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.

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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; methodological innovations, including qualitative and three-generational longitudinal research designs, causal analysis, growth curves, and the study of place; and building bridges between life course research and public policy.

Preface.- Part I. Foundations of Life Course Studies and Future Research.- Chapter 1. The Institutionalization of Life Course Studies; John Bynner.- Chapter 2. Age, Cohorts, and the Life Course; Glen H. Elder and Linda K. George.- Chapter 3. Opening the Social: Sociological Imagination in Life Course Studies; Dale Dannefer, Jessica Kelley-Moore and Wenxuan Huang.- Chapter 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 and Phyllis Moen.- Chapter 5. Changing Demographic and Legal-Regulatory Contexts: Neglected Sources of Life Course Structures; Gunhild O. Hagestad, and Pearl A. Dykstra.- Part II. Changing Social Contexts and Life Course Patterns.- Chapter 6. Family Heterogeneity over the Life Course; Sandra Hofferth and Francis Goldscheider.- Chapter 7. Educational Pathways; Robert Crosnoe and Aprile Benner.- Chapter 8. College for All: New Institutional Conflicts in the Transition to Adulthood; Claudia Zapata-Gietl, James E. Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn and Kelly Iwanaga Becker.- Chapter 9. Changes in Educational Inequality in Cross-National Perspective; Pia N. Blossfeld, Gwendolin J. Blossfeld and Hans-Peter Blossfeld.- Chapter 10. Work Over the Gendered Life Course; Phyllis Moen.- Chapter 11. Military Service in the Life Course: Where Do We Go From Here?; Andrew S. London and Janet M. Wilmoth.- Chapter 12. Criminal Justice and the Life Course; Sara Wakefield and Robert Apel.- Chapter 13. Disaster and Life Course Processes; Jack DeWaard.- Part III. Health and Development through the Life Course.- Chapter 14. Early Childhood Poverty: Short and Long-Run Consequences over the Life-Span; Ariel Kalil, Greg J. Duncan and Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest.- Chapter 15. Does the Body Forget? Adult Health, Life Course Dynamics, and Social Change; Mark Hayward and Connor M. Sheehan.- Chapter 16. Education, Health, and Historical Change; Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, Jeremy Staff, John E. Schulenberg, and Megan E. Patrick.- Chapter 17. Life Course Lens on Aging and Health; Kenneth F. Ferraro.- Chapter 18. Mental Health; William Avison.- Chapter 19. Agency Across the Life Course; Steven Hitlin and Hye Won Kwon.- Chapter 20. Cognitive Development and the Life Course: Growth, Stability, and Decline; Duane Alwin, Jason R. Thomas, and Linda A. Wray.- Part IV. Life Course Research Methodologies.- Chapter 21. Longitudinal Qualitative Research; Joseph Hermanowicz.- Chapter 22. Causality in Life Course Studies; Ravaris Moore and Jennie E. Brand.- Chapter 23. The Logic and Practice of Growth Curve Analysis: Modeling Strategies for Life Course Dynamics; Ross Macmillan and Frank F. Furstenberg.- Chapter 24. Three Generation Studies: Methodological Challenges and Problems; Terrence P. Thornberry.- Chapter 25. Neighborhood, Place, and the Life Course; Christopher R. Browning, Kathleen A. Cagney, and Bethany Boettner.- Part V. The Life Course and Policy: Building the Nexus.- Chapter 26. Life Course Research and the Shaping of Public Policy; John H. Laub.- Chapter 27. Epidemiological Perspectives on the Life Course; Michael EJ Wadsworth and Diana Kuh.- Chapter 28. The Influence of Social Welfare Policies on Health Disparities Across the Life Course; Pamela Herd.- Chapter 29. Life Course Risks and Welfare States' Risk Management; Martin Diewald.- Chapter 30. Longitudinal Studies and Policy for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Young Lives; Paul Dornan.-Chapter 31. Lags and Leaps: The Dynamics of Demography, Economy, and Policy and Their Implications for Life Course Research; Angela O'Rand and Amie Bostic.