Ferraro Kenneth F, Schafer Markus H
Purdue University.
University of Toronto.
Res Hum Dev. 2017;14(1):88-93. doi: 10.1080/15427609.2016.1268895. Epub 2017 Feb 1.
Life course studies have ushered in unprecedented scientific interest not only in specific periods of human lives but also in the long-term processes associated with growing older. Studies that link periods of the life course have identified important sources of continuity and discontinuity and highlighted the antecedents of misfortune. Theories and conceptual frameworks have emerged to help scholars splice pieces of the life course together, but the need for conceptual clarity remains. Concepts such as vulnerability and disadvantage are important but used in many different ways by researchers. We pose questions to enhance clarity of these and related terms and call for greater attention to temporal referents in studying the life course. The attention to chronological time-manifest in the identification of age, period, and cohort-is excellent but greater attention to perceptions of time also is needed to better integrate human agency and historical context in studies of life course processes.
生命历程研究不仅引发了对人类生命特定阶段前所未有的科学兴趣，还引发了对与衰老相关的长期过程的兴趣。将生命历程各阶段联系起来的研究已经确定了连续性和不连续性的重要来源，并突出了不幸的前因。理论和概念框架已经出现，以帮助学者将生命历程的各个片段拼接在一起，但对概念清晰度的需求仍然存在。诸如脆弱性和劣势等概念很重要，但研究人员以多种不同方式使用它们。我们提出问题以提高这些及相关术语的清晰度，并呼吁在研究生命历程时更多地关注时间参照。对按时间顺序排列的时间的关注——体现在对年龄、时期和队列的识别中——是很好的，但也需要更多地关注时间观念，以便在生命历程过程研究中更好地整合人类能动性和历史背景。
