Shanahan, Michael J., Jeylan T. Mortimer, and Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson (Editors). Handbook of the Life Course, Vol. II. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2016 (720 pp.)  

Building on the success of the 2003 Handbook of the Life Course, this second volume identifies future directions for life course research and policy. The introductory essay and the chapters that make up the five sections of this book, show consensus on strategic “next steps” in life course studies. These next steps are explored in detail in each section: Section I, on life course theory, provides fresh perspectives on well-established topics, including cohorts, life stages, and legal and regulatory contexts. It challenges life course scholars to move beyond common individualistic paradigms. Section II highlights changes in major institutional and organizational contexts of the life course. It draws on conceptual advances and recent empirical findings to identify promising avenues for research that illuminate the interplay between structure and agency. It examines trends in family, school, and workplace, as well as contexts that deserve heightened attention, including the military, the criminal justice system, and natural and man-made disaster. The remaining three sections consider advances and suggest strategic opportunities in the study of health and development throughout the life course. They explore methodological innovations, including qualitative and three-generational longitudinal research designs, causal analysis, growth curves, and the study of place. Finally, they show ways to build bridges between life course research and public policy.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Life Course Studies: Trends, Challenges and Future Directions

Michael J. Shanahan, Jeylan T. Mortimer, & Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson (Editors)

Foundations of Life Course Studies and Future Research

1. The Institutionalization of Life Course Studies 

John Bynner, University of London

2. Age, Cohorts, and the Life Course 

Glen H. Elder, Jr., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Linda K. George, Duke University

3. Opening the Social: Sociological Imagination in Life Course Studies

Dale Dannefer, Case Western Reserve University; Jessica Kelley-Moore, Case Western Reserve University; Wenxuan Huang, Case Western Reserve University

4. The Changing Social Construction of Age and the Life Course: Precarious Identity and Enactment of “Early” and “Encore” Stages of Adulthood

Jeylan T. Mortimer, University of Minnesota; Phyllis Moen, University of Minnesota

5. Changing Demographic and Legal-Regulatory Contexts:  Neglected Sources of Life Course Structures

Gunhild O. Hagestad, NOVA Research Institute, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences, Oslo; Pearl A. Dykstra, Erasmus University, Rotterdam; (with Stephan van Baarle, Erasmus University, Rotterdam)

Changing Social Contexts and Life Course Patterns

6. Family Heterogeneity over the Life Course

Sandra Hofferth, University of Maryland; Francis Goldscheider, Univesity of Maryland

7. Educational Pathways

Robert Crosnoe, University of Texas at Austin; Aprile Benner, University of Texas at Austin

8. College for All: New Institutional Conflicts in the Transition to Adulthood

Claudia Zapata-Gietl, Northwestern University; James E. Rosenbaum, Northwestern University; Caitlin Ahearn, Northwestern University; Kelly Iwanaga Becker, Northwestern University

9. Changes in Educational Inequality in Cross-National Perspective

Pia N. Blossfeld, University of Oxford; Gwendolin J. Blossfeld, University of Oxford; Hans-Peter Blossfeld, European University Institute

10. Work Over the Gendered Life Course

Phyllis Moen, University of Minnesota

11. Military Service in the Life Course: Where Do We Go From Here?

Andrew S. London, Syracuse University; Janet M. Wilmoth, Syracuse University

12. Criminal Justice and the Life Course

Sara Wakefield, Rutgers University; Robert Apel, Rutgers University

13. Disaster and Life Course Processes

Jack DeWaard, University of Minnesota

Health and Development through the Life Course

14. Early Childhood Poverty: Short and Long-Run Consequences over the Life-Span

Ariel Kalil, University of Chicago; Greg J. Duncan, University of California-Irvine; Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest, New York University

15. Does the Body Forget? Adult Health, Life Course Dynamics, and Social Change

Mark Hayward, University of Texas at Austin; Connor M. Sheehan, University of Texas at Austin

16. Education, Health, and Historical Change

Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, Washington State University; Jeremy Staff, The Pennsylvania State University; John E. Schulenberg, University of Michigan; Megan E. Patrick, University of Michigan

17. Life Course Lens on Aging and Health

Kenneth F. Ferraro, Purdue University

18. Mental Health

William Avison, University of Western Ontario

19. Agency Across the Life Course

Steven Hitlin, University of Iowa; Hye Won Kwon, University of Iowa

20. Cognitive Development and the Life Course: Growth, Stability, and Decline

Duane Alwin, The Pennsylvania State University; Jason R. Thomas, The Pennsylvania State University; Linda A. Wray, The Pennsylvania State University

Life Course Research Methodologies

21. Longitudinal Qualitative Research

Joseph Hermanowicz, The University of Georgia

22. Causality in Life Course Studies

Ravaris Moore, University of California, Los Angeles; Jennie E. Brand, University of California, Los Angeles

23. The Logic and Practice of Growth Curve Analysis: Modeling Strategies for Life Course Dynamics

Ross Macmillan, Bocconi University; Frank F. Furstenberg, University of Pennsylvania

24. Three Generation Studies: Methodological Challenges and Problems

Terrence P. Thornberry, University of Maryland

25. Neighborhood, Place, and the Life Course

Christopher R. Browning, Ohio State University; Kathleen A. Cagney, University of Chicago; Bethany Boettner, Ohio State University

The Life Course and Policy: Building the Nexus

26. Life Course Research and the Shaping of Public Policy

John H. Laub, University of Maryland

27. Epidemiological Perspectives on the Life Course

Michael EJ Wadsworth, University College London; Diana Kuh, University College London

28. The Influence of Social Welfare Policies on Health Disparities Across the Life Course

Pamela Herd, University of Wisconsin-Madison

29. Life Course Risks and Welfare States’ Risk Management

Martin Diewald, Bielefeld University

30. Longitudinal Studies and Policy for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Young Lives

Paul Dornan, Oxford University

31. Lags and Leaps: The Dynamics of Demography, Economy, and Policy and Their Implications for Life Course Research

Angela O’Rand, Duke University; Amie Bostic, Duke University