |
| Current/last job characteristics and aspirations |
| Graduate and spouses’ earnings |
| Fertility history (number, sex, birth year) |
| Educational, occupational and income aspirations and expectations for a selected child |
| 1992 (Graduate and sibling respondents) |
| 1975 Measures repeated |
| Detailed assets summary (including intertransfers) |
| Detailed income summary |
| Pension summary |
| Future plans and retirement |
| Health insurance information |
| Caregiving |
| Selected child (education, employment, marital status, relationship with parents) |
| Chronic conditions |
| Physical symptoms |
| Physical limitations/functional limitations |
| Menopause and hormone therapy |
| Smoking |
| 2004 (Graduate and sibling respondents and their spouses) |
| 1992 Measures repeated |
| Network data linking study participants |
| Volunteering |
| Internet use |
| End of life preparations |
| End of life experiences (death of spouse or parent) |
| Menstruation, menopause and hysterectomy |
| Hostility, anger, anxiety |
| Masculinity scale |
| Social support and relationships |
| Marital quality |
| Health Utility Index (functional measure) |
| More detailed measures of chronic illnesses than collected in 1992 |
| Cognition-letter/category fluency |
| Cognition-similarities |
| Cogntion-word recall |
| Health care access and utilization |
| Retrospective childhood healtha |
| Retrospective childhood abusea |
| 2011 (Graduate and sibling respondents) |
| 2004 Measures repeated |
| Network data linking study participants |
| Financial literacy |
| Retirement attitudes |
| Risk preferences |
| Questions regarding the great recession |
| Special survey of parents of children with developmental disabilities or significant mental illness |
| Activities of daily living/instrumental activities of daily living |
| Cognition-delayed and immediate recall |
| Cogntion-cookie theft description |
| Extensive cognitive testing for 10% of the sample |
| Waist-hip ratio |
| Peak-flow capacity |
| Time gait test |
| Chair rise |
| Vision screener |
| Medication inventory |
| Detailed questions on diabetes knowledge |
| Anaesthesia experiences |
| Elder abuse |