The Chicago Longitudinal Study: A low-income minority cohort from Birth to adulthood

Project Summary The proposed project will archive the data from the Chicago Longitudinal Study (CLS), a large-scale prospective investigation funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) since 1995. The CLS study sample is a cohort of over 1,500 minority low-income children who grew up in inner-city Chicago. The cohort is at

high-risk due to the minority status and poverty. The proposed project will archive the CLS data from birth to age 30. Data will be archived include five areas: (a) Context and CPC program participation, (b) Academic performance and school experiences from K-12, (c) Family experiences, including child maltreatment and adverse childhood experience

(ACE), (d) Criminology, including delinquency and adult crime, and (e) Well-being indicators between ages 19 and 30.

Archived data will allow researchers to investigate topics on developmental process of a cohort of disadvantaged children. The negative effects of poverty on children’s early development and long-term outcomes are well documented. The CLS data can be used to identify alterable factors that can be intervened early to improve success in adolescence and

adulthood. Recent findings from large-scale state preschool programs found positive effects of preschool at kindergarten entry, but the effects fade out soon after. The fade out of the positive effects has been discussed since the 1990s and

remains a critical topic nowadays. The CLS data will allow researchers to replicate or conduct new studies on the effects of CPC. The effects of ACEs on child development are substantial and long-lasting. However, ACE studies on minority populations are rare. Researchers can use the CLS data to investigate the connection between ACE and child

development. Antisocial behavior originates as early as childhood. CLS data provide a unique opportunity to understand

the life-course criminology of a high-risk minority group starting from childhood, which will help to develop preventive

programs. Lastly, the longitudinal nature and richness of the CLS data allow researchers to apply sophisticated statistical models or explore new methodological issues. Given the features of the study sample, data in the CLS is suited for examining the developmental process of at-risk children and addressing important issues on at-risk children.

The design of the CLS is innovative because the data collection went above and beyond the intended factors and outcomes associated with the CPC program planed in the original funded projects. In addition to collect data from participants, teachers, parents, and schools, existing datasets, such as criminal records, postsecondary education, and

employment, were matched and linked to the CLS data, which enhances the potential scientific impact to a broad community level, and goes beyond the intended educational outcomes to socio-behavioral outcomes and economic

wellbeing. The scale of data collection over 25-years is rare in social science. Moreover, the CLS constructed a significant

number of variables over the years based on multiple data sources and waves of available data. The data will be deposited with the Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR), housed within the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan. DSDR will disseminate the archived data worldwide. Studies

using the archived dataset can have implications for policymakers and further the advancement of the research.