National Longitudinal Surveys

Intro and Overview

The National Longitudinal Surveys are a collection of surveys that follow cohorts over time collecting a wide range of information including schooling, family life, employment, health and much more. There are seven cohort surveys Links to an external site. available to researchers.

• The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) Links to an external site.
  • Youth born between 1980-84
  • Aged 12-17 when first interviewed in 1997 with 18 total interviews.
• The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) Links to an external site.
  • Youth born between 1957-64
  • Aged 14-22 when first interviewed in 1979 with 27 rounds total.
• National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adult (NLSCYA) Links to an external site.
  • Follows the biological children of the NLSY79 cohort
  • Over 10,000 of the approximately 11,530 children have participated in at least one round.
  • Data are available from 1986-2016 
• National Longitudinal Survey of Mature and Young Women (NLSW) Links to an external site.
  • Links to an external site. Links to an external site.Contains 2 cohorts:
    • Mature women cohort were aged 30-44 in 1967
    • Young women cohort were aged 13-24 in 1968
  • Interviews were discontinued in 2003
• National Longitudinal Survey of Older and Young Men (NLSM) Links to an external site.
  • Contains 2 cohorts
    • Older men cohort were 45-59 in 1966
    • Young men cohort were 14-24 in 1966
  • Interviews were discontinued in 1981

Tips for Getting Started

This book chapter Links to an external site. provides a helpful overview of the NLS surveys in general.

The NLS Investigator is a very user friendly to explore NLS data for beginning users. Watch the video below to learn more.

 

 

Additional tutorial videos Links to an external site. are available here.

The Getting Started Links to an external site. page provides more helpful information for new users.

This guide Links to an external site. offers tips for using NLS data for studying disabilities.

And this guide Links to an external site. offers tips for studying retirement.

Key Advantages

• Longitudinal.
• Helpful tools for new users to navigate the complex study design and extract only the variables needed for analysis.
• Lots of documentation.

Key Disadvantages

• Geocode is restricted use.
• Samples can be small depending on your project focus.
• Timing of cohorts and cohort interviews may not fit the study needs, and few 

Papers Using these Data

Bureau of Labor Statistics technical reports and working papers are available here. Links to an external site.

A full searchable bibliography is available here. Links to an external site.

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