The English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA)

Kate Cox

Content

• Brief background to ELSA

• Life History Interview

• Data and documentation available for ELSA

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

• 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 and Exeter, and

Imperial College

Research Team

History

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

Interview Content at Wave 1

Household and individual demographics

Health

Social participation

Work and pensions

Income and assets

Housing and consumption

Cognitive function (assessments)

Expectations

Psychosocial health

Final questions

Timed walk (assessment)

Self-completion

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Interview Content at Wave 2

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)

Psychosocial health

Final questions

Timed walk (assessment)

Self-completion

Changes at Wave 2

• Some new topics - e.g. quality of health care

received, alcohol consumption, literacy assessment

• Moves into institution

• End of life interview

• Nurse visit

Nurse Content at Wave 2

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)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse2001-02-03-04

HSE + Nurse2001-02-03-04

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

Changes at Wave 3

• Added new people aged 50-53 to sample

• No new modules, but some new questions - dental

health, use of services, consumption of fruit &

vegetables

• New self completions - anchoring vignettes

• Life history interview

Life History Interview

Life History Interview

• Follow up interview at Wave 3• We know little about ELSA respondents before their

HSE interview (ie before 1998)• Age at HSE = 46 to 90+• 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

• Want to predict events at ELSA (or HSE) baseline and beyond NOT model events before this baseline

Topics covered

• Children & fertility

• Partners

• Where lived

• Work history

• Health

• Relationship with parents as a child

• Other important life events

How we collect the life histories

• Difficult to remember all events in life

• Life grid method - shown to improve accuracy of recall

• Layout of life grid:• Calendar style chart with time across top• Multiple rows to enter different events (e.g. work, partners)• External events (e.g. Start of WWII, Queen coronation)

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

ChildrenPartnersAccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

ChildrenPartnersAccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

ChildrenPartnersAccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

ChildrenPartnersAccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

Children Tom born

PartnersAccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

Children Tom born

Partners MarriedJim

AccommodationWorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

Children Tom born

Partners MarriedJim

Accommodation Moved to 5Arran Rd

WorkOther

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

Children Tom born

Partners MarriedJim

Accommodation Moved to 5Arran Rd

Work End offactory job

Other

Basic life grid

1945 1946 194721 22 23

VE & VJday celebs

Breadrationing

PrincessElizabethmarried

Children Tom born

Partners MarriedJim

Accommodation Moved to 5Arran Rd

Work End offactory job

Other Mum died

Key aspects of life grid

Flexible so can recall events in different ways:

• Refer to other kinds of events in their life

• Refer to external events

• Can choose order of topics

• Can go back and change answers

Life history interview - current progress

Currently in field (March - August/Sept)

Evaluation project • NatCen Question Design and Testing Hub with ELSA team

& US Census Bureau• Aim - examine respondents’ and interviewers’ experiences

of using the life grid• Computer Audio Recorded Interviewing (CARI)• 30 interviewers - 4 respondents each• Behaviour coding

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

ELSA Wave One 2002Core Interview (12,099)

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse1998-1999-2001

HSE + Nurse2001-02-03-04

HSE + Nurse2001-02-03-04

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Core (9,432)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Two 2004Nurse (7,666)

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Core Interview

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

Wave Three 2006Life History Int.

Wave Four 2008Core Interview

Wave Four 2008Core Interview

Wave Four 2008Nurse Visit

Wave Four 2008Nurse Visit

Data available

ELSA data in archive

Wave 1 datasets• Core variables and financial derived variables• Training dataset

Wave 2 datasets• Core variables and financial derived variables• Nurse data• Ryff data (personal beliefs & wellbeing)

Wave 0 (HSE) data

Index file for linking (including mortality data)

ELSA documentation in archive

Questionnaires

Field documents, coding & editing info etc.

User guides for datasets

Future datasets to be archived

Wave 3 data

Life History Interview data

Waves 1 & 2 derived variables

Household level data for each wave

Other data available (not archived)

Geography (Waves 0, 1 & 2)

Wave 2 genetics data

Other non-archived variables

Administrative data

Additional health data• Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES)• Cancer register

DWP and HMRC administrative data • National insurance contributions• Benefit records• Tax credit records• New at Wave 3: tax records, savings and pensions

Where to get more information

ELSA website• http://www.ifs.org.uk/elsa

Data and associated documentation• http://www.esds.ac.uk/longitudinal/

ELSA data manager (Susan Nunn)• s.nunn@natcen.ac.uk

To contact me...• k.cox@natcen.ac.uk

The English Longitudinal Study of

Ageing (ELSA)