This application seeks funding for two workshops, in 2004 and 2005, to train new demographic researchers to use data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Experience. These workshops will focus on two different themes. The first will concentrate on using data from the various cohorts of the NLS - the Young Women, Mature Women, NLSY79, NLSY97 and the Young Adult survey - to learn about major demographic developments in the twentieth century centering on marriage, cohabitation, fertility, health and education. This workshop would have three components, starting with sessions on the basics of using the NLS. This would be followed by a core session on major demographic topics and how the NLS data inform research in those areas and finally a set of topical sessions for which students would sign up and be distributed for breakout sessions. We will select about 30 dissertation level or post-doctoral researchers to attend this workshop. A particular focus will be on clarifying the many ways that demographic cross-cohort analyses can be accomplished. The second workshop in summer 2005 would have two sessions. The first session would last for about three days and focus on training young demographers to use the child development data in Children of the NLSY79, follow-on to previous successful workshops in 1988 and 2001 that had the same objective. The second session will concentrate on Young Adults and demographic issues of early adulthood. This session will consider the relative strengths and weaknesses of the 1979 Young Adult Cohort and the NLSY97. The Young Adult Survey and the NLSY97 cover youths in the same general age range and are excellent data resources to illuminate the demography of young adults, although the datasets have very different strengths, weaknesses and some variables are different. We will exploit this commonality by presenting an educational program that, for each topic, describes how researchers can exploit each data set, in turn, to support demographic research on issues relating to adolescence and the transition to adulthood. We will select about 30 new demographic researchers for the second workshop. ? ?
