The Life Course and Life Span Perspectives: History and Overview

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The Life Course and Life Span Perspectives
History and Overview

• Toni C. Antonucci
• Institute for Social Research
• University of Michigan
• Presentation to
• The MacArthur Foundation Aging Society Network
• New York, New York
• September 16-17, 2008

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Introduction

• Why take a life course and life span perspective
  on aging?
• A brief history

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Previously Most Social Scientists Specialized

• Infancy Race, Class, Ethnicity
• Childhood Organizations
• Adolescence Gender
• Aging Work, Employment
• Family Generations

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Most Developmental Scientists Specialized,
Dichotomizing by Age

• CHILDHOOD AGING
• Growth Decline
• Increasing Disorganization
• organization
• Structural Dedifferentiation
• differentiation

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Why?

• In addition to the changing societal demographics
  and the reshaping age distribution
• The demise of the Grand Theory
• A new awareness of the multiple levels of
  influence

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Integrating Theories

• (Bio)ecological Theory
• Social and Symbolic Interactionism
• Theory
• Both theories emphasized the dynamic interplay
  between person and environment
• Eventually both theories became life long,
  recognizing the importance of a dynamic life
  course and ongoing life span development

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LINKING MACRO TO MICRO MULTIPLE LEVELS OF
INFLUENCE
Environment/Culture/Society
Family/community
Individual
YOU
Gene/Biology
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Life Span/Life Course Sequence

• Normal Development
• Stage 1 ? Stage 2 ? Stage 3
• Under Stress
• Stage 1 ? Stage 2 ? Stress ? Return to Stage 1 ?
  with recovery Return to Stage 2
• Similarly Under Later Stress
• Stage 1 ? Stage 2 ? Stage 3 ? Stress ? Return to
  Stage 2 ?with Recovery Return to Stage 3

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Life Span/Life Course Sequence

• Environment ? Outcome
• We came to understand that environment could not
  explain all
• Gene ? Outcome
• We them thought that the identification of the
  human genome would explain all
• It is now pretty clear that most things are best
  explained by
• Gene x Environment ? Outcome

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DifferencesLife Span Life Course

• Individual Groups
• Processes Social pathways
• Trajectories Roles, transitions
• Endogenous (micro) Exogenous (macro)

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Similarities in the Life Span and Life Course
Perspectives

• Understand Human Experience to be Long-term/life
  long Multilevel Contextual
• Dynamic
• Influenced by macro micro factors
• Gains and losses Risks and resiliencies

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Aging Differs by Cohort

• With the demise of the Grand Theory
• comes recognition that people may
• experience age differently
• or
• It might have been the reverse without
  undeniable cohort differences, Grand Theories
  seemed less likely

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Generations
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Major Themes

• Life Course Research Life Span Research
• Age Stratification Individual Differences
• Cohort and Historical Adaptivity Plasticity
• Period Effects
• Accumulation of Allocation of Resources
• (in)equalities
• Linked Lives Self-regulation
• Differential Trajectories and Pathways of
  Aging

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Age Stratification

• Normative age structuring
• Age stratification
• Social Institutions stratify, segment, construct
  lives
• Many institutions stratify by age, e.g.
• education, work, retirement

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Age Stratification

• Chronologization - saliency of age and time
• Institutionalization - construction of life
  course by organizations
• Standardization - normativity of life course
  patterns

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Cohort and Historical Period Effect

• People are embedded and shaped by
• time, place and experience
• These trigger change
• The timeline/cohort figure is illustrative

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Cohort and Historical Period Effect

• Timing in lives, e.g. Elders 4 types
• 1. Social pathways
• 2. Trajectories
• 3. Exit transitions
• 4. Transitions

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Accumulation of Advantages and Disadvantages

• Status disparities
• wealth, knowledge, health, etc.
• Life course capital
• Consistent predictor of opportunities,
  accomplishments, exposure to risk
• Cumulative and transgenerational

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Linked Lives

• Linked Directly
• Fathers employment effects family
  income/resources
• Linked Indirectly -
• Multigenerational effects of the Feminist
  Movement or the Great Depression

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Individual Differences

• Functional ability intelligence
• Social relationships attachment
• Disposition personality
• Individual Differences are
• multidirectional
• multidimensional

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Adaptivity and Plasticity

• Adaptation to change
• both positive and negative
• growth and losses
• Plasticity
• within person variability
• testing the limits

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Self - Regulation

• Interaction of biological and cultural/environment
  al resources
• Strategies of selection, optimization and
  compensation
• Human Agency/motivation

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Conceptions of Basic
Major Antecedent
Development
Determinants Systems of Change

Personological Maturational, Etc.
Ontogenetic Age-Graded
Biological Bioenvironmental
Evolutionary History-Graded
Interactions Environmental
Dialetectical
Non-Normative
Learning Socialization
Time
Figure Adapted from Baltes, Cornelius
Nesselroade, 1978 Baltes 1997
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Differential Pathways and Trajectories of Aging

• Subgroup differences in social pathways of aging
  e.g. by education, SES, gender, race, family,
  roles, interest in distribution of disparities
  in trajectories, interindividual differences
• Individual differences in trajectories of
  intraindividual change e.g. changes in behaviors
  and functioning, intelligence, personality,
  stability and change

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Differential Pathways and Trajectories of Aging

• With age greater Heterogeneity
• with more experience, more differences
• With age greater Homogeneity
• with age selective attrition

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Contemporary Evidence

• Age-stratification of society
• changing nature of work and family roles,
  education, gender roles
• e.g. work and the Fordist model versus
  patchwork model
• e.g. family roles Father knows best, Betty
  Crocker, the Brady Bunch
• the Osborns

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Contemporary Evidence

• Attitudes about Aging
• increasingly positive
• divergence of young and old
• divergence general vs. specific
• Effect of Demographics and the Baby Boomers

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Contemporary Evidence

• Cumulative Inequalities
• evidence re SES effects
• health
• ethnic groups cohorts/generation
• Civil Rights
• Hispanic Paradox
• African / Caribbean American

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Health over the Life Course

• Chronic versus acute stressors ?health
• Stress model
• moderating effects e.g. social relations which
  may attenuate influence of stress on health
• mediating effects e.g. social support explaining
  the association between stress and health

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Social roles of men and women

• Cumulative effects of linked lives
• Roles (work, family) changing but aging is still
  gendered
• Current cohorts are different from future cohorts
• Implications e.g. men have material, women have
  emotional resources
• Flexibility suggests adaptability

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Changing family and intergenerational connections

• Changing families
• structure of families
• type of support available
• quality of relationships
• But despite changes families seem to maintain
  same purpose and function

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Changing family and intergenerational connections

• Intergenerational relations
• as social capital
• bidirectional transfers
• Positive and Negative influences, exchanges,
  resources

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Changing family and intergenerational connections

• People adapt as needed, socioemotional
  selectivity e.g. change investment strategy
• People are shaped by the personal and situational
  characteristics convoys which provide support
  and in turn influence their heath and well-being

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Life long adaptation and plasticity

• Cognitive functioning
• early abilities ? later declines
• interventions can be successful
• behavioral interventions can have
• neurological effects

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Life long adaptation and plasticity

• Personality, motivation, emotion and social
  engagement
• Some aspects of personality do change and are
  affected by life events
• Motivation may be increasingly affected by
  social relations
• Emotional optimization in later life
• Social engagement is modifiable

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Cohort differences in trajectories of aging

• Trends in cognitive functioning
• Trends in physical disability
• Trends in retirement

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Gaps in current knowledge about changes

• Emerging phases of old age
• Globalization and international migration
• Impact of social movements
• Efforts to reduce disparities
• Impact of initiatives about successful aging

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Gaps in current knowledge about changes

• Additional issues
• structural lag
• limited resources
• institutionalization of responsibility
• e.g. of health
• ethics re new technological advances
• attitudes re rights and responsibilities

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Intervention Opportunities

• Global governments, communities to intervene
• widespread education of population
• anti-aging/stereotype campaigns
• limited resources
• Societal social programs, mutual
  responsibility, enhanced intergenerational roles,
  increase trained professionals

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Intervention Opportunities

• Community level interventions
• community based centers both social and medical
• facilitate activity for older adults
  e.g. transportation, lighting, sidewalks
• roles for elders in the community

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Intervention Opportunities

• Community level interventions
• community based centers both social and medical
• facilitate activity for older adults
  e.g. transportation, lighting, sidewalks
• roles for elders in the community

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Intervention Opportunities

• Individual level interventions
• cognitive training
• exercise and nutrition
• interventions re decision-making
• maintain social engagement
• active family and community roles

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In summary to address the needs of an Aging
Society, we must

• Take a human development approach that combines
  the strengths of both the life course and the
  life span perspectives
• Build on disciplinary strengths, from cellular
  biology to demographics, but leave behind our
  disciplinary biases
• Think of aging from birth to death so that
• life time experiences inform both research and
  policy
• Consider aging a proactive, interactive,
  individual, intergenerational and societal
  experience