Frequently Asked Questions
Here are questions other respondents have asked about…
What is Add Health?
In 1994-1995, your child was selected to participate in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health)—a groundbreaking study on health and well-being. Now, we are inviting you, the parent, to participate in the Add Health Parent Study. This research focuses on understanding how health, aging, and life experiences affect parents and their children over time. Both studies together help provide valuable insights into the health of families and communities across generations..
The Add Health Parent Study is being conducted so that we can learn how families and relationships contribute to the health and wellbeing of parents and their children over time. By being part of the Add Health Parent Study, you will help us understand important social, behavioral, and family relationships across two generations of parents and their children.
You can call us toll-free at 877-475-7051 to check the legitimacy of the study or to find additional information. We can also share contact information for the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and their Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is responsible for regulating this research study and making sure it is ethical.
Please visit the Add Health Parent Study website for more information.
If you have any questions about your rights as a study participant, please contact RTI’s Office of Research Protections toll-free at 877-475-7051.
Contact
You were identified as the parent or parent figure of an adolescent selected to participate in the first wave of Add Health back in 1995. Many parents or parent figures were interviewed in 1995 so you might remember having completed an interview back then. Since that time, we have followed up with your child/children on multiple occasions to invite them to continue participating in Add Health. You do not need to remember the previous interview to take part in the current Add Health Parent Study.
To update your contact information, you may call the Add Health Parent Study team (toll free) at 877-475-7051, email AHPS@rti.org, or follow the steps below to use the website.
- Go to the Add Health Parent Study website.
- Select the ‘Contact Us’ tab from the menu at the top of the page.
- Scroll down on the ‘Contact Us’ page and press the ‘Contact Update Form’ button.
- Enter your up-to-date contact information.
It is important that we update your contact information because you are an original Add Health parent, and we don’t want to lose touch with you. Unlike other studies, we cannot replace you with another parent if we lose track of you. We are asking all Add Health parents who were selected to participate in the current Parent Study to update their contact information so we can contact you when the study begins.
The Interview Process
It should take about 2 hours to complete the in-person interview, consisting of a survey, health and mental assessments, and DNA collection. Additionally, a Family Health History form (FHH) will be given to you after completing the in-person interview. You can fill out the FHH form at a time that is easy for you and return it to us using the prepaid return envelope.
We’ll ask about your relationships and obligations, your physical and emotional health, your family, health-related behaviors, memory and cognition, employment and retirement, and wealth and assets.
As a research participant, your participation is voluntary, your answers will be kept confidential, and you can refuse to answer any question you are not comfortable answering.
I can see how you might feel that way. We will ask you to help us identify a private location to complete the interview so that you may feel most comfortable answering survey questions. Additionally, for sensitive questions, you will enter your answers confidentially into the computer by yourself—I will show you how. You may also choose not to answer any question at any time.
We have 30 years of experience developing secure systems and methods to protect your information. All responses you provide are confidential and not linked to you as an individual.
About the Interview
Yes, you will receive compensation as a thank you for completing different parts of the study. We appreciate your contribution to this important research.
While we aren’t able to share individual results from the study, we want you to know that your participation is incredibly valuable in helping us understand health and well-being. The research focuses on identifying broader patterns rather than personal results, which allows us to make meaningful contributions to science and public health. By participating, you’re playing a vital role in shaping what we learn, and we’re excited to use this knowledge to advance future studies.
Who We Are
An interviewer from the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International will be interviewing you. RTI assists the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with completing interviews for the Add Health Parent Study. RTI is an independent, non-profit institute that provides research, development, and technical services to government and commercial clients worldwide. The company is located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and is affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The Add Health Parent Study is run by researchers from the Carolina Population Center (CPC) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is carried out in collaboration with RTI International and partner institutions including Duke University, the University of Chicago, Columbia University, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Huston. It is funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For more information on the Parent Study team, you can visit the Add Health Parent Study website at Who We Are – Add Health Parent Study (unc.edu)
RTI International is a leading, nonprofit research company located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. RTI is affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University.
Participation
Because your child(ren) was selected to participate in the original Add Health study in the 1994/1995 school year, you can’t be replaced. Only you can help us understand how health and aging are connected among parents and their children throughout their lives.
You and your child/children first participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) in 1995. Your child has been contributing to the Add Health Study for decades. Your involvement, along with your child’s ongoing participation, helps researchers uncover valuable insights into healthy aging and the connection between parent and child health. You are crucial to helping connect the dots between the health of parents and their children over time.
Your participation will help researchers expand the Add Health Study as a valuable source of multi-generational research and learn how families and relationships contribute to the health and wellbeing of parents and their children over time. Because your child was in the study when it started 30 years ago, you cannot be replaced. Success depends on you and parents like you who continue participating.
We have followed up with your child/children on multiple occasions to invite them to continue their participation in Add Health. This time we need you! It doesn’t matter how often you see or speak with your child/ children. The Add Health Parent Study was designed for your participation!
If you participate, you will complete an in-person interview with one of our professional interviewers. You will be asked questions about your physical and emotional health, family and relationships, work, and similar topics.
No, participation in every part of the Parent Study is your choice. Whether or not you choose to participate will have no negative impacts on you or your child. You can stop participating at any point during the study.
You should not participate in the study if you are currently incarcerated, if you are currently residing outside the United States, or if your child(ren) is not an Add health Study Participant.
To reach out to the Parent Study team with questions and to update your contact information, please visit the Contact Us page.
