Human Behavior: The Life Course Perspective

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The Life Course Perspective is an approach to human behavior that recognizes the influence of age but also acknowledges the influences of historical time and culture (Hutchison, 2013, p. 795). It is an approach that is used to analyze an individual’s life that starts with their birth and ends with their death. Throughout a person’s life course the path is not always straight; it comes with both continuities and twist and turns (Hutchison, 2013, p. 383). There are a few core concepts that are associated with The Life Course Perspective. To gain a better understanding of this perspective, one would need a basic understanding of key concepts such as: cohort, transition, trajectories, life events, and turning points. A cohort is group of people …show more content…
All of these themes have an impact on an individual’s personal development. Interplay of human lives and historical time basically means that individual and family development must be understood in a historical context (Hutchison, 2013, p. 386). The reasoning for this is because people born in different time periods have differing historical worlds. According to Elder (1994), “an individual’s life course may reflect these different times”. Next, timing of lives. Furthermore, “linked lives refers to an integration of social relationships extending beyond formal family ties, such as friends, neighbors, and work colleagues who provide a “distinct orienting context” (Black, Holditch-Davis, Miles). As a result of this, individuals help to shape each other throughout the growth and development process. Human agency in making choices says that humans make choices in their life which have a direct impact on their personal development. To clarify, individuals help create their own life course. Another important aspect to consider when looking at the Life course is the diversity in it. People have different cultural backgrounds, social classes; they come from differing historical periods which give way to the diversity in Life Course trajectories. Finally, it has to be understood that there are both risk and protective factors associated with the Life Course. A risk factor is anything that increases the chance of a problem occurring. On the other hand, a protective factor guards
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