HRS Harmonised Study
Acknowledgment:
This study uses data from the Harmonized HRS dataset and Codebook, Version O as of September 2015 developed by the Gateway to Global Aging Data. The development of the Harmonized HRS was funded by the National Institute on Aging (R01AG030153, RC2 AG036619, 1R03AG043052). For more information, please refer to https://g2aging.org/. The HRS is supported by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740), supplemented by the Social Security Agency, and operated from the Institute for Social Research (ISR) at the University of Michigan. The RAND HRS data file, the RAND Family data file, and the RAND HRS Enhanced Fat Files are the result of cooperation between the NIA, SSA, ISR at the University of Michigan, and the RAND Center for the Study of Aging.
References:
- "Health and Retirement Study, (Version O) public use dataset. Produced and distributed by the University of Michigan with funding from the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740). Ann Arbor, MI, (2015)."
- Sonnega, A., Faul, J., Ofstedal, M.B., Langa, K., Phillips, J., & Weir, D. (2014). Cohort profile: the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). International Journal of Epidemiology, 43, 576-585. doi: 10.1093/ije/dyu067
Harmonization Study Design
A harmonised dataset can be created for each wave and population according to the ATHLOS DataSchema and the harmonisation codes located on Github:
DataSchema: https://athlos.pssjd.org/ws/file-dl/network/athlos/DataSchema_ATHLOS.xlsx
Harmonisation codes: https://github.com/athlosproject/athlos-project.github.io/tree/master/HRS
Anyone interested in using the harmonised data from the HRS study via the ATHLOS DataSchema should register on the website https://g2aging.org/, download the necessary data and use the harmonisation codes. For more detailed help on this process, please contact us.
Provide information regarding any research product (dissertation, thesis, journal article, book, book chapter, report, etc.) based on data obtained from the Health and Retirement Study by sending an electronic copy to hrspublications@umich.edu.
Populations
Institutionalized persons (prisons, jails, nursing homes, long-term or dependent care facilities) are excluded from the survey population.
The Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old (AHEAD) sub-sample consists of people who were born in 1923 or earlier, were household residents of the conterminous U.S. in the spring 1992, and were still household residents at the time of their first interview in 1993 or 1994, and their spouses or partners at the time of the initial interview or at the time of any subsequent interview.
AHEAD uses the same national probability sample of U.S. households with supplemental oversamples of Blacks, Hispanics and residents of the state of Florida as the HRS, but a dual frame approach was used for individuals born prior to 1914.
The assignment of households to the two groups is based on the age of the oldest person in the household financial unit. If the single adult or either spouse in a married couple was born prior to 1914, the household financial unit is assigned to Group 2. If the single adult or both persons in a married couple were born after 1913 the household financial unit is assigned to Group 1. The full national sample of AHEAD-eligible households is divided approximately 60% to Group 1 and 40% to Group 2. Under the AHEAD sample design, Group 1 households are selected exclusively from the area probability (AP) frame component. Group 2 households are selected using a dual-frame design, roughly 50% of the Group 2 sample originating with the AP frame and the remaining 50% from a stratified sampling from a list frame of Medicare enrollees.
AHEAD Group 1 households were interviewed by telephone except in cases where there was no telephone in the household or the respondent was unable to complete the interview by telephone. Their spouses were also interviewed by telephone. Most respondents in Group 2. were interviewed face- to-face in their homes, although telephone interviews were permitted in cases where the respondent preferred the telephone mode. Face-to- face interviews were also the primary mode of Wave 1 data collection for the spouses of these respondents, irrespective of the spouse's age.