The Life-Course and Human Development: An Ecological Perspective

A life-course perspective is applied to the study of human development in ecological context. Three meanings of age (developmental, social, and historical) represent key elements of this perspective and depict lives in terms of aging, career, and historical setting. Age locates people in history (by birth year) and in the social structure. The neglect of such temporal distinctions in problem formulation has consequences in studies of status differences and psychological states, of careers and work satisfaction, of children's socioeconomic environment and the family economy, and of life change and stress. Alternative questions based on the life-course facilitate explanatory assessments of the relation between environmental and personal change.