DOI: 10.3886/icpsr36873.v9
title: National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP): Round 3 and COVID-19 Study, [United States], 2015-2016, 2020-2021
title: Version 9

description: The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is a population-based study of health and social factors on a national scale, aiming to understand the well-being of older, community-dwelling Americans by examining the interactions among physical health, illness, medication use, cognitive function, emotional health, sensory function, health behaviors, and social connectedness. It is designed to provide health providers, policy makers, and individuals with useful information and insights into these factors, particularly on social and intimate relationships. The National Opinion Research Center (NORC), along with Principal Investigators at the University of Chicago, conducted more than 3,000 interviews during 2005 and 2006 with a nationally representative sample of adults aged 57 to 85. Face-to-face interviews and biomeasure collection took place in respondents' homes. Round 3 was conducted from September 2015 through November 2016, where 2,409 surviving Round 2 respondents were re-interviewed, and a New Cohort consisting of adults born between 1948 and 1965 together with their spouses or co-resident partners was added. All together, 4,777 respondents were interviewed in Round 3. The following files constitute Round 3: Core Data, Social Networks Data, Disposition of Returning Respondent Partner Data, and Proxy Data.
Included in the Core files (Datasets 1 and 2) are demographic characteristics, such as gender, age, education, race, and ethnicity. Other topics covered respondents' social networks, social and cultural activity, physical and mental health including cognition, well-being, illness, history of sexual and intimate partnerships and patient-physician communication, in addition to bereavement items. In addition data on a panel of biomeasures including, weight, waist circumference, height, and blood pressure was collected. The Social Networks (Datasets 3 and 4) files detail respondents' current relationship status with each person identified on the network roster. The Disposition of Returning Respondent Partner (Datasets 5 and 6) files detail information derived from Section 6A items regarding the partner from Rounds 1 and 2 within the questionnaire. This provides a complete history for respondent partners across both rounds. The Proxy (Datasets 7 and 8) files contain final health data for Round 1 and Round 2 respondents who could not participate in NSHAP due to disability or death.
The COVID-19 sub-study, administered to NSHAP R3 respondents in the Fall of 2020, was a brief self-report questionnaire that probed how the coronavirus pandemic changed older adults' lives. The COVID-19 sub-study questionnaire was limited to assessing specific domains in which respondents may have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, including: (1) COVID experiences, (2) health and health care, (3) job and finances, (4) social support, (5) marital status and relationship quality, (6) social activity and engagement, (7) living arrangements, (8) household composition and size, (9) mental health, (10) elder mistreatment, (11) health behaviors, and (12) positive impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. Questions about engagement in racial justice issues since the death of George Floyd in police custody were also added to facilitate analysis of the independent and compounding effects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and reckoning with longstanding racial injustice in America.
description: As in Round 2, all questions were asked entirely in the in-person interview or the leave-behind questionnaires. In Round 3, though, there are separate leave-behind questionnaires for the new cohort and original cohort. Users can refer to the related data collections ICPSR 20541 and ICPSR 34921, National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP): Rounds 1 and 2 for further study design information, as well as the Original P.I. Documentation in the ICPSR Codebook and visit the NORC at the University of Chicago web site.
The NSHAP R3 COVID sub-study was administered during Fall 2020 via web survey, phone interview, or paper-and-pencil mailback instrument. The questionnaire was designed for respondents in the NSHAP main study, on whom considerable background information is already available. All respondents to the NSHAP Round 3 (2015-16) main study were invited to respond to the COVID-19 sub-study questionnaire.
description: The data are not weighted, but contain two weight variables within the Part 1 Core data file, which users may wish to apply during analysis. Respondent-level weights representing the inverse probability of selection are contained in the variable WEIGHT_SEL. A second set of weights incorporating a non-response adjustment based on age and urbanicity is contained in the variable WEIGHT_ADJ. Both sets of weights are scaled to sum to the final sample size (3,005). 
As noted above, in each NSHAP round there is a variable called WEIGHT_ADJ which is non-missing for all respondents in that round, and which adjusts for differing probabilities of selection as well as differential non-response. These weight variables should be used for all cross-sectional analyses. Please note that the WEIGHT_ADJ variable differs across rounds (since the selection probabilities and non-response vary across rounds).
With respect to longitudinal analyses, NSHAP does not yet have a true panel weight (currently in progress). The Round 2 weight variable (WEIGHT_ADJ) should be used for longitudinal analyses until the panel weight is created. The Round 2 weight is non-missing for all but 38 respondents with data for multiple (i.e., at least two) rounds. Thus, this weight is adequate for longitudinal analyses using the subset of respondents with data from Round 2 and/or at least two rounds (this includes many typical longitudinal analyses). It is not advised to use this weight variable for those cases where someone wishes to include those respondents with data from only one round, except for those with data only from Round 2).
description: Although the New Cohort added in Round 3 was selected from a national frame, it was not the same as that used to select the Original Cohort. As with the Original Cohort, the New Cohort was obtained from a probability sample of U.S. adults meeting the age criteria, with African-Americans and Hispanics sampled at a higher rate. Spouses or coresident partners of sampled respondents were also included. Users may refer to ICPSR 20541 and ICPSR 34921, National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project (NSHAP): Round 1 and 2 for further sampling information, as well as the Original P.I. Documentation in the ICPSR Codebook and visit the NORC at the University of Chicago web site.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Core Data, Public-Use
DS2: Core Data, Restricted-Use
DS3: Social Networks Data, Public-Use
DS4: Social Networks Data, Restricted-Use
DS5: Disposition of Returning Respondent Partner Data, Public-Use
DS6: Disposition of Returning Respondent Partner Data, Restricted-Use
DS7: Proxy Data, Public-Use
DS8: Proxy Data, Restricted-Use
DS9: Original NSHAP Round 3 Stata Public-Use Data Files
DS10: Original NSHAP Round 3 Stata Restricted-Use Data Files
DS11: COVID-19 Sub-Study Data, Public-Use
DS12: COVID-19 Sub-Study Data, Restricted-Use
DS13: Medications Data, Restricted-Use
description: Community dwelling individuals ages 24 to 97 in the United States. Round 2 respondents were reinterviewed, and a New Cohort consisting of adults born between 1948 and 1965 together with their spouses or coresident partners was added. Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI); computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI); coded on-site observation; face-to-face interview; mail questionnaire; mixed mode; self-enumerated questionnaire; telephone interview; web-based surveyThis collection is being released in thirteen parts. Parts 1 through 8 and Parts 11 through 13 contain the ICPSR-processed files; Parts 9 and 10 contain the original Stata data files with extended and nonextended missing values provided by the P.I. in a zip file package.Please refer to the related data collections ICPSR 20541 and ICPSR 34921, National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project
(NSHAP): Rounds 1 and 2 for further information regarding the NSHAP project.For further information about the National Social Life, Health, and
Aging Project (NSHAP), please see the NORC at the University of Chicago Web
site.Users can subscribe to the NSHAP data mailing list by emailing nshap-data@lists.uchicago.edu.The identification variable SU_ID can
be used to link the respondent records across the rounds of the survey.The grant numbers have been updated as of September 2019; users citing the NSHAP data should ensure their citations are up to date.As of February 2021, the NSHAP Team has agreed upon a new standardized terminology to refer to the timepoints at which NSHAP data are collected. Authors of publications, proposals, and other materials using NSHAP data are asked to adopt this terminology moving forward. Please note that some ICPSR study materials reflect the previous terminology, updates are pending.
The term "Round" will refer to each of NSHAP's major periodic data collection efforts: Round 1 [R1], conducted in 2005-06; Round 2 [R2], conducted in 2010-11; Round 3 [R3], conducted in 2015-16; Round 4 [R4], will be conducted in 2021-22. Refer to the NACDA site announcement about the change for more details.Louise Hawkley is Principal Investigator for the COVID-19 Sub-Study conducted with support through an administrative supplement.NACDA also maintains a Colectica portal with the NSHAP Core data across rounds 1-3, which allows users to interact with variables across rounds and create customized subsets. Registration is required.