The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) public-use data is now available for download from Dataverse. Add Health is part of UNC’s Dataverse collection , hosted by The Odum Institute. Dataverse is a “federated” system in which data are archived and preserved at multiple institutions worldwide, ensuring long-term access to the data.
If you are interested in data not available in the public-use datasets, please see our restricted-use data page for information about the contract application process.
The data file crosswalk provides a comparison of the contents of the public-use and restricted-use files.
Summary: Using Add Health data, the research team of Lauren D. Asarnow, Eleanor McGlinchey, and Allison G. Harvey found that later bedtimes for adolescents during the school week were linked to weight gain over time. More specifically, for each hour later respondents went to bed, there was a 2.1 kg/m2 increase in BMI.
Read the story from The Washington Post: Teens with late bedtimes may be more likely to gain weight over time, study says
Excerpt:
‘The results were significant even after they controlled for things like gender, race and socioeconomic status. Interestingly, sleep duration, screen time and exercise frequency didn’t seem to affect BMI over time.
“The results are important because they highlight adolescent bedtimes, not just total sleep time, as a potential target for weight management concurrently and in the transition to adulthood,” Lauren Asarnow, a doctoral candidate at the University of California at Berkeley and co-author of the study, said in a statement.’
Read coverage on this study from other media outlets at The New York Times, NY Daily News, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
Scholarly Source: Asarnow LD, McGlinchey E, Harvey AG. Evidence for a possible link between bedtime and change in body mass index. SLEEP 2015;38(10):1523–1527. doi: 10.5665/sleep.5038. Article available online.
Summary: Using network data from Add Health, the research team of Edward M. Hill, Frances E. Griffiths, and Thomas House discovered that depression is not spread among friends, and that in fact, being part of a friendship network that includes adolescents with healthy moods can both reduce the risk of depression and increase the likelihood of recovering from depression.
Read the CBS News story: Study shows certain moods are contagious
Excerpt:
“They found that having friends with a healthy mood reduces a teen’s chance of developing depression, and increases the chance of recovering from depression.
‘What we found is that if you have sufficient friends who are not depressed, in a healthy mood, then that can halve your probability of developing, or double your probability of recovering from, clinical depression in the six to twelve month period that the study ran over,’ Dr. Thomas House, a senior lecturer in applied mathematics from the University of Manchester and an author of the study, told CBS News.
But importantly, researchers found that depression does not spread.
‘There’s no negative effect to friendship,” said House. “Your depressed friends don’t put you at more risk; in fact, you can help them recover.’”
Scholarly source: Hill EM, Griffiths FE, House T. Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks.
Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2015. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2015.1180. Article available online.
Summary: Using genome-wide data from siblings in Add Health, the research team of Benjamin W. Domingue, Daniel W. Belsky, Dalton Conley, Kathleen Mullan Harris, and Jason D. Boardman discovered that adolescents’ genes were linked to how far he or she went in school (educational attainment). Researchers found that adolescents who had a higher “polygenetic score” – meaning their genes were linked to educational attainment – than his or her sibling were more likely to complete more years of school. This finding supports previous research showing that genes can influence educational attainment.
Read the Phys.org story: Study finds causal connection between genotypes and years of education achieved
Excerpt from Phys.org: “…’the results of this study demonstrate that pioneering efforts such as the Human Genome Project are beginning to bear fruit in terms of genetic insight.’
‘Eventually, this type of research will help us better understand, across broad groups, the complex relationship between genetics, environments, and traits and behaviors, as well as help us better understand why school or government policies may or may not be generating desired objectives,’ said Domingue.”
Authors
- Ben Domingue, Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University
- Daniel Belsky, Assistant Professor at Duke University School of Medicine and Social Science Research Institute
- Dalton Conley, University Professor at New York University
- Kathleen Mullan Harris, Director and Principal Investigator of Add Health, James E. Haar Distinguished Professor of Sociology, and Adjunct Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Jason Boardman, Professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
Read coverage on this study from other media outlets at Inside Higher Ed and Education Week.
The Carolina Population Center posted a related announcement here.
Scholarly source: Domingue BW, Belsky DW, Conley D, Harris KM, Boardman JD. Polygenic Influence on Educational Attainment: New Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. AERA Open 2015; 1(3):1-13. Article available online.
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, François Nielsen and J. Micah Roos evaluated the influence of genetics and environment on educational attainment for respondents 24-32 years old. Educational attainment, defined as the highest degree an individual has earned, was examined across six different types of sibling pairs, ranging from genetically identical (monozygotic twins) to non-related siblings. Researchers found that shared family environment accounted for more of the variance found in educational attainment than genetics, although genetics still play a role. Shared family environment was also a larger factor in educational attainment than previously seen among older cohorts, suggesting that family resources are increasingly more important in earning an education in the United States and that educational opportunities have become less equal for families with fewer resources, especially given the rising financial cost of higher education.
View the abstract or download the complete article in Social Forces
Authors:
- François Nielsen, Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- J. Micah Roos, University of California, Berkeley and Oklahoma State University, Stillwater
Nielsen F, Roos JM. Genetics of Educational Attainment and the Persistence of Privilege at the Turn of the 21st Century. Social Forces 2015.
Published in
Demographic Research
Abstract
Background: With the emergence of obesity as a global health issue, an increasing number of major demographic surveys are collecting measured anthropometric data. Yet little is known about the characteristics and reliability of these data.
Objective: We evaluate the accuracy and reliability of anthropometric data collected in the home during Wave IV of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), compare our estimates to national standard, clinic-based estimates from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and, using both sources, provide a detailed anthropometric description of young adults in the United States.
Methods: The reliability of Add Health in-home anthropometric measures was estimated from repeat examinations of a random subsample of study participants. A digit preference analysis evaluated the quality of anthropometric data recorded by field interviewers. The adjusted odds of obesity and central obesity in Add Health vs. NHANES were estimated with logistic regression.
Results: Short-term reliabilities of in-home measures of height, weight, waist and arm circumference – as well as derived body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) – were excellent. Prevalence of obesity (37% vs. 29%) and central obesity (47% vs. 38%) was higher in Add Health than in NHANES, while socio-demographic patterns of obesity and central obesity were comparable in the two studies.
Conclusions: Properly trained non-medical field interviewers can collect reliable anthropometric data in a nationwide, home visit study. This national cohort of young adults in the United States faces a high risk of early-onset chronic disease and premature mortality.
View the abstract or download the complete article in Demographic Research
Authors
- Jon Hussey, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Quynh C. Nguyen, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Eric A. Whitsel, Department of Epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Department of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Liana J. Richardson, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Carolyn T. Halpern, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Penny Gordon-Larsen, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Department of Nutrition, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Joyce W. Tabor, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Pamela P. Entzel, Department of Veterans Affairs, Durham, NC
- Kathleen Mullan Harris, Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Citation
Hussey J, et al. The reliability of in-home measures of height and weight in large cohort studies: Evidence from Add Health. Demographic Research 2015; 32(39): 1081-1098.
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, researchers explored the link between socioeconomic adversity during childhood and teenage years and cardio-metabolic disease risk in young adulthood. They also focused on how psychosocial resources—such as self-esteem, personality, and education— might contribute to this disease risk. Kandauda Wickrama, Catherine Walker O’Neal, Tae-Kyoung Lee, and Thulitha Wickrama found that those who experienced socioeconomic adversity (low parental education, receiving social service benefits) in early life had a higher cardio-metabolic disease risk as a young adult; for women, having impaired psychosocial resources increased this risk. These findings show that early interventions are needed for children experiencing socioeconomic adversity in order to reduce the risk of health problems later in life.
View the abstract on NCBI
Authors:
- Kandauda (K.A.S.) Wickrama, Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia
- Catherine Walker O’Neal , Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia
- Tae-Kyoung Lee, Department of Human Development and Family Science, University of Georgia
- Thulitha Wickrama, Colombo Institute of Research and Psychology, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Wickrama K, O’Neal CW, Lee TK, Wickrama T. Early Socioeconomic Adversity, Youth Positive Development, and Young Adults’ Cardio-Metabolic Disease Risk. Health Psychology 2015.
Acknowledgement
This article was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol 56, Wang LI and Michael SL, “Long-Term Health and Medical Cost Impact of Smoking Prevention in Adolescence,” 160-166, Copyright Elsevier (2015).
Abstract
Purpose
To estimate smoking progression probabilities from adolescence to young adulthood and to estimate long-term health and medical cost impacts of preventing smoking in today’s adolescents.
Methods
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we first estimated smoking progression probabilities from adolescence to young adulthood. Then, using the predicted probabilities, we estimated the number of adolescents who were prevented from becoming adult daily smokers as a result of a hypothetical 1 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of ever smoking in today’s adolescents. We further estimated lifetime medical costs saved and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained as a result of preventing adolescents from becoming adult daily smokers. All costs were in 2010 dollars.
Results
Compared with never smokers, those who had tried smoking at baseline had higher probabilities of becoming current or former daily smokers at follow-up regardless of baseline grade or sex. A hypothetical 1 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of ever smoking in 24.5 million students in 7th–12th grades today could prevent 35,962 individuals from becoming a former daily smoker and 44,318 individuals from becoming a current daily smoker at ages 24–32 years. As a result, lifetime medical care costs are estimated to decrease by $1.2 billion and lifetime QALYs is estimated to increase by 98,590.
Conclusions
Effective smoking prevention programs for adolescents go beyond reducing smoking prevalence in adolescence; they also reduce daily smokers in young adulthood, increase QALYs, and reduce medical costs substantially in later life. This finding indicates the importance of continued investment in effective youth smoking prevention programs.
View or download complete article in the Journal of Adolescent Health (February 2015)
Access the Journal of Adolescent Health homepage
Authors
- Li Yan Wang, Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Shannon L. Michael, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
The following new data files are available for Add Health restricted-use data contract researchers.
Narcotic Drug Flag
This file contains a flag that identifies Wave IV respondents who report taking a medication that contains a narcotic
Wave III Sex Ratio Data
In this file are constructed variables at the county-level for sex ratios for males to females ages 18 to 29, 30-34, and 18 to 34, the proportion of males and females ages 18 to 34, and the sex ratio of employed males 16 years and older to the total number of females 16 years and older for the white population and the black or African American population
BMI Genetic Risk Score
This file contains the BMI genetic risk score for Add Health twin and full sibling respondents who provided saliva samples at Wave IV.
Acknowledgement
This article was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol 56, Wang LI and Michael SL, “Long-Term Health and Medical Cost Impact of Smoking Prevention in Adolescence,” 160-166, Copyright Elsevier (2015).
Abstract
Purpose
To estimate smoking progression probabilities from adolescence to young adulthood and to estimate long-term health and medical cost impacts of preventing smoking in today’s adolescents.
Methods
Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we first estimated smoking progression probabilities from adolescence to young adulthood. Then, using the predicted probabilities, we estimated the number of adolescents who were prevented from becoming adult daily smokers as a result of a hypothetical 1 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of ever smoking in today’s adolescents. We further estimated lifetime medical costs saved and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained as a result of preventing adolescents from becoming adult daily smokers. All costs were in 2010 dollars.
Results
Compared with never smokers, those who had tried smoking at baseline had higher probabilities of becoming current or former daily smokers at follow-up regardless of baseline grade or sex. A hypothetical 1 percentage point reduction in the prevalence of ever smoking in 24.5 million students in 7th–12th grades today could prevent 35,962 individuals from becoming a former daily smoker and 44,318 individuals from becoming a current daily smoker at ages 24–32 years. As a result, lifetime medical care costs are estimated to decrease by $1.2 billion and lifetime QALYs is estimated to increase by 98,590.
Conclusions
Effective smoking prevention programs for adolescents go beyond reducing smoking prevalence in adolescence; they also reduce daily smokers in young adulthood, increase QALYs, and reduce medical costs substantially in later life. This finding indicates the importance of continued investment in effective youth smoking prevention programs.
View or download complete article in the Journal of Adolescent Health (February 2015)
Access the Journal of Adolescent Health homepage
Authors
- Li Yan Wang, Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Shannon L. Michael, Division of Population Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
