Non-participation in telephone follow-up interviews.

The present analysis examined sample attrition in a one-year longitudinal health survey that made use of telephone follow-up interviews (N = 1210). Overall, respondent attrition had little impact on the sociodemographic and health status characteristics of the sample at the final interview. However, certain subgroups were statistically less likely to participate in the follow-up interviews, including younger respondents, the non-employed, people from the lower socioeconomic groups, and those who initially rated their health as fair or poor. Reports of physical illness and disability obtained at the initial interview were unrelated to rates of sample attrition.