1. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) 2009 Update Natasha Wood

2. Content Background and history Wave 5 Data and documentation available for ELSA

3. Key facts about ELSA A study of people aged 50+ and their partners Multi-disciplinary - health, economic and social circumstances Longitudinal - change over time Comparative - USA (HRS) and Europe (SHARE) Funding - National Institute on Aging, UK Government Departments

4. Dept of Epidemiology and Public Health, UCL National Centre for Social Research Institute for Fiscal Studies and UCL Dept of Economics Universities of Cambridge, East Anglia Exeter and Manchester Research Team

5. History

6. ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001

7. ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666)

8. ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848)

9. ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 2001-04 HSE + Nurse 2001-04 Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848)

10. ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) ELSA Wave One 2002 Core Interview (12,099) HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 1998-1999-2001 HSE + Nurse 2001-04 HSE + Nurse 2001-04 Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Core (9,432) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Two 2004 Nurse (7,666) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Core (9,771) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848) Wave Three 2006 Life History (7,848) HSE + Nurse 2006 HSE + Nurse 2006 Wave Four 2008 Core Interview Wave Four 2008 Core Interview Wave Four 2008 Nurse Visit Wave Four 2008 Nurse Visit

11. Interview Content Household and individual demographics Health Social participation Work and pensions Income and assets Housing and consumption Cognitive function (assessments) Expectations Effort and reward (of voluntary work and caring) intro at Wave 2 Psychosocial health Final questions Timed walk (assessment) Self-completion

12. Nurse Content Blood pressure Grip strength Blood sample (fasting where possible) Height (standing, sitting) Weight Waist and hip measurement Lung function Balance Leg rise Chair raise Saliva sample (after visit) Self-completion on personal beliefs & wellbeing (one in ten households) only Wave 2

13. Life History

14. Life History Interview Follow up interview at Wave 3 Asks about childhood and important life events Aim to enhance our understanding of how early life and events throughout life impact upon circumstances of older people Calendar technique to enhance recall

15. Topics covered Children & fertility Partners Where lived Work history Health Relationship with parents as a child Other important life events

17. Wave 5

18. Changes at Wave 5 Refreshment sample 50-53 years (HSE 2008) Module on financial risk taking

19. Risk 50-59 year olds - examine choice of pension schemes and how they plan financially Play 14 games - win between £5 and £80 from 1 randomly selected game The games measure: Attitudes towards risk Willingness to accept a delay in receiving winning money How much they regret not making certain choices

23. Data available

24. ELSA data in archive FileWave 0Wave 1Wave 2Wave 3Wave 4 Core Data TBA Nurse Data N/A N/ATBA Index File Updates TBA Life History DataN/A N/A Ryff Self Completion DataN/A N/A Telephone Interview (with non - responders) Data N/A TBA End of Life Interview DataN/A TBA Financial Derived VariablesN/A TBA Pension Wealth Derived VariablesN/A N/A Pension GridN/A TBA Mortgage DataN/A N/A Mortgage GridN/A TBA Technical ReportN/A 5 TBA

25. ELSA documentation Currently archived: Complete questionnaires Field documents, coding & editing info etc. User guides for datasets Future developments: Documentation for Wave 4 Interactive documentation – also HRS and SHARE

26. Other data available (not archived) Geography (Waves 0, 1, 2 & 3) Wave 2 genetics data Other non-archived variables

27. Where to get more info ELSA website http://www.ifs.org.uk/elsa Data and associated documentation http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/ ELSA data manager (Susan Nunn) susan.nunn@natcen.ac.uk To contact me... natasha.wood@natcen.ac.uk

28. The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)