NLSY26 NLS Listening Sessions Protocol Health Environment

NLSY26 Needs Assessment Listening Session (90 minutes)
Discussion Guide- Physical Health, Environment, and Climate
Introduction — ~5 Mins
Welcome the group.
Let them know they’ve been invited to this session to provide feedback on a potential new NLSY
cohort. Go over general ground rules below.
o Reminder: Session is being recorded
o Your participation in this survey is voluntary. We are collecting this information under
OMB Clearance Number 1225-0088. Without this currently approved number, we could
not conduct this information session.
o We are doing this as a series of 6 listening sessions. This session will focus on Physical
Health, Environment, and Climate. The next listening session is focused on mental health
so we would like to keep today’s discussion focused on physical health, if possible.
o We expect this session will be about 90 minutes. We have a lot to get through so we will
be moving along at a quick pace.
o Additionally, we want to hear from everyone. If you notice that you haven’t spoken up in
a while, please do so. I may call on you to get your opinion.
o There will be additional opportunities to provide feedback so do not worry if we are not
able to get to everything you would like to discuss today. We will discuss those
opportunities at the end of the session.
Introduce the NLS— ~ 5 Mins
There are currently two active cohorts in the NLS program.
• The first cohort, the NLSY79, consists of about 10,000 men and women who were born in
the years 1957-64. They were ages 14-22 when first interviewed in 1979 and are still being
interviewed today.
o Children of NLSY79 respondents were interviewed starting in 1986. The NLSY79 Child
and Young Adult surveys contain extensive information about the biological children of
women in the NLSY79-including various child assessments.
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The second cohort, the NLSY97, consists of nearly 9,000 men and women who were born in
the years 1980-1984. They were 12-16 when they were first interviewed in 1997.
o The NLSY97 contained a parent questionnaire in round one that gathered extensive
background information about parents, the child’s schooling, child health,
expectations for child’s future (youth also received these questions), parental
employment, and the family’s financial situation, among other topics.

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There is a free public-use NLS dataset

Why we’re collecting feedback— ~ 3 Mins

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A lot has changed about health policy, our understanding of health, as well as the
interactions between the physical environment and health since the 1997 cohort was
launched. We want to ensure that we are measuring the important aspects of health and
environment. We also want to ensure that we are using state-of-the-art methodology to do
so. That is what we’ll be talking about today.
Examples of changes to health policy and how we understand health:
 Affordable Care Act became law in 2010.
 Coronavirus pandemic
 Natural disasters and climate change may be changing the physical
environment in many locations.
 Telehealth
Example of changes to survey methods
 Data on air quality and environmental pollutants have become available.
 In large part, health records have been standardized and digitized.

NLSY26 Questionnaire Content— ~35 Mins
[Quick introductions for moderator, NORC facilitator, and participants only. Say name,
organization, and participants will also say their experience with the NLSY.]
1.Content Questions
Primary
• Where can the NLSY26 provide the greatest value for studying physical health and
environment, especially regarding their relationship to labor market outcomes?
• What are the aspects of physical health and environment that are essential to
capture as adolescents to enable life-course research?
• What health events are important enough to make sure that the NLSY26 would
measure every event over a respondent’s life, regardless of interview date? What
makes these events so crucial to capture?
• What new concepts need to be added to the new NLSY26 cohort so that researchers
can study the relationships between health and the labor market?
Secondary
• For those who are familiar with the previous NLS surveys, what content (if any)
regarding health should be kept the same for comparison to prior NLS cohorts?
Why?
• For those who are familiar with the previous NLS surveys, what are some healthrelated topics or questions that are currently in the NLS survey and should NOT be
included in the new cohort?

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NLSY26 Sampling and Methodology— ~25 Mins
Primary
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At what age should the NLSY26 begin collecting data related to physical health and
environment topics? Why?
How frequently should such data be collected? Why?
Are there ages where baseline measures of physical health should be collected?
At the survey’s start when we expect sample members to be ages 12 to 16, who
might be the best reporter on health outcomes? At what age would we ask
respondents to report on their own health outcomes?
What are measurement challenges in collecting health and environment information
that the NLSY26 will need to consider?
Are there other methodological concerns or new advances in measuring physical
health and environment that the NLSY26 should be considering?

Secondary
• What types of sampling and methodology should the new NLSY26 cohort consider
when collecting health and environment data?
Are there oversamples that are needed to enable research in health and
environment?
NLSY26 Data Linkage— ~10 Mins
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Which datasets would be the most important to consider linking to the NLSY26 to
study physical health, the environment, and climate?

* Moderator, if needed: Examples could be EHR-type data, health insurance claims data,
pollution exposure.
Note: This topic may arise in the discussion of content or methodology. In that case, there’s no
need to raise it separately.
NLSY26 Final thoughts or concerns— ~5 Mins
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Are there any final questions or concerns regarding the health and environment
data collected in the new NLSY26 cohort?

Close out
MODERATOR:
• Conclusion and thanks
• Provide other info on other feedback resources (FRN, user survey, informational
materials, email, etc.)

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As we mentioned previously, this is part of a series of six listening sessions. The other
session topics include Employment, Jobs, and the Future of Work; Childhood and Family
Retrospectives; Mental Health; Innovations in International Surveys; and Think
tanks/Research organizations/Non-profits. If you have feedback on other aspects of the
NLSY that we did not have time to cover in this session, we will be posting a user survey
soon that you can submit responses too. We will also send you a thank you email which
will have an opportunity for you to provide additional feedback.