Project TALENT public use file, 1960-1976

Project TALENT is a longitudinal survey designed to investigate the personal, educational, and experiential factors that promote or inhibit the development of human talents. Extensive data were obtained in 1960 from a sample of over 400,000 students in grades 9-12 in the United States, these data included cognitive skills of the individuals, interests, plans, family background, and activities while in high school as well as general characteristics of the schools they attended. Follow-up surveys conducted one year, five years, and eleven years after high school graduation produced data regarding individuals' post-high school education and work experiences, family development, plans and aspirations, and life satisfaction. The Public Use File contains data for a subsample of 4,000 of the original 400,000 Project TALENT participants (1,000 men and women from each of the high school classes of 1960-1963), all of whom had responded to the eleven-year follow-up survey. The sample was selected in order be self-weighted. The data are in logical record format.