The MTF Main study surveys approximately 50,000 students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grade (13-14 years, 15-16 years, and 17-18 years) annually from about 420 public and private secondary schools in the United States of America. The MTF Panel study extends the work of the MTF Main study by following a subsample of graduating seniors through the entire adult life course. Beginning with the class of 1976, a randomly selected sample of around 2,400 graduating seniors have taken follow up surveys every two years from ages 19–30 and every five years starting at age 35. For young adults (19–30) each cohort’s follow up sample is split into two random subsamples that are surveyed in alternate years (at ages 19/20, 21/22, 23/24, 25/26, 27/28, 29/30), so the Panel study obtains a representative sample from each cohort every year. The Panel study now has over 108,000 individuals, with approximately 28,500 surveyed every year.

Recruitment is ongoing