UW-Madison study of class of ’57 becomes leading research on aging

During the last 50 years, participants in the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study have helped researchers explore the experience of careers, family life, family and education in America. Now, the groundbreaking University of Wisconsin-Madison sociological study — which has involved more than 10,000 graduates of Wisconsin's high school class of 1957, along with their siblings and spouses — will serve as the seminal study on aging and the effect of those life experiences. With 77 million baby boomers poised to head into retirement in the next 20 years, the National Institute on Aging understands the value in the study's findings and has funded the latest round of research. "What we learn from the class of '57 cohort is going to predict a lot about what's going to happen to the similar population of the baby boomers when they come along," says Carol Roan, assistant scientist for the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. While the study used to be primarily focused on work and education and the relationships between them, as the class is aging, the study is now focused more on physical health and memory. For the first time in its 53 years, interviewers for the study are meeting participants in person to take some physical measurements that can't be gauged over the phone: height, weight, vision, waist and hip circumference, mental cognition, grip strength and a chair rise. Scientists have also been increasingly interested in researching how memory and thinking change across the life span and to what extent genes play a role in this change.