ANN ARBOR—The National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health, has renewed its cooperative agreement with the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research to continue the ISR Health and Retirement Study, the nation’s leading resource for data on the health and economic conditions of Americans over age 50.

Now in its 14th year, the study follows more than 20,000 people at two-year intervals, providing data from pre-retirement to advanced age. A major goal of the study is to help address the scientific and policy challenges posed by the nation’s aging population.

The renewal will provide ISR with approximately $70 million in funding over the next six years to continue the study. This is the largest single research award in U-M’s history. The U.S. Social Security Administration also will provide additional funding for the study.

The study, co-directed by ISR researchers Robert J. Willis and David R. Weir, paints a detailed portrait over time of older Americans’ physical and mental health, insurance coverage, financial well-being, labor market status, retirement planning, social support systems, intergenerational transfers of time and money, and living arrangements.

Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations, and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world’s largest computerized social science data archive. For more information, visit the ISR Web site

Related Links:

• Institute for Social Research
• More information about the study
• NIA news release