History
Dr. James S. Jackson 1944-2020
We’re excited to learn about what you’ve been up to for the past 25 years since the original National Survey of American Life. Here’s an overview of the history of the study and what we’ve been doing in that time.
The original National Survey of American Life study was conducted in 2001-03, led by Dr. James Jackson, one of America’s top social scientists. The original NSAL study had a particular focus on understanding mental health issues, but also included questions on a range of topics, allowing researchers to gain insights into many different aspects of participants’ lives. The NSAL drew on Dr. Jackson’s earlier research on Black Americans in the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA) which launched in 1979, exploring the complexities within the Black population. Dr. Jackson was also a noted mentor and teacher and many of the researchers involved in the current NSAL 25 Year Follow-up learned from and were inspired by Dr. Jackson.
The notion was that we were to give voice to the real imperatives and needs of the African American community which had been overlooked in the kind of social science research that had been done before.
Key Dates in the History of the National Survey of American Life
1976 - Program for Research on Black Americans Founded
- The Program for Research on Black Americans (PRBA) established by an interdisciplinary team of social scientists and graduate students to address the need for high quality national data on African Americans, and to provide research and training opportunities for social scientists and students of color.
- PRBA has been a leader in creating new and innovative research methods in African American communities.
1979 - National Survey of Black Americans
- The first truly representative look at Black America.
- Worked with focus groups to develop language for questionnaires that have been used in many studies.
- Survey begun in 1979 and continued through several successive, interrelated studies in the 1980s and 1990s.
1997 - Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research Founded
- Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR) is a collaborative research, community outreach, and faculty mentoring program.
- Funded by the National Institute on Aging to increase and enhance the future scientific research workforce; mentoring promising new faculty and research scientists for sustained careers in aging-related behavioral research.
2001-2003 - National Survey of American Life in the field
- Interviewers met with over 7,000 people all across the United States
- Participants included African Americans, blacks of Caribbean descent, non-Hispanic whites, and adolescents who lived in the same households as some of the adult participants.
2007-Present - NSAL Data Published & Used for Research
- Nearly 800 academic articles published using the NSAL data.
- Over 80 students have used NSAL data for their doctoral dissertations
- Data was used to develop new national prevalence rates for many mental health conditions
2026-2027 - 25 Year Follow-up
- Returning to the original participants to learn how life has changed over the last 25 years
- Newly revised and updated questionnaire seeks to understand more about aging risks and resilience
