DOI: 10.3886/icpsr04690
title: Americans' Changing Lives: Waves I, II, III, IV, V, and VI, 1986, 1989, 1994, 2002, 2011, and 2021
title: Archival Version

description: The Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) survey series is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study focusing especially on differences between Black and White Americans in middle and late life. These data constitute the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth waves in a panel survey covering a wide range of sociological, psychological, mental, and physical health items. Wave I of the study began in 1986 with a nation face-to-face survey of 3,617 adults ages 25 and up, with Black Americans and people aged 60 and over over-sampled at twice the rate of the others. Wave II constitutes face-to-face re-interviews in 1989 of those still alive. Survivors have been re-interviewed by telephone, and when necessary face-to-face, in 1994 (Wave III), 2001/02 (Wave IV), 2011 (Wave V), and 2019/21 (Wave VI).
Please note that for Wave VI, the majority of data collection occurred in 2019, with only a small subset (n=39) of participants surveyed in 2021.
ACL was designed and sought to investigate the following: (1) The ways in which a wide range of activities and social relationships that people engage in are broadly "productive," (2) how individuals adapt to acute life events and chronic stresses that threaten the maintenance of health, effective functioning, and productive activity, and (3) sociocultural variations in the nature, meaning, determinants, and consequences of productive activity and relationships. Among the topics covered are interpersonal relationships (spouse/partner, children, parents, friends), sources and levels of satisfaction, social interactions and leisure activities, traumatic life events (physical assault, serious illness, divorce, death of a loved one, financial or legal problems), perceptions of retirement, health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, overweight, rest), and utilization of health care services (doctor visits, hospitalization, nursing home institutionalization, bed days). Also included are measures of physical health, psychological well-being, and indices referring to cognitive functioning.
Demographic information provided for individuals includes household composition, number of children and grandchildren, employment status, occupation and work history, income, family financial situation, religious beliefs and practices, ethnicity, race, education, sex, and region of residence.
description: For information on study design, users should refer to the ICPSR Technical Documentation, as well as visit the Americans' Changing Lives Web site.
description: The data are not weighted, but contain many weight variables which users may wish to apply during analysis. For additional information on weights for Waves I-VI, please refer to the ICPSR Technical Documentation, as well as the Original P.I. Codebooks document.
description: Response Rates: Response rates for Waves I-VI with a beginning sample size of 3,617 are as follows: Wave I - 68-70 percent, Wave II - 83 percent, Wave III - 83 percent, Wave IV - 76-80 percent, Wave V - 81 percent, Wave VI - 43 percent.
description: For Wave I, a multistage stratified area probability sample with oversampling of Blacks and those aged 60 and older was used. For Wave II, an attempt was made to contact all respondents from Wave I (N = 3,617). The number of respondents that participated in Wave II was 2,867. For Wave III, an attempt was made to contact all the respondents from Waves I and II. The number of respondents that participated in Wave III was 2,562. For Wave IV, an attempt was made to contact all respondents from Waves I, II, and III. The number of respondents that participated in Wave IV was 1,787. For Wave V, an attempt was made to contact all respondents from Waves I, II, III, and IV. The number of respondents that participated in Wave V was 1,427. Finally, for Wave VI, an attempt was made to contact all respondents from Waves I, II, III, IV, and V. The number of respondents that participated in Wave VI was 767. In addition, some Wave III, IV, and V interviews were done by proxy respondents and not by the original Wave I respondents. [Wave III - N=164; Wave IV - N=95; Wave V - N=108; Wave VI - N=19]
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public-Use Data
DS2: Restricted-Use Data
description: The continental United States' household population aged
25 and older, exclusive of residents of Alaska and Hawaii. Smallest Geographic Unit: Census Tract
description: computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI); face-to-face interview; telephone interviewWave VI supersedes all previous collections. The earlier data collections, Waves I and II (ICPSR 6438), and Waves I, II, and III (ICPSR 3394), are no longer available from ICPSR.For additional information on the Americans' Changing Lives: Waves I, II, III, IV, V, and VI 1986, 1989, 1994, 2002, 2011, and 2021, please visit the Americans' Changing Lives Web site.