Frequently Asked Questions
Here are questions other respondents have asked about…
The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health also known as Add Health is a one-of-a-kind study. You may recall, you and your child(ren) were first interviewed for the Add Health Study in the 1994/1995 school year when they were in middle or high school. Add Health is the only U.S. nationally representative health study that has followed its participants from adolescence to adulthood. Add Health is one of the key studies that provides important data about the nation’s health. Your continued participation will help researchers expand this valuable source of data across multiple generations and learn how life experiences and relationships contribute to the health and wellbeing of parents and their children over time.
Do you remember when you and your children participated in The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) in the 1990’s? For decades, your children have been helping Add Health learn more about how health changes across the life course.
Now, YOU can take part in the second phase of the Add Health Parent Study! With your participation, you can help us understand how health and aging is connected among family members. Your contribution is important to the success of this newest phase of the Add Health Parent Study.
As a part of Add Health Study we are very interested in talking to parents or parent figures. Add Health is the only U.S. nationally representative health study that has followed its participants from adolescence to adulthood. This study is unlike any other. The information collected is used by countless researchers to answer important research questions about the health and well-being of people in the U.S. Add Health is one of the key studies that provides important data about the nation’s health.
As the parent or parent figure of an Add Health Study participant, your participation in this unique and important study is of great value. If you do not complete the interview, we miss an opportunity to collect valuable data that will help researchers understand how life experiences and relationships with families contribute to the health and wellbeing of parents and their children over time. Because your child(ren) was selected to participate in the original study in the 1994/1995 school year, 30 years ago, we cannot replace them, or you.
Using contact information on file, you were identified as the parent or parent figure of an adolescent selected to participate in the first Add Health Study during the 1994/1995 school year. As long as we confirm we are speaking to the correct person, you do not need to remember the previous interview to participate in the current Add Health Parent Study.
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.
We have followed up with your child(ren) on multiple occasions to invite them to continue their participation in Add Health. This time we need you! The Add Health Parent Study was designed for YOUR participation, and it’s success depends on you and parents like you who continue participating.
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 do not 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.
It should take about 2 hours to complete the in-person interview, consisting of a survey, health and cognitive 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.
Yes, you will receive compensation as a thank you for completing different parts of the study. We really appreciate your contribution to this important research.
We will 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.
The Add Health Parent Study is a collaborative effort between the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, Columbia University, and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Research Triangle Institute (RTI) International has been contracted to complete the Parent Study interviews with parents. This study is being funded by a research grant from the National Institute of Aging.
For more information on the Parent Study team, please visit the ‘Who We Are’ page.
No, participation in every portion of the Parent Study is completely voluntary. 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.
This research is designed to help society by gaining new knowledge. Information from previous Add Health interviews has made large contributions to our understanding of the health and life experiences of adolescents and young adults. For example, we have discovered the important roles that parents, siblings, friends, classmates, and neighborhoods play in the health and development of young people. Check out the graphic below, which highlights a few examples of what we’ve learned.
The Add Health Parent Study will help inform how relationships among family members affect the health and well-being of families over time; however, you will not benefit personally from being part of this study.
You may feel discomfort answering interview questions, conducting assessments and/or during DNA collection. You can stop participating at any point during the study.
There is also a very unlikely risk of privacy breach. However, Add Health has strict security policies (see the question ‘How will my privacy be protected?’ below for more details).
Your privacy is a top priority for all of us working on the Add Health Parent Study. Here are some examples of how your privacy is protected:
- RTI staff, including tracing specialists and field interviewers sign a confidentiality pledge.
- For the interview data, we separate your answers and your name. Your name will not appear in the interview file; and the data from your answers are labeled only with an ID number. All analysis of data is of groups of persons, not specific individuals. You will never be identified in any report or publication that uses data from Add Health.
- Strict data security procedures are in place. After the data are processed, any identifying information about participants is maintained separately from the responses. The security technique of storing different parts of the information in different places is a proven, high-security protocol designed to keep your identity confidential.
- Only authorized and trained staff and researchers have access to your answers. Add Health has a federal Certificate of Confidentiality. This Certificate of Confidentiality authorizes Add Health researchers to refuse to disclose identifying information in any proceeding, if the information could have adverse consequences for research participants or damage their financial standing, employability, insurability, or reputation.
All in all, we feel we have done everything possible to respect and protect your privacy. These security procedures have been successful since 1995 when you and your child(ren) first joined the study.
You can call us toll-free at 877-475-7051 to verify the legitimacy of the study or to obtain 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, 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.
You may contact the Add Health Parent Study team (toll free) at 877-475-7051 or email AHPS@rti.org.
To reach out to the Parent Study team with questions and to update your contact information, please visit the Contact Us page.
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