Cohorts

  • National Longitudinal Survey of Youth | 1997 (NLSY97)

    The NLSY97 Cohort is a longitudinal project that follows the lives of a sample of American youth born between 1980-84; 8,984 respondents were ages 12-17 when first interviewed in 1997. This ongoing cohort has been surveyed 20 times to date and is now interviewed biennially. Data are now available from Round 1 (1997-98) to Round 20 (2021-2022). A brief COVID-19 supplement was fielded in spring 2021; these data are also included in the NLSY97 data release.

  • National Longitudinal Survey of Youth | 1979 (NLSY79)

    The NLSY79 Cohort is a longitudinal project that follows the lives of a sample of American youth born between 1957-64. The cohort originally included 12,686 respondents ages 14-22 when first interviewed in 1979; after two subsamples were dropped, 9,964 respondents remain in the eligible samples. Data are now available from Round 1 (1979 survey year) to Round 29 (2020 survey year).

  • National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult (NLSCYA)

    The NLSY79 Child and Young Adult cohort is a longitudinal project that follows the biological children of the women in the NLSY79. As of 2020, more than 10,000 children had been interviewed in at least one survey round. To date, a total of 11,551 children have been identified as born to interviewed NLSY79 mothers. Data are now available from 1986 to 2020, representing 16 survey rounds for the child sample and 14 for young adults in that time span.

  • National Longitudinal Survey of Mature and Young Women (NLSW)

    The National Longitudinal Survey of Mature and Young Women, a two-cohort survey, is part of the NLS Original Cohort project. The Mature Women's cohort includes 5,083 women who were ages 30-44 when first interviewed in 1967, while the Young Women's cohort includes 5,159 women who were ages 14-24 when first interviewed in 1968. Data for both cohorts are available through 2003, when active surveying was discontinued.

  • National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men (NLSM)

    The National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men, a two-cohort survey, is part of the NLS Original Cohort project. The Older Men's cohort includes 5,020 men ages 45-59 in 1966, with data available through the 1990 survey year, the final year the Older Men were interviewed. The Young Men's cohort includes 5,225 men who were ages 14-24 when first interviewed in 1966, with data available through 1981, when active surveying was discontinued.