Ohio Longitudinal Study on Aging and Retirement, 1975-1995

Abstract

The Ohio Longitudinal Study on Aging and Retirement was begun in 1975 to investigate certain aspects of the retirement process and their impact on the physical aging and the social adjustment of individuals. In 1975, Miami University's Scripps Foundation Gerontology Center launched a study of all adults who were age 50 or over living in Oxford Township, Ohio. More than 1,500 individuals were mailed a 42-item, self-administered questionnaire, consisting mainly of precoded items. Over 1,100 individuals returned questionnaires, 1,106 of which were usable. The questionnaire tapped issues of retirement, leisure activities, life satisfaction, as well as basic demographic information such as age, employment status and history, marital status, etc. Follow-up questionnaires were mailed to participants in 1977, 1979, 1981, 1991, and 1995. Follow-up questionnaires were designed to assess changes in the respondents' lives and their subsequent effects. The 1977 and 1979 questionnaires essentially replicated the 1975 questionnaire. After the third wave, research objectives included factors involved in adjustment to retirement over time, adjustment to widowhood, intergenerational contact, and adjustment to physical limitations due to disability. The Murray Research Archive holds numeric data files from the 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1991, and 1995 waves of data collection