Handbook of the Life Course

This comprehensive handbook provides an overview of key theoretical perspectives, concepts, and methodological approaches that, while applied to diverse phenomena, are united in their general approach to the study of lives across age phases. In surveying the wide terrain of life course studies with dual emphases on theory and empirical research, this reference work presents probative concepts and methods and identifies promising avenues for future research. Included are sections on history and cross-national variability, normative structuring, movement through the life course, transitions in the life course, turning points, connections between life phases, methodology, and the future of the life course.