Chicago Health Aging and Social Relations Study: Attrition

The Chicago Health, Aging, and Social Relations Study (CHASRS) is a ten-wave longitudinal, population-based study of 229 Caucasian, African American, and Hispanic men and women who ranged from 50-68 years of age at baseline. The study identifies characteristics of respondents that predict attrition in order to permit evaluation of potential selection biases. Respondents were required to spend one day per wave to complete interviews, surveys, and physiological testing in a university laboratory. Analyses of baseline measures of demographic factors, health, cognitive function, loneliness, and social contact indicated that attrition was higher for older respondents, and lower for respondents with better cognitive function and more social contacts. The results replicated age and cognitive function as predictors of attrition in an ethnically diverse sample, and extended this work to include the number of social contacts as protective against attrition.