Overview of Project Talent

• Activity Number: 282
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, July 31, 2012 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Leslie Scott+ and Jizhi Zhang*+ and Sandy Eyster
• Companies: American Institutes for Research and American Institutes for Research and American Institutes for Research
• Keywords: Longitudinal Data ; Project Talent ; Aging Research

Abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to introduce researchers to Project Talent, thereby, providing a context for interpreting the other papers in this session. All session papers use Project Talent as their data source. Specifically, in this presentation information will be presented on Project Talent's research objectives, sample and data collection designs, data collected in the base year and follow-ups, and current activities and future plans for the study. Project Talent began in 1960 with a nationally representative sample of 440,000 9th-12th graders and followed them until approximately age 30 (1971-1974). An extensive set of measures were administered in the 1960 base year and three subsequent follow ups, including measures of general knowledge, interests, aptitudes, abilities, and personality. Cohort members are now 66 to 70 years old and plans are under way for collecting additional data to investigate aging and the relationship between earlier adolescent measures and later-life psychological, social, and financial outcomes.