This application is to seek partial funding to conduct the first five years (two waves of data collection) of The English Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSA). We will match the funding requested with equivalent funding British sources. The study is modeled on the US Health and Retirement Survey and Asset and Health Dynamics survey, with a primary objective to collect longitudinal data on health (both self report and biomedical measures), economics, and social networks and resources, from a representative sample of the English population aged 50 and older. There are no data bases in Britain that cover this range of topics, so ELSA will provide a crucial resource for exploring issues relating to aging that will be important both for scientific understanding and for the development of policy. The value of the study will be greatly enhanced by its ability to provide data allowing direct comparisons between the situation in the US and England. The Health Survey for England (HSE), an annual cross-sectional survey, will provide the sampling frame for ELSA, so baseline self-reported and bio-medical data on he3alth and economic position, and on social networks and resources. Wave 1 of ELSA will also collect baseline economic data, while wave 2 will also collect retrospective health and economic data. Our main objective will be to produce comparative data that fulfill key requirements for the scientific and policy communities in the US and Britain. Specifically, the objective for this proposal are: 1. To recruit a representative sample of the English populations age 50 or over from the HSE. 2. To design the survey instruments for two waves of data collection, which will build on the existent health data on these respondents. 3. To interview approximately 12,700 subjects in a wave 1 interview in the year 2001, and to interview and collect bio-medical data from approximately 11,300 subjects in a follow-up wave in 2003. 4. To construct two waves of accessible and well documented panel data, and incorporate the HSE data. 5. Provide these data in a convenient and timely way to the scientific and policy research community.
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