Baby boomers asked to revisit 58-year-old survey

In the early 1960s, about 11,000 Wisconsin teenagers became part of a national study on the American high school experience.

The teens took academic tests and filled out surveys about their families, their daily lives, their career aspirations. More than 400,000 other students at public and private high schools around the country did the same.

Dubbed Project Talent, the longitudinal study yielded insights about American teens, but a long-term goal was to track the baby boomers into retirement.

That time has arrived. Now researchers are asking 465 people who took the survey 58 years ago in Wisconsin — including 160 people who attended Milwaukee’s North and South Division high schools — to participate again. The follow-up will study the effect and causes of dementia in an aging population.

“The study will help us learn about protective factors that may help prevent dementia and risk factors that may put someone at greater risk for dementia,” said Susan Lapham, the principal investigator and director of Project Talent.

The Alzheimer’s disease and dementia study is funded by the National Institute on Aging, she said. The aging study includes more than 22,000 people nationwide.

Wanted: Classes of 1960-1963

From Milwaukee, researchers are targeting 165 alumni from North and South Division high schools’ classes of 1960-1963. That’s a small slice of the approximate 2,700 alumni at both schools who took the original survey and are now in their mid-70s.

Judy Jacobsen, 76, participated in the study in 1960 at South Division High School and has already completed the follow-up survey.

After high school, Jacobsen lived in Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. She has two sons and five grandchildren. Today she lives in Atlanta.

“Like many people, I found that the high school friends I made were the best,” Jacobsen said. “From past reunions and get-togethers, I haven’t noticed or heard of any of them having these problems — yet!”

Jacobsen said she’d like to know how many of her peers have been affected by memory loss.

The leaders of Project Talent are encouraging people in the follow-up study to complete the mail survey and share their experiences with researchers.

Anyone interested in participating can call (866) 770-6077 or send an email to projecttalentstudy@air.org. Data collection will continue through the end of the year.