[1] These surveys have gathered information at multiple points in time on the labor market experiences and other significant life events of several groups of men and women.
[3][4] The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) began in 1997 with 8,984 men and women born in 1980-84 (ages 12–17 in 1997).
[5][6] The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) began in 1979 with 12,686 men and women born in 1957-64 (ages 14–22 in 1979).
Many NLSY97 respondents also participated in a special administration of the computer-adaptive form of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, and scores from that test are available for approximately 80 percent of sample members.
[8][10][11][12] The NLSY79 Children and Young Adults (NLSCYA) Funded by Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NLSY79 Child and Young Adult surveys contain comprehensive information on the experiences of children born to female NLSY79 respondents.
The collection of data on these NLSY79 children began in 1986, and a battery of cognitive, socioemotional, and physiological assessments has been administered biennially since that year.
Their mothers also provide reports on their children’s health, temperament, motor and social development, behavior problems, school activities, and home environments.
Beginning in 1988, children age 10 and older have answered a self-administered set of questions about family, friends, jobs, school, after-school activities, computer use, religious attendance, smoking, alcohol and drug use, and more.
[8][16][17][18] The NLSW and NLSM make up the original four cohorts, which were designed to represent the U.S. civilian noninstitutional population at the time of the initial survey.
A special survey of the high schools of young women respondents provided additional information about their educational experiences.
The survey also has included questions on topics specific to the life stage of respondents, such as educational experiences and plans in the earlier years of the survey, childcare issues and fertility expectations a few years later, and health, pension, and retirement information and, finally, asked about transfers of time and money between respondents, their parents, and their children.
The survey also included questions on topics specific to the life stage of respondents, such as childcare issues in the earlier years of the survey and health, pension, and retirement information and, finally, asked about transfers of time and money between respondents, their parents, and their children.
The U.S. Department of Labor selected the Young Men cohort to enable research on the employment patterns of men who were completing school and entering the work force or joining the military and were thus making initial career and job decisions that would impact their employment in the coming decades.
A special survey of the high schools of young men respondents provided additional information about their educational experiences.
The U.S. Department of Labor selected the Older Men cohort to enable research on the employment patterns of men who were nearing the completions of their careers, making decisions about the timing and extent of their labor force withdrawal, and planning for retirement.
[8][22] Demographic and family background, education, military experiences, job characteristics and training, labor market status and histories, marital and family characteristics, income and assets, transfers of time and money, retirement, geographic location and mobility, health, nutrition, and physical activity, fertility and parenting, sexual activity, attitudes and expectations, behaviors and perspectives, environmental characteristics, and civic engagement.