Life-course predictors of wellbeing in emerging adulthood

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Adele H. Wang ◽  
CMA Haworth
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Life Course ◽  
General Health ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Parents And Children ◽  
Comprehensive Picture ◽  
The Life Course

Emerging adulthood is a protracted period of instability and uncertainty. Good wellbeing can act as a buffer against the negative health consequences associated with stresses experienced at this age, and also predicts future positive outcomes. But the literature is sparse on the developmental origins of wellbeing in emerging adulthood. This study builds upon established life-course models to investigate the relative effects of distal and proximal predictors on wellbeing at this age. 4,222 individuals from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children completed a comprehensive wellbeing questionnaire at age 22-25. Predictors in our life-course model included family and child level factors capturing early childhood, late childhood and adolescence as well as concurrent emerging adult level factors to predict wellbeing outcomes. On average, our models explained approximately 30% of the variance in wellbeing. We found that, in general, emotional health followed by self-perceived general health are the strongest predictors of wellbeing. Partnership and employment were also correlated with many wellbeing outcomes, suggesting the salience of these developmental goals at this age. More research that tests causality is needed but our results suggest that policies focussing on general health, specifically emotional health, may bring the most benefits to wellbeing over and above educational or economic policies In addition, we found differences in the life-course models of hedonic wellbeing (happiness) and eudaimonic wellbeing (meaning in life). For policy makers, we suggest the consideration of these outcomes in addition to the commonly used life satisfaction to provide a more comprehensive picture of public wellbeing.

Folklore and Folklife of American Age Groups and Aging

2018 ◽  
pp. 844-866
Author(s):  
Mary L. Sellers
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
The United States ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Folk Traditions ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Infancy And Early Childhood ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Pregnancy And Birth

Folklore occurs at every stage of a person’s life, and this chapter covers the way folklore and folklife across, and of, the life course has been studied. Six divisions in the life course that mark traditions of age groups as well as perceived stages in the United States are pregnancy and birth, infancy and early childhood, childhood and adolescence, adulthood, seniority, and death. Although much of the scholarship of age groups has been on the beginning and end of life, I demonstrate the conditions of aging in adolescence through the senior years that generate folklore and should be studied in relation to formation of age-group identity. This chapter emphasizes the use of folklore as an adaptation to aging. It examines the connection of folk traditions to the role that anxiety plays in the aging process, the formation of self and group identity, and the rites of passage that mark transitions from one stage to another. It shows that the presence of invented and emerging traditions indicates changing values and beliefs across the life course and encourages research in age-based research as a basic component of folklore and folklife studies.

scholarly journals Emerging Adulthood: An Intersectional Examination of the Changing Life Course

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 14-33
Author(s):  
Shauna A. Morimoto
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Life Course ◽  
School Students ◽  
Identity Exploration ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Adult World ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Life Course

This article draws on qualitative data of U.S. high school students considering their place in the adult world; the purpose is to investigate Jeffrey Arnett’s (2000) concept of “emerging adulthood” as a new stage of life course. Drawing on interviews and observational data collected around the time when Arnett’s notion of emerging adulthood started to take hold, I use intersectional interpretive lens in order to highlight how race and gender construct emerging adulthood as high school students move out of adolescence. I consider Arnett’s thesis twofold. First, when emerging adulthood is examined intersectionally, young people reveal that – rather than being distinct periods that can simply be prolonged, delayed, or even reached – life stages are fluid and constantly in flux. Second, since efforts to mitigate against uncertain futures characterizes the Millennial generation, I argue that the process of guarding against uncertainty reorders, questions or reconfigures the characteristics and stages that conventionally serve as markers of life course. I conclude that the identity exploration, indecision, and insecurity associated with emerging adulthood can also be understood as related to how the youth reveal and reshape the life course intersectionally.

How to Be a Man Differently: Intersectionality of Gender and Disability in the Life Course of a Powerchair Athlete

2022 ◽  
pp. 1097184X2110643
Author(s):  
Laurent Paccaud ◽  
Anne Marcellini
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Life Experiences ◽  
The Body ◽  
Doing Gender ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Social Forces ◽  
Hockey Player ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
The Life Course

This article focuses on the intersection of gender, dis/ability and other social forces in the life course of a young man who has had physical impairments from an early age. Drawing on interactionist theories and applying an ethnographic approach, we analyze the life experiences taking place in multiple social spheres throughout the life phases of Simon, a Swiss powerchair hockey player with cerebral palsy. During his childhood and adolescence, Simon was not in a position to embody the familial ways of performing hegemonic masculinity, and he was functionally dependent on women. Through his ongoing transition to adulthood, his commitment to sport and the process of technologizing his body enabled him doing gender differently and emancipate himself from the familial masculine figure, while remaining reliant on the care provided by women. Thus, we show how the body, context, and life phases contribute to the performances of gender and dis/ability.

Deprivation and health

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-160
Author(s):  
Harry Burns
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Sense Of Purpose ◽  
The Life Course

The health of an individual is influenced by the circumstances in which he or she lives. Individuals who live in poverty are more likely to be unhealthy and die younger than individuals who are wealthy. The mechanism by which complex social circumstances cause health inequalities might be a failure to create capacity to manage life’s challenges. Most agree that well-being is created where individuals have an optimistic outlook, a sense that they are in control of their own lives, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, confidence in their ability to deal with problems, a supportive network of friends, and a nurturing family. If society is serious about tackling health inequalities, action needs to happen across the life course.

scholarly journals The Life Course Consequences of Very Preterm Birth

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dieter Wolke ◽  
Samantha Johnson ◽  
Marina Mendonça
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Developmental Models ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Very Preterm ◽  
The Life Course

Around 15 million children are born preterm (<37 weeks of gestation) every year. Of these, 15% or 2.25 million are born very preterm (VP; <32 weeks of gestation). Here, the developmental outcomes of VP babies in diverse domains from motor, cognitive, and social function to mental health and well-being throughout childhood and adolescence are reviewed. Their life course adaptation in terms of romantic relationships, employment, and quality of life into adulthood is also considered. Some adverse effects reduce as individuals age, and others remain remarkably stable from childhood into adulthood. We argue that to advance understanding of developmental mechanisms and direct resources for intervention more effectively, social factors need to be assessed more comprehensively, and genetically sensitive designs should be considered with neuroimaging integrated to test alternative developmental models. As current evidence is based almost exclusively on studies from high-income countries, research from low- and middle-income countries is urgently needed.

Legal Socialization across the Life Course

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom R. Tyler ◽  
Rick Trinkner
Keyword(s):  
Life Course ◽  
Generation X ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
Childhood And Adolescence ◽  
Legal Socialization ◽  
Terror Attacks ◽  
Generation Z ◽  
Age Cohort ◽  
Unique Experience ◽  
The Life Course

Every developing child goes through a series of stages associated with childhood and adolescence. This is the focus of chapter 3. To some extent development is an invariant progression shaped by cognitive and biological growth, and the capacities and limits that exist at any stage of individual growth. At the same time, the progression reflects the unique experience of each individual over their life course, particularly with nonlegal and legal authority figures. Beyond that, every child grows up during a particular period in history that has particular events such as the war in Vietnam or the 9/11 terror attacks, which create a unique social climate and produce common concerns and outlooks among the members of a particular age cohort. These common elements have been widely discussed in popular writing that has sought to distinguish among the silent generation, baby boomers, generation X, millennials, and generation Z.

scholarly journals A Life-Course Analysis of Engagement in Violent Extremist Groups

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 74-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoffer Carlsson ◽  
Amir Rostami ◽  
Hernan Mondani ◽  
Joakim Sturup ◽  
Jerzy Sarnecki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Life Course Theory ◽  
Violent Extremism ◽  
Social Controls ◽  
Extremist Groups ◽  
The Life Course ◽  
Life Course Analysis

AbstractIn this exploratory study, individuals’ processes of engagement in violent extremist groups are analysed by drawing from criminological life-course theory and narrative-based understandings of crime. Based on interviews with individuals who have participated in violent extremism, it is suggested that the process of engagement consists of three steps: (1) a weakening of informal social controls, followed by (2) an interaction with individuals in proximity to the group and (3) a stage of meaning-making in relation to the group and one’s identity, resulting in an individual’s willingness and capacity to engaging in the group’s activities, including violence. In future theorizing about processes of engagement in violent extremism, the meanings of age, and the life-course stages of late adolescence and emerging adulthood in particular, should be given analytic attention.

scholarly journals Emerging Adulthood as a Critical Stage in the Life Course

2017 ◽  
pp. 123-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wood ◽  
Tara Crapnell ◽  
Lynette Lau ◽  
Ashley Bennett ◽  
Debra Lotstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emerging Adulthood ◽  
Life Course ◽  
Critical Stage ◽  
The Life Course
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