The health of older adults is influenced by many factors. One of the least understood is the role that social support and personal relationships play in health and aging. The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is a population-based study of health and social factors on a national scale, aiming to understand the well-being of older, community-dwelling Americans by examining the interactions among physical health, illness, medication use, cognitive function, emotional health, sensory function, health behaviors, and social connectedness.  NSHAP provides health providers, policy makers, and individuals with useful information and insights into these factors, particularly on social and intimate relationships. The study will be important in finding new ways to improve health as people age.

In 2005 and 2006, NORC and Principal Investigators at the University of Chicago conducted more than 3,000 interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults aged 57 to 85.  The same respondents will be interviewed again in 2010 and 2011. As before, face-to-face interviews and biomeasure collection will take place in respondents' homes.  Data collection includes:

• demographic characteristics
• social networks
• social and cultural activity
• physical and mental health including cognition
• well-being
• illness
• medications and alternative therapies
• history of sexual and intimate partnerships, and
• patient-physician communication.

NSHAP also collects important health information in the home, prioritizing non-invasive collection techniques and cutting-edge technology that minimizes respondent burden.

NSHAP, by returning to respondents after five years for a follow-up interview, provides important information about how adults change over time. This second wave of the study is essential to understand how social and biological  characteristics change. NSHAP, by eliciting a variety of information from respondents over time, will provide data that will allow researchers in a number of fields to examine how specific factors may or may not affect each other across the life course. This is an exciting opportunity to improve the understanding of health and the aging process.

NSHAP Data
NSHAP is dedicated to maintaining the trust of respondents and is diligent in protecting respondent confidentiality while providing data accessible to the public for research.  NSAP data made available to the public does not contain any identifiable respondent information  and uses code numbers instead of names for all data.  De-identified data from the 2005 and 2006 interviews are available to researchers through the National Archive of Computerized Data on Aging, located within ICPSR. Additional information on obtaining the NSHAP data is available here. Further description of the study, including the available data elements, can be found here.

NSHAP Facts
Find additional information about NSHAP and components of the NSHAP interview here.

Publications

Find information about NSHAP publications here.

Current Investigator Team
• Linda J. Waite, PhD (Principal Investigator)
• Kathleen A. Cagney, A. PhD

• Benjamin Cornwell, PhD

• William Dale, MD, PhD

• Elbert Huang, MD

• Edward Laumann, PhD
• Martha McClintock, PhD
• Colm O’Muircheartaigh, PhD
• Phil Schumm, MA

Sponsors
NSHAP is supported by the National Institutes of Health (5R01AG021487), including:  

• National Institute on Aging  

• Office of Research on Women's Health

• Office of AIDS Research

Additional financial support was provided by NORC.