DOI: 10.3886/icpsr37081.v1
title: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher): Cognitive Project, 2011-2014
title: Version 1

description: These data are being released in BETA version to facilitate early access to the study for research purposes. This collection has not been fully processed by NACDA or ICPSR at this time; the original materials provided by the principal investigator were minimally processed and converted to other file types for ease of use. As the study is further processed and given enhanced features by ICPSR, users will be able to access the updated versions of the study. Please report any data errors or problems to user support and we will work with you to resolve any data related issues.
The Midlife in the United States (MIDUS Refresher): Cognitive Project, 2011-2014 collection includes data collected as part of the MIDUS Refresher study. The MIDUS Refresher study (2011-2014,  ICPSR 36532) recruited a national probability sample of 3,577 adults, aged 25 to 74, designed to replenish the original MIDUS 1 baseline cohort and paralleling the five decadal age groups of the MIDUS 1 baseline survey (ICPSR 2760). Participants in the MIDUS Refresher survey were recruited for the Brief Test of Adult Cognition via Telephone (BTACT) interview. All recruited participants who completed the initial telephone interview were invited to complete the questionnaires, and, whether or not they returned the questionnaires, were invited to participate in the Cognitive Interview. In addition to the national MIDUS Refresher sample, respondents to the MIDUS Milwaukee Refresher sample (see ICPSR 36722) were also eligible to participate in the BTACT interview. From February, 2012, through September, 2014, respondents completed the cognitive interview. For the Cognitive Project MIDUS Refresher BTACT data were collected from 2,763 MIDUS Refresher participants. 
The BTACT is the first comprehensive cognitive battery--including measures of speed and reaction time--to be administered by telephone to a national sample across the adult years and into later life. It includes seven subtests: word list recall immediate, word list recall delayed, backward digit span, number series, counting backward speed task, category fluency, and an attention switching reaction time task. The Refresher cognitive project provides a rich data set to examine individual differences in cognitive functioning with a diverse national sample in terms of age, sex, socioeconomic status (income, education) and geographical region.

Demographic variables in this collection include sex and age
description: The overarching objective of MIDUS is to investigate linkages between sociodemographic, psychosocial, and biological variables to account for later life profiles of morbidity and mortality. The purpose of the MIDUS Refresher study was to extend questions asked of respondent from the original MIDUS baseline sample to a new national sample so as to provide broad cohort comparisons, while also shedding light on how U.S. adults have been impacted the 2008 economic recession and how these experiences are linked with their health.
The purpose of the Cognitive Project was to determine how cognition is related to overall mental and physical health. Specific goals were: (1) to characterize the nature and range of midlife cognitive performance, relative to those younger and older, across multiple domains in a nationally representative sample (MIDUS); and (2) to examine the relationship between biopsychosocial factors (e.g. SES, health status, health-promoting behaviors, metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers, depression, personality, control beliefs, stressful life events) and individual difference in cognitive functioning. The development of a cognitive battery provided an opportunity to examine the cognitive performance of young, middle-aged and older adults from a wide range of education levels in a large-scale, national sample.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of 
				disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major 
				statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to 
				these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
			   		Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Presence of Common Scales: 
					Brief Test of Adult Cognition via Telephone (BTACT)
description: Response Rates: 
					Of the 3,577 MIDUS Refresher respondents who completed the initial Phone interview (see ICPSR 36532), 2,550 (71%) completed the MIDUS Refresher BTACT. Separately, of the 508 MIDUS Milwaukee Refresher resopndents who completed the initial in-person interview, 213 (42%) completed the BTACT.
description: Datasets: 
					
						DS1: Dataset
description: Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Series
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI)
description: cognitive assessment test
description: Adult non-institutionalized population in the contiguous United States aged 25-75. For the Milwaukee Refresher Sample, the adult non-institutionalized African-American population in the Milwaukee metropolitan area aged 25-64.
				   		Smallest Geographic Unit: None
description: The MIDUS Refresher Cognitive project sample consists of a subset of eligible respondents who completed either the MIDUS Refresher phone interview (ICPSR 36532) or the MIDUS Milwaukee Refresher in-person interview (ICPSR 36722).