NEXT GENERATION STUDY, COHORT MAINTENANCE

Cdm Group, Inc., Bethesda MD

Investigators

Abstract

NEXT is a 7-year longitudinal assessment of a representative sample of U.S. adolescent and young adults starting at grade 10. The goals of the NEXT longitudinal study include: to identify the trajectory of adolescent health status and health behaviors from mid-adolescence through the post high school years; to examine individual predictors of the onset of key adolescent risk behaviors and risk indicators during this period; to identify genetic, personal, family, school, and social/environmental factors that promote or sustain positive health behaviors; to identify transition points in health risk and risk behaviors and changes in family, school, and social/environmental precursors to these transitions, and to examine the role of potential gene-environment interactions in the development of health status and health behaviors. Assessments are conducted annually for seven years beginning in the 2009-2010 school year. African American youth are oversampled to provide a better population estimate and to provide an adequate sample to examine racial/ethnic differences in longitudinal predictors of health, health behaviors, and health behavior change. Self-reports of health status, health behaviors, and health attitudes are collected by in-school and online surveys. Anthropometric data, genetic information, and neighborhood characteristics are gathered on all participants as well. The study also incorporates a School Administrator Survey and other data files to obtain related information on school-level health programs and community-level contextual data Complete a comprehensive assessment of the data collection completeness in the NEXT, and NEXT Plus, studies also include peers of novice youth driver to determine their behavior, samples as of the WaveS Survey.