Project Talent
Project Talent is a nationally representative longitudinal study of older adults who attended high school in the U.S. in 1960. Find more information on the study’s website: https://www.air.org/project-talent
Study Participants
At its inception, Project Talent was a school-based design, representing over 377,000 participants attending one of 1,225 schools. Project Talent participants were first surveyed in 1960 while in high school. Participants were invited to participate in follow-up surveys 1, 5, and 11 years (or through age 29) following their anticipated high school graduation. NCRAD holds samples from 670 participants; samples were collected in 2019 when participants were approximately 70-75 years old.
Available Data
Project Talent maintains a comprehensive set of longitudinal data, including demographics, family history, lived experiences, educational attainment, occupational (including military) history, cognitive assessments, physical functioning, health, personality, and psychosocial well-being. A public-use dataset is available through ICPSR and the full dataset is available by request from the American Institutes for Research.
Project Talent is a study partner with the NIA Data LINKAGE program, which offers administrative and claims data for linked participants. Project Talent also maintains a mortality registry of all decedents, including age and cause of death. All data are freely available to the research community.