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“The chapters, written by experts in the field, offer useful insights and historical background….Regardless of the field of study and/or level of research expertise, this textbook is a helpful reference guide for life course researchers. The textbook has an overall good structure, proceeding from an introduction to foundation concepts to more advanced research and methodological issues. The tables present information in a clear and concise manner….The writing style, ease of reading, and overall accuracy and completeness of the text is quite impressive….Highly relevant and important to many areas of research across many disciplines, including gerontology. Only through effective and on-going life course investigations can we as a society hope to better understand, predict, and promote better quality of life for today’s and tomorrow’s generations!”

—Activities, Adaptation, and Aging


“A tour de force. The chapters, written by preeminent scholars in an engaging manner, provide a blueprint for studying how lives unfold over time. The contributors illustrate the challenges that they have faced and overcome in their own research as well as showcasing dozens of studies by others. Some of the topics include how to reconstruct lives from a data set, how to study linked lives (children and parents or couples), how to study trajectories and turning points, and how to use behavioral genetics as a window into the life course. I recommend this volume to those who want to learn more about this topic and to experience the best of the field.”

—Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD, Virginia and Leonard Marx Professor of Child Development, Teachers College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University


“This book illuminates the utility of diverse methodologies, from behavioral genetic analysis to cross-national and historical comparison. It is unique in its scope, including qualitative (life story, ethnography, diary) and quantitative (hierarchical growth, latent class, and group-based trajectory models) approaches. Students will learn how to formulate research questions, locate data sources, and increase the potential of existing data through recasting and supplementation. Ideal for methods courses and substantive courses on aging in social context.”

—Jeylan T. Mortimer, PhD, Life Course Center, Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota


“Glen Elder—whose name is synonymous with the founding of life course research—has joined forces with equally distinguished scholar Janet Giele to produce this excellent volume. Expert contributing authors present novel methodological strategies for life course studies, as exemplified through major longitudinal investigations. The knowledge and insights gained about these methods and how to apply them will be invaluable to students of the life course at all levels. This is a most important book in which the quality of the contributors and editors shines through the pages; a major contribution to the life course literature.”

—John M. Bynner, PhD, Emeritus Professor and former Director, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, Institute of Education, University of London, United Kingdom


“Elder and Giele’s book is a pleasure to read. For experienced life course scholars and those new to the field, the book provides a clear overview of important conceptual tools in the exploration of human development. The chapters offer an inside view of many classic studies and highlight unique features of each of them.”

—Toni C. Antonucci, PhD, Research Professor and Program Director, Life Course Development Program, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan


“This is an engaging and accessible volume prepared by an impressive group of life course scholars. The chapters offer instructive information about central concepts and measures, such as trajectories and transition points, and are illustrated with diverse research approaches and findings based on both new and classic data sets. As a supplemental text in introductory graduate courses in the social sciences or public health, this book will help provide newcomers to the field with a well-rounded introduction to life course analysis.”

—Carolyn Tucker Halpern, PhD, Department of Maternal and Child Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Table of Contents

1. Life Course Studies: An Evolving Field, Glen H. Elder, Jr., and Janet Z. Giele

Part I. Methods of Data Collection

2. The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study: Designing a Study of the Life Course, Robert M. Hauser

3. Collecting and Interpreting Life Records, Dennis P. Hogan and Carrie E. Spearin

4. Longitudinal Ethnography: Uncovering Domestic Abuse in Women’s Lives, Linda M. Burton, Diane Purvin, and Raymond Garrett-Peters

5. Linking Research Questions to Data Archives, Glen H. Elder, Jr., and Miles G. Taylor

Part II. Measuring Life Course Dynamics

6. Cumulative Processes in the Life Course, Angela M. O’Rand

7. Life Transitions and Daily Stress Processes, David M. Almeida and Jen D. Wong

8. Conceptualizing and Measuring Trajectories, Linda K. George

9. Group-Based Trajectories in Life Course Criminology, Elaine Eggleston Doherty, John H. Laub, and Robert J. Sampson

Part III. Investigating Explanatory Factors

10. Genetics and Behavior in the Life Course: A Promising Frontier, Michael J. Shanahan and Jason D. Boardman

11. Life Stories to Understand Diversity: Variations by Class, Race, and Gender, Janet Z. Giele

12. Social Convoys: Studying Linked Lives in Time, Context, and Motion, Phyllis Moen and Elaine Hernandez

13. Comparative Life Course Research: A Cross-National and Longitudinal Perspective, Hans-Peter Blossfeld

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About the Editors

Glen H. Elder, Jr., PhD, is Howard W. Odum Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a leading figure in the development of life course theory and methods through longitudinal studies of children and adults who were influenced by the hard times of the Great Depression and World War II. Other major longitudinal projects include a multigenerational study of families and children under economic stress in the Midwest, and an inner-city longitudinal study of white and minority young people in Philadelphia. His books include Children of the Great Depression: Social Change in Life Experience. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has served as vice president of the American Sociological Association as well as president of the Society for Research on Child Development.

• Author's website

Janet Z. Giele is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Social Policy, and Women’s Studies at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University. Her research focuses on the changing life course of women and the emergence of American family policy. Her work has been supported by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, German Marshall Fund, Lilly Endowment, National Institute on Aging, and National Science Foundation. She is the author, editor, or coeditor of eight previous books.

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Contributors

David M. Almeida is Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at The Pennsylvania State University.

Hans-Peter Blossfeld is Chair of Sociology I, Director of the Institute of Longitudinal Studies in Education, and Director of the State Institute for Family Research at Bamberg University, Germany.

Jason D. Boardman is Associate Professor of Sociology and Research Associate with the Population Program of the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Linda M. Burton is James B. Duke Professor of Sociology at Duke University.

Elaine Eggleston Doherty is a research associate in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Glen H. Elder, Jr., is Research Professor of Sociology and Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Raymond Garrett-Peters is a doctoral student in sociology at North Carolina State University.

Linda K. George is Professor of Sociology and Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at Duke University.

Janet Z. Giele is Professor Emerita of Sociology, Social Policy, and Women's Studies at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management of Brandeis University.

Robert M. Hauser is Vilas Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he directs the Center for Demography of Health and Aging.

Elaine Hernandez is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Dennis P. Hogan is Chair of the Department of Sociology and Robert E. Turner Distinguished Professor of Sociology, Brown University.

John H. Laub is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland, College Park, as well as a Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University.

Phyllis Moen holds the McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Angela M. O'Rand is Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Duke University.

Diane Purvin is a senior research associate at Casey Family Services, the Direct Service Agency of the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Robert J. Sampson is Chair of the Department of Sociology and the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences at Harvard University.

Michael J. Shanahan is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Carrie E. Spearin is Visiting Assistant Professor of Sociology and an affiliate of the Population Studies and Training Center at Brown University.

Miles G. Taylor is Assistant Professor of Sociology and Research Associate at the Pepper Institute for Aging and Public Policy at Florida State University.

Jen D. Wong is a doctoral candidate in the Human Development and Family Studies Program at The Pennsylvania State University.

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Audience

Developmental, life course, and gerontological researchers in departments of sociology, psychology, human development and family studies, and gerontology; graduate students in these fields.

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Course Use

Will serve as a supplemental text in graduate-level courses that deal with lifespan development research or the life course.