The life-course perspective recognizes that aging takes place within a socio-historical context that provides different resources to individuals based on gender, socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity. The lifelong impact of differences in access, as well as individual choices, can create disparities in health and well-being in later life.
Deeper Dive
According to the World Health Organization, health in old age is determined by patterns of living, exposures and opportunities for health protection within structural, social, and cultural contexts. To be most effective, programs targeting older people’s health must work with those seeking to improve their lifestyles, environmental risk exposures and opportunities for health protection at earlier ages. This is especially true for the prevention of disorders that have their origins in earlier life, such as osteoporosis, vascular diseases and most cancers.
“A life course perspective on aging is much more than understanding the shadow of the past or studying a phenomenon ‘over the life course,’ writes Richard A. Settersten, Jr., Ph.D., Human Development and Family Sciences, Oregon State University, “What has been called an “institutional” paradigm of life course research instead emphasizes the role of social forces in structuring the life course—related to spheres of family, education, and work, and related to social policies and social change, that open and close opportunities and pathways through life.”