The Anatomy of Developmental Predictors of Healthy Lives Study (TADPOHLS)

Abstract

Numerous studies have followed people across significant portions of their lives. Secondary analyses with these studies offer opportunities to study life trajectories across diverse samples. To aid integrative efforts, we introduce The Anatomy of Developmental Predictors of Healthy Lives Study (TADPOHLS), a data base that categorizes items and constructs from 14 prospective longitudinal studies that followed participants from adolescence into adulthood. To classify items and measures, we created an extensive typology that provides a common language for categorizing study concepts. We illustrate the utility of the data base by examining adolescent perseverance and optimism as predictors of physical health outcomes across six studies. Adolescent perseverance and optimism were related to better physical health outcomes 15 to 20 years later. Overall, the data base offers a resource that contributes toward life-span studies of positive psychological and physical health.

Notes

¹To protect participants and honor data sharing agreements, the website provides detailed information about the variables available, and provides contact information or websites for each study, but does not provide the actual questionnaires, codebooks, or data. It is the user's responsibility to work directly with the original study investigators to obtain the data.

²It is possible that responses differ due to the question wording and/or sample characteristics. IDA allows such differences to be directly tested and included in the model. As the current analysis is an illustrative example, we simply harmonized variables. To fully consider associations between adolescent perseverance and optimism and adult health, more sophisticated approaches to harmonization should be used.