Washington High School students who participated in the national 1960 study Project Talent may soon be receiving surveys for a follow-up study.
In 1960, the 326 students of Washington High School joined more than 400,000 teenagers from across the country, including 2,818 students from 17 schools in Arkansas. Project Talent presented a snapshot of a generation coming of age on the cusp of a new era. The study included students from all walks of life and every racial and ethnic group. This week, 58 years since the original study was launched, some of those participants will be sent a questionnaire and asked to take part in a follow-up study designed to learn how their lives have unfolded over the past five decades, said Susan Lapham, project director.
About 20 percent of the students who participated in the survey will receive questionnaires. But any past participant who is interested can contact Project Talent.
The students who were involved in the study were followed on and off for follow-ups until they reached age 30, Lapham said. However, there was no further contact until about 2009 when conductors of the study began attending 50th year high school reunions to see if there was any interest in continuing the study.
"There was an overwhelming positive response," she said.
For two days in the spring of 1960, Project Talent assessed the aptitudes and abilities, hopes and expectations of high school students from 1,353 schools across the country. The goal was to identify the unique strengths and interests of America's young people and to ensure they were being guided into careers that would make the best use of their talents. Follow-up studies collected information on occupations, family formation, education and health. The study was originally developed by the American Institutes for Research and funded by the United States Office of Education. The new Alzheimer's study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The new follow-up study will have a special focus on memory and cognitive health in an effort to develop evidence-based policies to combat the looming Alzheimer's crisis. The National Institute on Aging reports that, by 2050, the number of Americans living with Alzheimer's disease will more than triple, reaching 16 million. The cost of caring for sufferers will exceed $1 trillion annually.
"Were there things detected in 1960 that pointed to a greater risk of dementia?" Lapham said. "And can interventions be developed for high school students?"
The new study is seeking to include the experiences Project Talent participants who identified in 1960 as belonging to a racial or ethnic minority. Researchers wish to understand the health disparities that exist between minority and nonminority groups and to examine the long-term effects of attending racially segregated versus integrated schools.
Participants can contact Project Talent on 1-866-770-6977 or send an email to [email protected]. They can also visit the Project Talent website: http://www.projecttalent.org/