This is a proposal for research on the adult life course, primarily using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), but supplemented by other survey and census data. The WLS has followed nearly 10,000 women and men for 36 years, from high school graduation to their early 50s; this cohort, born at the close of the Great Depression, represents a large share of the leading edge of the baby boom. The sample was followed up successfully in 1964, 1975, and 1992-93, and samples of siblings were interviewed in 1977 and in 1992/93. The research has four analytic goals: (1) To describe the life course of the cohort with respect to education, family formation, labor force experience, social and economic exchange relations, physical and psychological health and well-being, situating the cohort both historically and in relation to other relevant bodies of data, and providing a well-documented introduction to the data for internal and external users; (2) To extend the ages 53-54 a series of measurements and models of occupational standing and earnings of the members of this cohort that cover their younger years; (3) To extend these models to other outcomes of the stratification process, such as marital selection, job desirability, wage rates, net worth, and -- extending the analysis to the third generation -- the educational attainment and occupational standing of adult children; and (4) To extend and elaborate models of sibling resemblance in socioeconomic achievement that will elucidate influences of the family of origin, ability, and schooling on the life course. Throughout, the analyses will compare and contrast the origin and development of social and economic differences between women and men and among sisters and brothers. In addition, (5) the project will disseminate the WLS data and support analysis by other researchers.
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