The National Youth Survey Family Study: A Multigenerational, Multidisciplinary, Longitudinal Design

John D. Hewitt, University of Colorado at Boulder
David Huizinga, University of Colorado at Boulder
Delbert S. Elliott, University of Colorado at Boulder
Robin Corley, University of Colorado at Boulder
Jennifer K. Grotpeter, University of Colorado at Boulder
Andrew Smolen, University of Colorado at Boulder
Michael C. Stallings, University of Colorado at Boulder
Susan E. Young, University of Colorado at Boulder
Scott Menard, University of Colorado at Boulder
Linda J. Cunningham, University of Colorado at Boulder
Tiffany Lin McNeil, Colorado at University of
Linda K. Kuhn, Survey Research Management

ABSTRACT
From 1977 to 1993, nine waves data were collected on a national probability sample of respondents who were 11-17 years old in the first year for which information on illegal behavior, substance use, and victimization were collected. Limited data were also collected from the parents in 1977. The design of the study has now been expanded to include a tenth and eleventh wave of data from the original respondents, a second and more detailed wave of data from the parents, and data from the spouses and intimate partners, and from the children age 11 and older, of the original respondents. Additionally, DNA samples are being collected from all three generations. This expansion of the original research design will provide a rich database for the study of intergenerational and life course comparisons of attitudes and behaviors. Here we describe the current waves of data collection and the future analyses to be conducted using this expanded design, which builds not only on the National Youth Survey but also on samples of adoptees and twins from the state of Colorado to analyze both social environmental and genetic influences on behavior in adolescence, across the life course, and across generations.

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Updated 05/20/2006