The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) is a sample of 8,984 young men and women The NICHD provides support for a battery of developmental assessments of the children born to the respondents to Child and Young Adult Surveys of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79 (NYS79). The NLSY79 is a nationally representative sample of men and women who were born in the years 1957 to 1964, who lived in the United States when the survey began, and who were age 14 to 22 during the first round of data collection, in 1979. The NLSY79 has been conducted annually from 1979 through 1994 and has been conducted biennially since 1994. The original NLSY79 sample included supplemental samples of blacks, Hispanics, economically disadvantaged nonblack/non-Hispanics, and youths in the military. While a primary focus of the NLSY79 is labor force behavior, the content of the survey is considerably broader. The NLSY79 includes questions on educational attainment, training, income and assets, participation in government programs, health, workplace injuries, insurance coverage, alcohol and drug use, sexual activity, marital and fertility histories, and other topics. Collection of data on the children of NLSY79 respondents began in 1986 with a battery of cognitive, social, emotional, and physiological assessments administered to the children and their mothers. These biennial assessments are administered primarily in person. Beginning in 1988, children age 10 and older have answered a self-administered set of questions about family, friends, jobs, school, after-school activities, religious attendance, smoking, alcohol and drug use, and other topics.
