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Life Course Lens on Aging and Health

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Handbook of the Life Course

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

Abstract

To advance life course research on aging and health, this chapter examines sources of evidence on the topic, identifying three vantage points for applying the life course lens: studying (a) centenarians, (b) the early origins of adult health, and (c) family lineage. Attention is given to adult health outcomes, while recognizing their early antecedents, including links between the pre- and reproductive stages of human life with post-reproductive aging. The evidence regarding the compression of morbidity is briefly reviewed. Recent advances in the study of aging and health are capitalizing on the use of biomarkers for early detection and linking individual-level data to community context. The evidence is compelling that social factors shape cumulative inequality in health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Center on Aging and the Life Course, Purdue University, 700 West State Street, West Lafayette, IN, 47907-2059, USA

    Kenneth F. Ferraro

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  1. Kenneth F. Ferraro
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Correspondence to Kenneth F. Ferraro .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

    Michael J. Shanahan

  2. Life Course Center and Department of Sociology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

    Jeylan T. Mortimer

  3. Department of Sociology, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, USA

    Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Ferraro, K.F. (2016). Life Course Lens on Aging and Health. In: Shanahan, M., Mortimer, J., Kirkpatrick Johnson, M. (eds) Handbook of the Life Course. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20880-0_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-20880-0_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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