Health and Retirement Study (HRS), Waves 1-3

DESCRIPTION: The Health and Retirement Study and its companion, the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD), are sponsored by the National Institute on Aging and are collected by the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. The HRS is intended to provide data for researchers, policy analysts, and program planners who are making major policy decisions that affect retirement, health insurance, saving, and economic well-being. It is a national panel study (which oversamples (100%) Hispanics, Blacks, and Florida residents) had an initial sample size of 12,600 persons in 7,600 households. Wave 1, collected with in-home interviews in 1992, consisted of individuals born between 1931 and 1941, as well as their spouses (regardless of age). This cohort is re-interviewed biennially by telephone each successive wave. The most recent HRS available is 2008 (Wave 9).

Topics covered in the study include: health and cognitive conditions and status; retirement plans and perspectives; attitudes, preferences, expectations, and subjective probabilities; family structure and transfers; employment status and job history; job demands and requirements; disability; demographic background; housing; income and net work; health insurance and pension plans. In addition, experimental modules, which cover a variety of additional topics, are added to each wave of data collection. A list of module topics by wave can be viewed on the HRS website.

In 1998 the HRS was combined with its companion study, the Study of Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) into a single data collection effort - called the Revised Health and Retirement Study. The new study included Wave 4 of HRS and Wave 3 of AHEAD. Two new cohorts were added in 1998: Children on the Depression (CODA), persons born in 1924 through 1931; War Baby (WB), persons born in 1942 through 1947. The initial sample size was 22,000. In 2004, an Early Baby Boomers cohort was added. The Revised HRS is representative of the U.S. population aged 50 and older. The merger preserves the original HRS and AHEAD cohort linkages, permitting longitudinal analysis over all interview years. All successive Waves of the HRS use this new revised design.

CODEBOOKS: Codebooks with frequencies for waves 1-6 are available on the local area network (R:\CFDR\Public\Data\HRS). There are multiple codebooks for each wave. The 'Table of Contents' describes the content of each codebook. Codebooks and questionnaires can also be obtained from the HRS website (http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/index.php?p=showcbk).

DATA: You must register to use the HRS data. You can register and obtain the data online at theHRS website. Data from Waves 1-3 are available on cd from the CFDR office but you must first register online before we can distribute the data to you. Restricted data, which provide additional SSA Administrative information, geographic and health care information are available. Information about the approval process is available on the HRS website. The RAND Center for the Study of Aging maintains a user-friendly data file derived from all waves of the HRS and AHEAD. The file is longitudinal and includes additional variables constructed by RAND researchers. You can access this file online (http://www.rand.org/labor/aging/dataprod/index.html) after registering to use the data on the HRS website.

LIST OF FREQUENCIES: Frequencies are available for all variables and waves in the codebooks on the local area network (R:\CFDR\Public\Data\HRS).

WEBLINKS: Additional information about the study is available at the HRS website and from theRAND Center for the Study of Aging.

UPCOMING RELEASES: Technical Documentation and Errata regarding the public release files are posted on the above website as they become available.