The Berlin Aging Study (BASE): Initiators and Goals of the Study

The multidisciplinary Berlin Aging Study (BASE) is conducted by the Research Group on Aging and Societal Development of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences in collaboration with institutes and research centers belonging to the Free University of Berlin, the Humboldt University Berlin, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin. The study is directed by a steering committee consisting of Paul B. Baltes (chair), head of the BASE Psychology Unit, Karl Ulrich Mayer (vice-chair), head of the BASE Sociology and Social Policy Unit, Hanfried Helmchen, head of the BASE Psychiatry Unit, and Elisabeth Steinhagen-Thiessen, head of the BASE Internal Medicine and Geriatrics Unit. The project has been supported financially by several organizations including the German Federal Ministry for Research and Technology (1989-1991, 13 TA 011 + 13 TA 011/A) and the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women, and Youth (1992-1998, 314-1722-102/9 + 314-1722-102/9a).

Goals of the Berlin Aging Study (BASE)

The Berlin Aging Study (BASE) was established in 1989 to investigate questions about very old age from the joint and collaborative perspectives of four disciplines: psychiatry, psychology, sociology, and internal medicine (see P. B. Baltes, Mayer, Helmchen, & Steinhagen-Thiessen, 1993). The initial goal of BASE (1990-1993) was to obtain extensive baseline information about very old age using a 14-session multidisciplinary Intensive Protocol. The study design called for an age-by-sex stratified heterogeneous (locally representative) sample of 70- to 100+-year-olds. Central goal of the longitudinal study has been to follow-up the core sample of participants who completed this Intensive Protocol. Extensive information about the baseline sample selectivity, assessment procedures, and cross-sectional findings are reported in Mayer and Baltes (1996; P. B. Baltes & Mayer, 1999; P. B. Baltes & Smith, 1997; Lindenberger, Gilberg, Pötter, Little, & Baltes, 1996; Lindenberger, Gilberg, Little, Nuthmann, Pötter, & Baltes, 1999).

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