Summary information

Study title

Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS): Interviews of 50-Year-Olds 2009

Creator

Pulkkinen, Lea (University of Jyväskylä. Department of Psychology) - 0000-0002-4290-6690
Kinnunen, Marja-Liisa (University of Jyväskylä. Department of Psychology)
Kokko, Katja (University of Jyväskylä. Department of Psychology) - 0000-0002-8747-2080

Study number / PID

FSD2616 (FSD)

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2616 (URN)

10.60686/t-fsd2616 (DOI)

Data access

Restricted

Series

Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS)

Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development was initiated as Lea Pulkkinen's doctoral dissertation in 1968. Since then, the study has continued to follow the same individuals for over 40 years. When the project was launched, 369 eight-year-old children participated in the research. They were randomly selected among second-graders in primary school. After the first research, data have been collected when the respondents have been 14, 20, 27, 33, 36, 42, 50, and 60 years old. The latest data collection started in 2020. When the respondents were still in school, the...

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Abstract

The data are part of the Jyväskylä Longitudinal Study of Personality and Social Development (JYLS), in which the same individuals have been followed over 40 years. At this research stage, the lives of 50-year-olds were surveyed in terms of family, work, health, and leisure. In addition to interviews, this research stage includes a Life Situation Questionnaire, self-ratings based on various tests and methods, personality tests, a life history calendar, a medical examination and laboratory tests. Interviews gathered further information on the questions asked and themes included in the Life Situation Questionnaire. Main themes were emotions, identity, middle age, health, family life, work and the respondent's relationship to parents and other people. During the interview, the respondents were also asked to complete a life history calendar and to fill in 21 self-ratings (FSD2617). In the interviews, the respondents were asked how satisfied they were with different periods in their life, how satisfied they estimated they would be at the age of 60 and whether they had regrets about something they had or hadn't done in their life. The respondents' self image was examined by asking how much they thought about issues such as their health, sexuality or financial situation. The respondents' ideological and political identities were investigated with questions about religious views, the meaningfulness of life, political activity, positions of trust and responsibility, views of society and what kind of lifestyle they desired. Perceptions of middle age were surveyed by asking how old they wished to be, whether some things were getting more difficult when older and whether they had noticed any signs of a midlife crisis. The respondents were asked to what extent they agreed with statements relating to the reason and meaning of existence and higher powers. Alcohol and drug use was charted as well as instances of stress and depression during the previous 12 months. Other topics...
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Methodology

Data collection period

01/2009 - 05/2010

Country

Finland

Time dimension

Longitudinal: Cohort/Event-based

Analysis unit

Individual

Universe

Persons who were second grade students in a school in Jyväskylä at the time of the first data collection in 1968 and who continued to participate in the longitudinal study. The sample was collected both from the town centre and suburbs.

Sampling procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

Kind of data

Quantitative

Data collection mode

Face-to-face interview

Access

Publisher

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Publication year

2011

Terms of data access

The dataset is (D) available only by permission from the data depositor/creator.

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