The life course perspective, also known as life course theory, is used in the social sciences to help understand human development. The approach takes into account how we grow and change as we go through life experiences.
A turning point can include negative experiences, such as college savings being drained, as well as positive experiences, such as a renewed appreciation for the support of those helping to deal with the crisis. Life course perspective is a theory used in the social sciences that looks at how a person grows and changes over time.
The Charting the LifeCourse framework was created to help individuals and families of all abilities and all ages develop a vision for a good life, think about what they need to know and do, identify how to find or develop supports, and discover what it takes to live the lives they want to live.
Life events may also affect a person's trajectory, an overall life path that involves multiple transitions. Those using this theory will pay attention to the turning points of a person's life, the periods of time that alter the life course trajectory.
Life course theory has five distinct principles: (a) time and place; (b) life-span development; (c) timing; (d) agency; and (e) linked lives. We used these principles to examine and explain high-risk pregnancy, its premature conclusion, and subsequent mothering of medically fragile preterm infants.
Three important themes of the life course perspective—timing of lives, diversity in life course trajectories, and human agency—are particularly useful for engaging diverse individuals and social groups.
Glen Elder theorized the life course as based on five key principles: life-span development, human agency, historical time and geographic place, timing of decisions, and linked lives.
Examples include: an individual who gets married at the age of 20 is more likely to have a relatively early transition of having a baby, raising a baby and sending a child away when a child is fully grown up in comparison to his/her age group.
Several fundamental principles characterize the life course approach. They include: (1) socio-historical and geographical location; (2) timing of lives; (3) heterogeneity or variability; (4) "linked lives" and social ties to others; (5) human agency and personal control; and (6) how the past shapes the future.
However, socialization continues throughout the several stages of the life course, most commonly categorized as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
The most complex and demanding challenge for the life course approach lies in taking a holistic view of people, including a wide range of environmental and individual risk factors and in developing means for effective interventions to reduce or modify such risk factors and behaviors during the different phases of life.
Life Course Outcomes Research Program Mission and Goals A “life course” perspective looks at the entire span of life and emphasizes challenges related to quality of life.
Life course approaches to health disparities leverage theories that explain how socially patterned physical, environmental, and socioeconomic exposures at different stages of human development shape health within and across generations and can therefore offer substantial insight into the etiology of health disparities.
Definition of Life Course (noun) The entirety of individual's life from birth to death and the typical set of circumstances an individual experiences in a given society as they age.
Life course analysis entails the collection of life course data together with the (statistical) analysis of the timing of events (when do they happen?),their sequencing (in which order do they happen?),and their quantum (how many events happen?).
2. The life course perspective recognizes the influence of historical changes on human behavior. 3. The life course perspective recognizes the importance of timing of lives not just in terms of chronological age, but also in terms of biological age, psychological age, social age, and spiri- tual age.
The concept of life course is defined by trajectories that extend across the life span, such as family or work; and by short-term changes or transitions, such as entering and leaving school, acquiring a full-time job, and the first marriage. Each life-course transition is embedded in a trajectory that gives it specific form and meaning. Thus, work transitions are core elements of a work-life trajectory; and births are key markers along a parental trajectory. Multiple marriages and divorces are elements of a marital trajectory.
The study of lives represents an enduring interest of sociology and the social sciences, reflecting important societal changes and their human consequences. Most notably, developments after World War II called for new ways of thinking about people, society, and their connection. In the United States, pioneering longitudinal studies of children born in the 1920s became studies of adults as the children grew up, thereby raising questions about the course they followed to the adult years and beyond. The changing age composition of society assigned greater significance to problems of aging and their relation to people's lives. Insights regarding old age directed inquiry to earlier phases of life and to the process by which life patterns are shaped by a changing society.
Three such limitations and their challenges, in particular, played a major role in the genesis of life course theory and appropriate methods (Elder 1998):
The Charting the LifeCourse framework was created to help individuals and families of all abilities and all ages develop a vision for a good life, think about what they need to know and do, identify how to find or develop supports, and discover what it takes to live the lives they want to live.
Individuals and families plan for the present and future life outcomes that take into account all facets of life and have opportunities for life experiences that build self-determination, social capital, economic sufficiency, and community inclusion.
All people, regardless of age, ability, or family role, are considered in our vision, values, policies, and practices for supporting individuals and families. All families have choices and access to the supports they need. Learn More.
Life domains are the different aspects and experiences of life that we all consider as we age and grow.
Individuals and families are truly involved in policy making so that they influence planning, policy, implementation, research, and revision of the practices that affect them. Every program, organization, system, and policy-maker must think about a person within the context of family and community.
Lesson Summary. Life course perspective is a theory used in the social sciences that looks at how a person grows and changes over time. Researchers using this theory may study a cohort, or a group of people born during a particular timeframe who've experienced similar historical events.
This kind of transition is known as a turning point, a period of time that alters the life course trajectory. A turning point can include negative experiences, such as college savings being drained, as well as positive experiences, such as a renewed appreciation for the support of those helping to deal with the crisis.
Life events influence a person's trajectory, an overall life path that involves multiple transitions. For a person growing up during the Depression, it was common for there to have been a certain trajectory prior to the economic downturn, and then a different trajectory afterwards.
A transition occurs when there is movement from one role or status to another over time. This transition to having less money occurred because of the life event of losing a job. Getting married, getting divorced, a loved one passing away, and having a baby, along with many other changes, are all considered life events.
Examples of life events include getting married, getting divorced, a loved one passing away, and having a baby, along with many other changes.