Our Team of Researchers
The 6th follow-up round of the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72) provides a unique opportunity to learn more about your important generation and explore how education and early adult experiences affect people as they age. With grant funding from the United States National Institute of Health’s National Institute on Aging (U01AG078533-01), researchers at The University of Texas at Austin (Chandra Muller), University of Wisconsin-Madison (Eric Grodsky), University of Minnesota (John Robert Warren), and Columbia University (Jennifer Manly and Adam Brickman) have contracted with NORC at the University of Chicago, a not-for-profit social science research organization, to follow up with people in NLS-72. MRI scans will be acquired at Rush University Medical Center (Dr. Lisa Barnes), University of California, Los Angeles (Dr. Kacie Deters), Pennington Biomedical Research Center (Dr. Owen Carmichael), and the Columbia University Irving Medical Center (Dr. Adam Brickman).
Since 1941, NORC has served the public interest and improved lives through objective social science research that supports informed decision-making. You might also remember NORC as the National Opinion Research Center! For more information about NORC, see www.norc.org.
We hope that you will help us continue to inform America about the successes, challenges, and opportunities that your generation has experienced.
History of the NLS-72
The NLS-72 was started in 1972 by the United States Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. This study was designed to give researchers a snapshot of the attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of American high school seniors in 1972. What makes the study so unique was that this same group was interviewed every couple of years until 1986 to learn more about their life experiences after high school. Because of its success, many other studies have been designed using the format of NLS-72, but it is truly the first of its kind.
It’s been nearly 40 years since NLS-72 students were surveyed, and participants are now in their 60s and 70s. The sixth follow-up round will collect information from NLS-72 participants to learn about how their life experiences have shaped their health and well-being later in life.
Now, the NLS-72 is funded by the United States National Institute on Aging, a part of the National Institutes of Health. The information that NLS-72 collects is used to provide important statistics about education, work status, and community involvement. Researchers, legislators, and community members use the information collected in the NLS-72 to inform policy decisions, develop programs, and increase knowledge about educational reform.
Research related to the NLS-72
These are a few of the important questions that data from NLS-72 has helped answer:
- What do students do after leaving high school?
- How do people’s life experiences and career paths after high school differ across the United States?
- How do people’s educational experiences influence their life experiences and career outcomes?
Researchers have used the NLS-72 data to publish articles that contribute to community development and educational policy changes. Here are just a few of these important studies:
Trends Among High School Seniors 1972-2004 (2008)
The Importance of Child-Care Characteristics to Choice of Care (1996)
The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination (1995)
The Effect of Military Service on Educational, Occupational, and Income Attainment (1996)
Educational Achievement and Black-White Inequality (2001)