The Woodlawn Study: A Life Course Study of a Community Cohort of Black Americans Followed Over 50 years

• In Event: Enhancing Accessibility and Unveiling Insights: New Directions of Key Developmental and Life Course Longitudinal Studies

Abstract

The Woodlawn Study is an epidemiologically-defined community cohort study of 1,242 Black
Americans (51% female and 49% male), who were in first grade in 1966-67 in Woodlawn, a
neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. Multiple generations of study researchers have been integral
in collecting and analyzing the extensive interview data that includes, self-, mother-, and/or
teacher-reported interview data and administrative records. The original researchers led the first-grade data collection efforts in 1966-1967 and the adolescent (age 16) efforts in 1975-1976. The next generation of researchers led the 1992-1993 (age 32) and 2002-2003 (age 42) efforts and a third generation of researchers led the 2022-2024 (age 62) efforts. As a whole, these data cover a wide range of focal areas across the life course, including family environment, socioeconomic indicators, education, social integration (e.g., marriage, community engagement, religious involvement), social support, employment, racial discrimination, substance use, crime (self-report and official records), victimization, and mental and physical health, including mortality data from the National Death Index. Current data collection efforts center on geocoding residential addresses from ages 16 to 62 and linking census and other spatially-coded contextual measures to better understand the associations between neighborhood context and residential mobility over the life course on mortality.

Authors

• Kerry M. Green, University of Maryland

• Elaine Eggleston Doherty, University of Maryland, College Park

• Brittany A. Bugbee, University of Maryland