Americans' Changing Lives (ACL)
ACL is a national longitudinal study of adults in the United States of America. It began in 1986 with a face-to-face survey of over 3,600 adults aged 25 and older, with Black Americans and people over 60 years over-sampled at twice the rate of the others. Since then, participants have been interviewed every 5 to 10 years, with the exception of two recent surveys in 2019 and 2021. The participants are also continuously followed for mortality.
Study design
Cohort
Number of participants at first data collection
3,617 (participants)
Age at first data collection
≥ 25 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
Varied (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
1986
Primary Institutions
University of Michigan
Profile paper DOI
Funders
National Institute on Aging (NIA)
National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Interview – face-to-face
- Interview – phone
- Physical or biological assessment (e.g. blood, saliva, gait, grip strength, anthropometry)
- Secondary data
- None
- None
- Mortality data
Engagement
Keywords
