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Copyright of Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The power of stories shared by young people in foster care is well-documented. Largely left unexplored is a story of foster care that is told within a fuller context of the life course. Using narrative and life history methods, this study sought to retrospectively identify and connect life experiences in histories of young people and explore how systems are portrayed. Twelve adults formerly in foster care completed three interviews each and nominated six professionals from foster care for an interview. A three-phase analytical process identified and displayed themes across six developmental stages. Results suggest that life stories contained adversities that were: (1) intergenerational, (2) chronic, (3) complex, and (4) structural. The participants intentionally acted to try to mitigate adversities by accessing opportunities for prosocial pathways. These exploratory findings challenge child welfare policy and practice to attend to young people's life stories and their conceptions of systems that advance well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life course epidemiology is hampered by the absence of large studies with exposures and outcomes measured at different life stages in the same individuals. We describe when the effect of an exposure (A) on an outcome (Y) in a target population is identifiable in a combined ("synthetic") cohort created by pooling an early-life cohort including measures of A with a late-life cohort including measures of Y. We enumerate causal assumptions needed for unbiased effect estimation in the synthetic cohort and illustrate by simulating target populations under four causal models. From each target population, we randomly sampled early- and late-life cohorts and created a synthetic cohort by matching individuals from the two cohorts based on mediators and confounders. We estimated the effect of A on Y in the synthetic cohort, varying matching variables, the match ratio, and the strength of association between matching variables and A. Finally, we compared bias in the synthetic cohort estimates when matching variables did not d-separate A and Y to the bias expected in the original cohort. When the set of matching variables includes all variables d-connecting exposure and outcome (i.e., variables blocking all backdoor and front-door pathways), the synthetic cohort yields unbiased effect estimates. Even when matching variables did not fully account for confounders, the synthetic cohort estimate was sometimes less biased than comparable estimates in the original cohort. Methods based on merging cohorts may hasten the evaluation of early- and mid-life determinants of late-life health but rely on available measures of both confounders and mediators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the article is to present how, if used to aid the conduction and analysis of interviews, biograms enable the peculiarities of biographical narrative to be incorporated more effectively in the life course perspective. The advantage of this tool is to promote the life course not only as an empirical category, but also as an analytical perspective capable of combining time, process and context, in order to bring out possible biographical paths. At the same time, biograms enable different types of identity-building process, such as analytical syntheses, to be drawn up. As a result, empirical cases can be transformed into theoretical cases (referring to the unit of analysis), moving from an individual story to a sociological ideal type in which to embed the biographical story. This article will first present how biograms can facilitate the conduction of a biographical interview by bringing out the main features of the life course as an analytical perspective. Then, it will be described how the device allows the researcher to inductively order, summarize and categorize the empirical materials collected in order to enucleate suitable conceptual categories for outlining possible identity profiles. For methodological purposes, the application of the biogram to three biographies collected to explore paths of social exclusion will be presented, defining conceptual categories for three identity profiles: The Combative Subject Fighting the Risk of Exclusion, The Intermittently Excluded Subject and The Chronic Outsider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Even though adults with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are at risk of negative life outcomes, there is no published evidence of this in South Africa, which has the highest estimated FASD prevalence rate globally. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe and compare the life outcomes of adults with FASD and adults without FASD in a South African rural community, 16 years after diagnosis. Method: Participants were examined and interviewed regarding their biographical information, knowledge of FASD, information on their family, relationships, home circumstances, education, work and medical history. Results: Adults with FASD were less likely to be in a relationship and more likely to have poor educational outcomes and to be exposed to violence as victim or perpetrator than their peers who did not have FASD. None of the participants with FASD completed secondary school successfully. No differences were found for independent living, employment, health, substance use and legal outcomes, between the foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or partial foetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS) and control group. Conclusion: While significant differences existed in certain aspects, differences are not as stark as one would expect between individuals with FASD and controls. Contribution: This study highlights the importance of considering the social context in which a FASD diagnosis is made. The comparative negative impact of an FASD diagnosis and the associated challenges on life outcomes may be less pronounced in rural communities where everyone has fewer opportunities and resources. This can also make the unique needs of persons with disabilities less visible.

Background: Even though adults with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) are at risk of negative life outcomes, there is no published evidence of this in South Africa, which has the highest estimated FASD prevalence rate globally. Objectives: The purpose of the study was to describe and compare the life outcomes of adults with FASD and adults without FASD in a South African rural community, 16 years after diagnosis. Method: Participants were examined and interviewed regarding their biographical information, knowledge of FASD, information on their family, relationships, home circumstances, education, work and medical history. Results: Adults with FASD were less likely to be in a relationship and more likely to have poor educational outcomes and to be exposed to violence as victim or perpetrator than their peers who did not have FASD. None of the participants with FASD completed secondary school successfully. No differences were found for independent living, employment, health, substance use and legal outcomes, between the foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or partial foetal alcohol syndrome (PFAS) and control group. Conclusion: While significant differences existed in certain aspects, differences are not as stark as one would expect between individuals with FASD and controls. Contribution: This study highlights the importance of considering the social context in which a FASD diagnosis is made. The comparative negative impact of an FASD diagnosis and the associated challenges on life outcomes may be less pronounced in rural communities where everyone has fewer opportunities and resources. This can also make the unique needs of persons with disabilities less visible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we present a systematic review of the literature on Early Leaving from Education and Training (ELET), which uses the life course paradigm as an explanatory model or approach. This review has returned little in the way of scientific literature, although interest in the topic has been growing in recent years, which addresses the ELET process from different points of view. First, we highlight the means that this review provides to contextualize ELET in relation to new age-specific norms, reflecting on the process that has led to it. In addition, this review suggests that it is increasingly important to change the focus of research on ELET, exploring the process within a framework of complex trajectories, including the possibility of returning once ELET has occurred. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on interviews with 164 young beneficiaries (of) and 128 professionals in charge of lifelong learning policies in eighteen regions located in nine member states of the European Union in 2017. Drawing on the concept of 'opportunity structures', we analyse variations between regional institutional arrangements and interactions between professionals and young adults. Our findings suggest that the crux of lifelong learning policies is the coordination between different policy areas so that they can respond to the multidimensional challenges that young adults face during their life transitions in diverse regional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

TREE (Transitions from Education to Employment) is a prospective inter-disciplinary mixed-mode panel study following up on post-compulsory education and employment trajectories of two Swiss compulsory school leavers' cohorts: TREE1 was launched as a PISA follow-up survey in 2000 (nt0 = 6343, nt10 in 2020 = 3882). TREE2 started in 2016 and draws on a national large-scale assessment of mathematics skills (nt0 = 8429, nt6 in 2022 = 4461). The panel is ongoing, further panel waves being planned for both cohorts. Data from both cohorts are available at the Swiss data archive SWISSUbase (www.swissubase.ch; reference number 12476). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exclusion of special populations (older adults; pregnant women, children, and adolescents; individuals of lower socioeconomic status and/or who live in rural communities; people from racial and ethnic minority groups; individuals from sexual or gender minority groups; and individuals with disabilities) in research is a pervasive problem, despite efforts and policy changes by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations. These populations are adversely impacted by social determinants of health (SDOH) that reduce access and ability to participate in biomedical research. In March 2020, the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute hosted the "Lifespan and Life Course Research: integrating strategies" "Un-Meeting" to discuss barriers and solutions to underrepresentation of special populations in biomedical research. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how exclusion of representative populations in research can increase health inequities. We applied findings of this meeting to perform a literature review of barriers and solutions to recruitment and retention of representative populations in research and to discuss how findings are important to research conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight the role of SDOH, review barriers and solutions to underrepresentation, and discuss the importance of a structural competency framework to improve research participation and retention among special populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exclusion of special populations (older adults; pregnant women, children, and adolescents; individuals of lower socioeconomic status and/or who live in rural communities; people from racial and ethnic minority groups; individuals from sexual or gender minority groups; and individuals with disabilities) in research is a pervasive problem, despite efforts and policy changes by the National Institutes of Health and other organizations. These populations are adversely impacted by social determinants of health (SDOH) that reduce access and ability to participate in biomedical research. In March 2020, the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute hosted the “Lifespan and Life Course Research: integrating strategies” “Un-Meeting” to discuss barriers and solutions to underrepresentation of special populations in biomedical research. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted how exclusion of representative populations in research can increase health inequities. We applied findings of this meeting to perform a literature review of barriers and solutions to recruitment and retention of representative populations in research and to discuss how findings are important to research conducted during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We highlight the role of SDOH, review barriers and solutions to underrepresentation, and discuss the importance of a structural competency framework to improve research participation and retention among special populations.

Objectives: To measure the effect of arranged marriages on criminal convictions among male ethnic minority youth in Denmark. Methods: To identify the effect, we rely on administrative data from before and after a national policy reform in 2002 that restricted ethnic minority youths' access to their most prevalent type of marriage until both spouses were at least 24 years of age. We use difference-in-differences estimation and meticulously analyze potential time trends in the data. Results: Although the reform substantially decreased marriage rates in both the short (24 percent decrease at age 24) and longer (10 percent at age 30) run, this reform effect produced no response in criminal conviction risks in neither short nor long run. Conclusion: Criminologists discuss whether social institutions, such as marriage, influence desistance from crime or whether the association is driven by unobserved heterogeneity. Several empirical strategies have been proposed to settle the discussion. Our contribution to this line of research is an alternative empirical strategy that relies on a natural experiment. Our study focuses only on one specific type of marriage in one context and focuses on criminal convictions rather than behavior per se—which are important limitations. Still, results uniformly reject the hypothesis that the marriages in our study influenced criminal convictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to foster pro-environmental behavior in the midst of a global ecological crisis, current research in environmental psychology is often limited to individual-related factors and theories about conscious processing. However, in recent years, we observe a certain discontentment with the limitations of this approach within the community as well as increasing efforts toward broadening the scope (e.g., promotions of collective and social identity processes). In our work, we aim for a closer investigation of the relations between individuals, societal factors, and pro-environmental actions while considering the role of the unconscious. We hereby draw on the work of critical social psychology (CSP). From a life course perspective, we emphasize the important role of socialization, institutional and cultural contexts for mindsets and related perceptions, decisions and actions. This link between the individual and the society enables us to understand biographical trajectories and related ideologies dominant within a society. We seek to show that the approach of CSP is helpful for understanding why efforts of establishing pro-environmental actions on a large scale are still failing. In this article, we discuss the theoretical links between environmental psychology and CSP as well as possible implications, paving the way for a comprehensive future research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to foster pro-environmental behavior in the midst of a global ecological crisis, current research in environmental psychology is often limited to individual-related factors and theories about conscious processing. However, in recent years, we observe a certain discontentment with the limitations of this approach within the community as well as increasing efforts toward broadening the scope (e.g., promotions of collective and social identity processes). In our work, we aim for a closer investigation of the relations between individuals, societal factors, and pro-environmental actions while considering the role of the unconscious. We hereby draw on the work of critical social psychology (CSP). From a life course perspective, we emphasize the important role of socialization, institutional and cultural contexts for mindsets and related perceptions, decisions and actions. This link between the individual and the society enables us to understand biographical trajectories and related ideologies dominant within a society. We seek to show that the approach of CSP is helpful for understanding why efforts of establishing pro-environmental actions on a large scale are still failing. In this article, we discuss the theoretical links between environmental psychology and CSP as well as possible implications, paving the way for a comprehensive future research agenda.

The life course in general, and the educational trajectories of young people in particular, comprise a high degree of complexity as they take place in iterative, recursive and interactive negotiation processes in which numerous actors, institutions and discourses are involved. In this paper, an attempt is made to combine two conceptual discussions—Life Course and Governance—bringing them to bear on the examination of how Lifelong Learning (LLL) policies have been used to govern young people's life courses. The paper synthesizes different discussions of the complex relations among governance, discourses and structures of opportunity that impact the governing of the life course and particularly educational trajectories. It suggests that the combination of life course research and a governance perspective enables analyzing the governance of educational trajectories along discursive, institutional and relational dimensions of opportunity structures. Considering these various dimensions, the paper argues, allows us to attend to the social interactions, decision-making processes and processing mechanisms that precede and/or underlie educational processes and thus favor or complicate them. The contribution also critically discusses the implications of a governance perspective on life courses and closes with a discussion of the multidimensional and multilevel challenge of governing life course by means of LLL policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although siblings may differ considerably, the similarities between them are often an important source of emotional support in one's life and influence one's life course trajectories. In this review on the topic of sibling relationship and cross‐sibling effect interactions, we aim to encourage research interest and facilitate knowledge building. We begin our review by highlighting how the parental home may induce differentiation between siblings. Next, we illustrate the theories explaining sibling similarities and differences and discuss the factors that stimulate these. Throughout the review, we do not only highlight the complex mechanisms by which siblings imitate yet differentiate themselves, but also mutually relate to their life courses and education. New understandings of how similarities between siblings can simultaneously act as powerful influences and negative examples are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The life course in general, and the educational trajectories of young people in particular, comprise a high degree of complexity as they take place in iterative, recursive and interactive negotiation processes in which numerous actors, institutions and discourses are involved. In this paper, an attempt is made to combine two conceptual discussions—Life Course and Governance—bringing them to bear on the examination of how Lifelong Learning (LLL) policies have been used to govern young people’s life courses. The paper synthesizes different discussions of the complex relations among governance, discourses and structures of opportunity that impact the governing of the life course and particularly educational trajectories. It suggests that the combination of life course research and a governance perspective enables analyzing the governance of educational trajectories along discursive, institutional and relational dimensions of opportunity structures. Considering these various dimensions, the paper argues, allows us to attend to the social interactions, decision-making processes and processing mechanisms that precede and/or underlie educational processes and thus favor or complicate them. The contribution also critically discusses the implications of a governance perspective on life courses and closes with a discussion of the multidimensional and multilevel challenge of governing life course by means of LLL policies.

From a life course perspective, living independently, outside of the parental home is widely considered to be a key step towards adulthood. However, leaving the parental home can be a reversible process. This article provides empirical evidence of several 'push' and 'pull' factors affecting the timing, and therefore the likelihood of young people's return to the parental home in Germany. The discrete-time survival analysis used here is based on the second wave of the survey AID:A conducted by the German Youth Institute in 2014/15. The sample comprises 5,518 young adults aged 18–32 years who have already moved out of their parental home at least once. The results show that a return is more likely if the young adults become unemployed, when they finish university or if they left home with the intention of this being only a temporary change (e.g. stay abroad, social year). In the light of this evidence, young adults' spatial mobility can be considered not so much the result of voluntary decisions made by the actors themselves, but can rather be seen as being dependent on their ability to take further steps towards adulthood with some certainty that these steps will not need to be reversed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Biographical research has a long tradition in social sciences. Being an incredibly dynamic interdisciplinary field, it has evolved in its core mission to study the links between individuals and society, strongly anchored in its tradition while also experimenting new approaches. In this paper we discuss a number of challenges resulting from this noteworthy development (theoretical, methodological, object-related and singularity-related) and the creative strategies put into practice by social scientists to answer and overcome them (in observing subjectivity, in the methodological devices implemented and in the analytical procedures applied). These issues and creativity are transversal to the biographical research field (also in its connection to the life course perspective) and are particularly present in the 11 articles brought together in this themed volume of Contemporary Social Science. Although coming from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and different parts of the world, and developing approaches focused on heterogeneous research topics and methodologies, these papers illustrate how challenging biographical research can be and how resourceful, imaginative and innovative social scientists need to be to overcome those issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Discourse: Journal of Childhood & Adolescense Research / Diskurs Kindheits- und Jugendforschung is the property of Verlag Barbara Budrich GmbH and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Portuguesecrisisaffected the country’s collective identity, and ‘the timing of life’ at which it struck individual lives in this case is also significant. Quantitative figures show that young people were particularly affected by thiscrisis. However, a long-run qualitative approach provides a multilayered and quite complex view of what thiscrisisis embedding in young people’s lives and minds. In qualitative research on ‘middle class’ transitions to adulthood carried out in 2009, 52 young adults were interviewed about their educational, residential, occupational and romantic lives. In a follow-up study, these individuals’ trajectories, plans and expectations are now updated; their past and present confronted; and effects of thecrisison their lives questioned. The discussion is held in the form of a critical approach to the theories of individualisation, and goes to the heart of the ‘generation in itself’ vs. ‘generation for itself’ and ‘biographies of choice’ vs. ‘discourses of choice’ debates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the linked nature of life events, the existing literature mainly analyses union formation, living arrangements, and international migration separately. In this paper we explore how Ghanaian couples' relationship trajectories are related to international migration. Data come from the Migration between Africa and Europe-Ghana survey ( n = 868) and capture unique retrospective life histories of Ghanaians between age 21 and 35 (migrants and non-migrants), enabling us to analyse relationship histories and their development over time in a context of international migration while taking the socio-cultural practice of non-residential unions into account. We applied sequence analyses to describe trajectories and optimal matching to identify clusters of typical trajectories. Using multinomial logit models, we investigated the association between migration and the four identified relationship paths. Our results show that relationships and living arrangements evolve in a wide variety of ways, underlining the importance of a dynamic approach. The complexity in relationship trajectories is reflected in the four typical clusters that captured this diversity in a more simplified way: (1) co-residential marriages; (2) singles; (3) mixed trajectories; and (4) non-residential marriages. Our results further suggest that socialisation and disruption of family behaviours are both occurring among migrants. We also found that non-residential unions are commonplace among migrants and non-migrants alike, demonstrating that this living arrangement is not necessarily related to international migration. However, non-residential relationships are most common among migrants, and migrant women in particular. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Abnormalities in brain structure and function can occur several decades prior to the onset of cognitive decline. It is in the preceding decades that an intervention is most likely to be effective, when informed by an understanding of factors contributing to the disease prodrome. Few studies, however, have sufficient longitudinal data on relevant risks to determine the optimum targets for interventions to improve cognition in aging. In this article we examine the timing and exposure of factors contributing to verbal memory performance in later life.Methods: 387 participants from the population-based Women's Healthy Ageing Project, mean age at baseline of 49.6 years (range: 45-55 years), had complete neuropsychiatric assessments, clinical information, physical measures, and biomarkers collected at baseline, with at least three follow-up visits that included at least one cognitive reassessment. Mixed linear models were conducted to assess the significance of risk factors on later-life verbal memory. We explored the influence of early, contemporaneous, and cumulative exposures.Results: Younger age and better education were associated with baseline memory test performance (CERAD). Over the 20 years of study follow-up, cumulative mid- to late-life physical activity had the strongest effect on better later life verbal memory (0.136 [0.058, 0.214]). The next most likely contributors to verbal memory in late life were the negative effect of cumulative hypertension (-0.033 [-0.047, -0.0.18] and the beneficial effect of HDL cholesterol (0.818 [0.042, 1.593]).Conclusions: Findings suggest that midlife interventions focused on physical activity, hypertension control, and achieving optimal levels of HDL cholesterol will help maintain later-life verbal memory skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of ALTER: European Journal of Disability Research, Journal Europeen de Erche sur le Handicap is the property of European Society for Disability Research and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose -- There is much scientific interest in the connection between the emergence of gender-based inequalities and key biographical transition points of couples in long-term relationships. Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple's respective professional careers over space and time. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to filling this gap by addressing the following questions: what are the critical biographical moments when gender (in)equalities within a relationship begin to arise and consolidate? Which biographical decisions precede and follow such critical moments? How does decision making at critical moments impact the opportunities of both relationship partners in gaining equal access to paid employment? Design/methodology/approach -- These questions are addressed from the perspectives of intersectionality and economic citizenship. Biographical interviewing is used to collect the personal and professional narratives of Swiss-, bi-national and migrant couples. The case study of a Swiss- Norwegian couple illustrates typical processes by which many skilled migrant women end up absently or precariously employed. Findings -- Analysis reveals that the Scandinavian woman's migration to Switzerland is a primary and critical moment for emerging inequality, which is then reinforced by relocation (to a small town characterized by conservative gender values) and the subsequent births of their children. It is concluded that factors of traditional gender roles, ethnicity and age intersect to create a hierarchical situation which affords the male Swiss partner more weight in terms of decision making and career advancement. Practical implications -- The paper's findings are highly relevant to the formulation of policies regarding gender inequalities and the implementation of preventive programmes within this context. Originality/value -- Little empirical research is available comparing the evolution of a couple's respective professional careers over space and time. The originality of this paper is to fill this research gap; to include migration as a critical moment for gender inequalities; to use an intersectional and geographical perspective that have been given scant attention in the literature; to use the original concept of economic citizenship; and to examine the case of a bi-national couple, which has so far not been examined by the literature on couple relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - Drawing findings from a large mixed-method study on perceptions of dignity, care expectations, and support in relation to older women from Black and minority-ethnic backgrounds, the purpose of this paper is to explore the interrelationships between life course events and the multiple roles adopted by women at different points in time that have shaped their perceptions of care and their care expectations in old age. Design/methodology/approach - In total, 32 semi-structured interviews were undertaken, allowing for the collection of data on the participants' understanding of growing old, and the meaning and attributes of care and what care with dignity "looked and felt like". The theoretical framework is guided by a life-course approach and grounded within an intersectionality perspective. The majority of the participants were migrants. Findings - Social markers such as ethnicity and cultural identity were found to influence the participants' understanding and expectations of care with factors such as gender identity and integration in the local community also of importance. How women felt they were perceived and "recognised" by others in their everyday lives with particular focus at the time of old age with the increased potential of loss of dignity due to declining capabilities, raised the importance of the family involvement in care provision, and perceived differences in the attributes of paid and non-paid care. The notion of "care from the heart" emerged as a key attribute of care with dignity. Care with dignity was understood as a purposeful activity, undertaken with intent to show respect and to acknowledge the participants' sense of worth and value. Practical implications - The implications of this study are relevant in the current debate taking place at the EU level about the lived experiences of ageing migrant groups and care expectations. Originality/value - The study highlights the importance of the social nature of dignity, how wider societal structures can impact and shape how care is understood for older women of migrant and minoritised backgrounds, and the need to explore migration and care across the life course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noting the need for richer theories of identity and identity formation in education, the author describes aspects of D. P. McAdams’ psychosocial constructivist framework enriched by select concepts drawn from Life Course research for conceptualizing and analyzing identity development within audit-driven societies and educational systems. Drawing on the language and concepts of the framework, the author illustrates some of its interpretative power by conducting a ‘close reading’, a method drawn from literary theory, of portions of a head teacher’s published self-narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Sport has become a highly differentiated social phenomenon in recent years. Changes in society, such as individualization, the growing significance of the health and body culture, and changing values, are considered to be generative mechanisms for increasing social importance and the differentiation of modern sport. Although discussions in sport sociology attribute the changes observed in recent decades of sport participation to a socially determined differentiation of sport, this premise has hardly ever been empirically tested. The present study examines to what extent the postulated developments in sport can be observed on the micro level of those engaging in sport, by examining sport behaviour from a contemporary historical perspective. Based on a life-course approach to research, a total of 1739 over 50-year-olds in Germany were asked about their sport participation as part of a retrospective longitudinal study. Results show that the increasing differentiation of sport can be documented by more diversified forms of individual sport careers. During a 30-year observation period the popularity of competitive sport decreased and the variety of ways in which sport was organized increased. A differentiated analysis based on examining three birth cohorts showed that the reported change in sport participation can be attributed to age, cohort and period effects. In addition, the present study examines how specific events in contemporary history are reflected in individual sporting careers. Sport careers in Chemnitz (Eastern Germany) and Braunschweig (Western Germany) differed before German reunification, but these differences have evened out after the political changes and the process of transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

With Using Narrative in Social Research Jane ELLIOTT has made an original and very accessible contribution to the methodological literature in social research. The originality of the work lies most of all in its double aim. ELLIOTT not only presents both qualitative and quantitative approaches to narrative analysis but also uses the concept of narrative as a sensitizing tool to explore and to deconstruct the boundaries between qualitative and quantitative social research. Actually, this second aim receives more attention than the first. Consequently, the book offers less practical guidance to the analysis of narratives than its title suggests. Most of all it provides advanced students and researchers with a sound reflection on the qualitative-quantitative divide and on possible ways to overcome it. Although insightful for every social scientist, the book tries in the first place to win the "quantitative audience" for an interpretive turn. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0602192

The paper examines the combination of the German Aging Survey (Deutscher Alters survey - DEAS) with the Sample of Active Pension Accounts (Versicherungskontenstichprobe - VSKT), as an example of how survey results may be linked together with administrative data using statistical matching. Statistical matching is a technique increasingly being applied in order to combine information from different data sources where no linkage can be made between records based on any unique identifier. This might be due to confidentiality restrictions or attempts to avoid the high attrition rates connected with informed consent requirements. The aim of this matching is to provide a combined dataset that contains more information than the data sources would on their own. In our paper, we detail some preparatory steps for making this match, such as the definition and adjustment of matching variables. The steps we describe may well be worth challenging on the basis of the divergent characteristics of the two sets of data. We also outline the procedure we used to combine the data sources, based on the Mahalanobis distance vector. Finally, we assess the quality of the matching by comparing the individual pension amounts that we can extract from each of the two matching sources as our external criterion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Österreichische Zeitschrift für Soziologie is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Retrospective reports in survey interviews and questionnaires are subject to many types of recall error, which affect completeness, consistency, and dating accuracy. Concerns about this problem have led to the development of so-called calendar instruments, or timeline techniques. These aided recall procedures have been designed to help respondents gain better access to long-term memory by providing a graphical time frame in which life history information can be represented. In order to obtain more insights into the potential benefits of calendar methodology, this paper presents a review of the application of calendar instruments, their design characteristics and effects on data quality. Calendar techniques are currently used in a variety of fields, including life course research, epidemiology and family planning studies. Despite the growing interest in these new methods, their application often lacks sufficient theoretical foundation and little attention has been paid to their effectiveness. Several recent studies however, have demonstrated that in comparison to more traditional survey methods, calendar techniques can improve some aspects of data quality. While calendar instruments have been shown to be potentially beneficial to retrospective data quality, there is an apparent need for methodological research that generates more systematic knowledge about their application in social surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an argument for overcoming some of the limits of current family research. To start, some major research questions concerning the future challenges of demographic change and its implications for modern welfare states are addressed. The authors propose an agenda for making progress in this field via two interrelated steps. First, they propose an integration of theoretical approaches explaining family dynamics and design a conceptual framework to model couples' and family dynamics as a process of purposeful individual action and decision-making over the life course. Second,methodological requirements of family research from this theoretical perspective are identified. Conclusions are drawn with regard to longitudinal data collection covering all dimensions of couples' and family dynamics and not just the structural dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This book consists of 26 articles and introduces the reader to different fields, methods and aspects of life course and generation research. It is published on the occasion of Martin KOHLI's 60th birthday and focuses on his research program. Most of the authors of the articles are personally involved and committed to his research program. Despite some critical remarks mentioned in this review, altogether this book is enriching to the field. It is also appealing for non-experts because even the basic concepts of life course research are discussed. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0401265

Despite ongoing 'paradigm wars' between the methodological traditions of qualitative and quantitative research, 'mixed methods' represents nowadays a rapidly developing field of social science methodology. In such discussions it is often emphasized that the use of methods should be predominantly influenced by substantive research questions, and not only by methodological and epistemological considerations. As all methods have specific limitations as well as particular strengths, many discussants propose that qualitative and quantitative methods should be combined in order to compensate for their mutual and overlapping weaknesses. However, although a variety of proposals have been made for a taxonomy of mixed-methods designs, there is yet a lack of agreement regarding basic concepts and definitions, as is bemoaned by many experts in this field. This lack of common ground is due to the fact that crucial questions regarding the relations between research domains and methods have been not sufficiently discussed yet. For which types of research questions qualitative and quantitative methods are suited better? What are typical weaknesses and strengths of qualitative and quantitative methods in relation to particular research domains? The paper addresses these questions by discussing several examples from research projects that have combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Thereby it will be shown that the purposes of method integration are twofold: it can serve for the mutual validation of data and findings as well as for the production of a more coherent and complete picture of the investigated domain than monomethod research can yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With Using Narrative in Social Research Jane ELLIOTT has made an original and very accessible contribution to the methodological literature in social research. The originality of the work lies most of all in its double aim. ELLIOTT not only presents both qualitative and quantitative approaches to narrative analysis but also uses the concept of narrative as a sensitizing tool to explore and to deconstruct the boundaries between qualitative and quantitative social research. Actually, this second aim receives more attention than the first. Consequently, the book offers less practical guidance to the analysis of narratives than its title suggests. Most of all it provides advanced students and researchers with a sound reflection on the qualitative-quantitative divide and on possible ways to overcome it. Although insightful for every social scientist, the book tries in the first place to win the "quantitative audience" for an interpretive turn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful careers in top-performance sports demand large amounts of time and personal resources and normally they take a course parallel to the period of educational and professional qualification. Regarding careers of former top-performance athletes, the question arises as to how far the engagement in top-performance sports has an influence on the professional career path. This article aims to categorize the professional careers of top-performance athletes and to connect them with the subjective ratings of the respondents. This will be carried out by means of objective life-course data of former Olympic athletes. The theoretical approach is based on recent conceptions of life-course research and of professional socialization research. In a postal inquiry of 616 successful German Olympic athletes (male and female) the sports and professional careers were recorded retrospectively. The results show that former top-performance athletes generally have higher educational qualifications and professional positions than the German population. But as there are big differences with regard to the individual career patterns, a typology of professional careers seems to be practical. For that purpose, a classification typology of professional careers was developed using cluster analysis. The engagement in sports rather favours the professional career in its course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With BECK's (1986) thesis of a new thrust of individualization a discussion on processes of social change in post-WW II-Germany has been unfolding since the 1980s. The occasionally indistinct terminology and its varied usages have repeatedly led to misunderstandings. A central problem lies in the explicit or implicit assumptions: i.e., on how the consequences of action are related to the meaning ascribed to them and on the relationship of social structure to institutions and social agents. Since these assumptions address the core of the individualization theory they themselves must be subjected to empirical analysis instead of simply being taken for granted. This weakness is connected to the established research traditions in post-WW II-Germany (such as in social structure analysis, biography research and discourse analysis). Each of the different research paradigms, on its own, permits only very limited statements on the processes of individualization. This contribution shows how strategies combining qualitative and quantitative data and methods can be used to examine processes of social change as well as the thesis of societal individualization. Starting from the differentiation between institutional and personal individualization (ZINN 2001), an empirical research design for examining subjective individualization processes will be presented. Here, the combination of qualitative and quantitative data and methods is of special importance. Using an example from life course research, it will be shown how with sampling, type formation, standardized data collection and cluster-analytical reproduction of a typology a qualitative and a quantitative research approach can be combined and how they can benefit each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]