Elizabeth Douvan, Joseph Veroff, and Gerald Gurin founded this program, originally known as the Family and Sex Roles Program, to research shifts in mental health, values, attitudes, and behavior over the life course. The researchers conducted two groundbreaking mental health surveys—in 1957 and then again in 1976—which led to influential books by Veroff, Douvan, and Richard Kulka: The Inner American and Mental Health in America.

Charles Cannell and Robert Kahn wrote this classic book on methodological principles that enhanced ISR’s already strong reputation in survey methodology.