Cross-sectional studies of personality in a national sample: 2. Stability in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness.

Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I) Epidemiologic Followup Study were used to examine age differences in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness to experience. Cross-sectional analyses of data from 10,063 respondents showed that older subjects were slightly lower in neuroticism, extraversion, and openness; that age trends were not curvilinear; and that there were no differences in personality scores that might be attributable to a mild-life crisis or transition. Comparison with data from 654 participants in the Augmented Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (ABLSA) showed that the ABLSA sample was lower in extraversion and higher in openness than the national sample, although the differences were small in magnitude. Results were interpreted to mean that sampling and attrition in this longitudinal sample did not seriously bias results on these personality variables, and that cross-sectional findings from a large probability sample support the conclusion that personality is predominantly stable in adulthood.

10 years after NHANES I: report of initial followup, 1982-84.

The NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study (NHEFS) was jointly initiated by the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Institute on Aging in collaboration with other National Institutes of Health and Public Health Service agencies. The goal of NHEFS is to examine the relationship of baseline clinical, nutritional, and behavioral factors assessed in the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I-1971-75) to subsequent morbidity and mortality. Data collection for the initial phase of followup took place between 1982 and 1984 and included tracing of all NHANES I participants, determining their vital status, conducting in-depth interviews with surviving participants or with proxies for those who were deceased or incapacitated, conducting selected physical measurements, obtaining facility records for stays in hospitals or nursing homes that occurred during the period of followup, and obtaining death certificates for decedents. Ninety-three percent of the original cohort was successfully traced. Interviews were conducted for 93 percent of traced, surviving participants and 84 percent of traced, surviving participants and 84 percent of traced, deceased subjects. Physical measurements were obtained for approximately 95 percent of surviving, interviewed subjects. Death certificates are available for more than 95 percent of the decedents, and 18,136 facility records were received for 6,477 subjects.

10 years after NHANES I: mortality experience at initial followup, 1982-84.

The NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study (NHEFS) was initiated jointly by the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Institute on Aging in collaboration with other National Institutes of Health and Public Health Service agencies. The goal of NHEFS is to examine the relationship of baseline clinical, nutritional, and behavioral factors assessed in the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I-1971-75) to subsequent morbidity and mortality. Tracing for the initial followup began in 1981 and ended in 1984. This article compares the mortality experience of the NHEFS cohort with survival probabilities and cause-of-death distributions derived from U.S. vital statistics data. The analysis was done for 28 age-race-sex specific subgroups. The survival of each group of the NHEFS cohort corresponds quite closely to that expected on the basis of the U.S. life table survival probabilities. Mortality differentials by age, race, and sex are also quite similar between NHEFS and U.S. vital statistics. In addition, the cause-of-death distributions among NHEFS participants are quite similar to those expected based on national vital statistics. Thus, there do not seem to be any serious biases in the mortality data. The NHEFS, therefore, provides a unique resource for assessing the effects of baseline sociodemographic, health, and nutritional factors on future mortality in a large, heterogeneous sample that is representative of the nation's population.

National health and nutrition examination I--epidemiologic follow-up survey.

An epidemiologic follow-up of the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I), being conducted from 1982 to 1984, is expected to provide estimates of the risks of certain health conditions for a sample of the U.S. population and to make it possible to relate these conditions to the nutritional, social, demographic, and behavioral characteristics of the sample. As part of the followup study, the baseline data obtained in NHANES I have been reviewed to define hypotheses and to identify pertinent variables that can be used in studying changes over time and the relationships of these variables to outcome measures. Because the followup study provides cohort data on a large sample of the U.S. population, it presents a unique opportunity for epidemiologists.

Longitudinal analyses of psychological well-being in a national sample: stability of mean levels.

Maturational changes, cohort differences, and time of measurement effects on psychological well-being were examined in data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) I Epidemiologic Followup Study. A 9-year longitudinal study of 4,942 men and women initially aged 25 to 74 was supplemented by cross- and time-sequential analyses using an independent sample of 4,986 participants who were first administered the well-being measures at the time of the follow-up. Older participants in the study tended to be lower in both Positive and Negative Affect, but longitudinal changes in these two subscales were not found, and Total Well-Being showed no significant age, birth cohort, or time effects in any of the analyses. Given the size and representativeness of the sample, this is strong evidence of the stability of mean levels of psychological well-being in adulthood, and points to the importance of enduring personality dispositions and processes of adaptation in determining levels of well-being.

Plan and operation of the NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study, 1986.

This report describes the plan and operation for the 1986 data collection wave of the Epidemiologic Followup to the First National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). Tracing and data collection were conducted on 3,980 persons 55-74 years of age at NHANES I who were not known to be deceased in the 1982-84 data collection wave of the NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study.

Plan and operation of the NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study, 1987.

This report describes the plan and operation for the 1987 data collection wave of the Epidemiologic Followup to the first National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). Tracing and data collection were conducted on 11,750 persons 25-74 years of age at NHANES I who were not known to be deceased in the 1982-84 and 1986 data collection waves of the NHANES I Epidemiologic Followup Study.