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Life-Course Perspectives on Mental Health

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Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

The cross-fertilization of the sociology of mental health and life-course perspectives is a valuable and increasingly investigated research topic. Mental health is dynamic rather than static, and life-course principles provide conceptual and methodological tools for understanding those dynamics. The purpose of this chapter is to review the state of the science with regard to mental health and illness in life-course perspective. It begins with a review of fundamental life-course principles, including examples of their utility for contributing to our understanding of mental health. A brief section summarizes methodological advances that permit analyses of long-term patterns of stability and change in mental health and its risk and protective factors. The core of this chapter reviews research on four key topics that combine life-course perspectives with major issues in the sociology of mental health. This chapter ends with brief recommendations for future research.

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Abbreviations

APA:

American Psychiatric Association

DSM:

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders

ECA:

Epidemiological Catchment Area Surveys

GI Bill:

Government Issue officially titled Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944

GMM:

Growth curve mixture models

HRS:

Health and Retirement Survey

LCA:

Latent class analysis

LGCA:

Latent growth curve analysis

MDD:

Major depressive disorder

NALS:

The National American Life Survey

NCS:

The National Comorbidity Survey

NCS-R:

The National Comorbidity Survey Replication

NESARC:

The National Epidemiologic Survey of Alcoholism and Related Conditions

NLAAS:

The National Latino and Asian American Study

NLSY:

The National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

PTSD:

Post-traumatic stress disorder

WLS:

The Wisconsin Longitudinal Study

WWII:

World War II

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development, Duke University, 2932 Welcome Drive, Durham, NC, 27705-5556, USA

    Linda K. George

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  1. Linda K. George
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Correspondence to Linda K. George .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Community Health Sciences Fielding School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Carol S. Aneshensel

  2. Department of Sociomedical Sciences Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Jo C. Phelan

  3. Department of Sociology, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Alex Bierman

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George, L.K. (2013). Life-Course Perspectives on Mental Health. In: Aneshensel, C.S., Phelan, J.C., Bierman, A. (eds) Handbook of the Sociology of Mental Health. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4276-5_28

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