The life-course perspective is gaining increasing acceptance in gerontology. It focuces on the multidimensional meaning of time; individual time (aging), cohort and historical time. Aging is interwoven in context, in a changing society, giving aging and old age different meanings and different conditions.
First, a life course perspective views aging as lifelong and thus facilitates understanding of late-life “outcomes” and the development of effective prevention and intervention approaches (see Berkman, Ertel, & Glymour, 2011).
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. It even looks at how historical events and cultural shifts affect an individual's evolution over time.
In S. Crystal & D. Shea (Eds.), Annual review of gerontology and geriatrics: Vol. 22. Focus on economic outcomes in later life (pp. 155–176). New York: Springer. . The life course of individuals. In M. W. Riley, M. E. Johnson, & A. Foner (Eds.), Aging and society: Vol. III. A sociology of age stratification (pp. 454–574).
However, theoretical advance must rely on an adequate conceptual foundation, and in gerontology that foundation itself was being laid contemporaneously with Price's and Merton's writings.
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 life course perspective or life course theory (LCT) is a multidisciplinary approach to understanding the mental, physical and social health of individuals, which incorporates both life span and life stage concepts that determine the health trajectory.
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.
Major Themes of the Life Course Perspective. Over a decade ago, Glen Elder (1994) identified four dominant, and interrelated, themes in the life course approach: interplay of human lives and historical time, timing of lives, linked or interdependent lives, and human agency in making choices.
Life course perspective. An approach to human behavior that recognizes the influence `of age but also acknowledges the influences of historical time and culture. Which looks at how chronological age, relationships, common shape people's lives from birth to death. Cohort.
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.
Four key assumptions guide life course scholars' theoretical and empirical work: (1) lives are embedded in and shaped by historical context; (2) individuals construct their own lives through their choices and actions, yet within the constraints of historical and social circumstance; (3) lives are intertwined through ...
However, socialization continues throughout the several stages of the life course, most commonly categorized as childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age.
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.
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.