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The Life-Course Perspective

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The Life-Course Theory or the Life-Course Perspective is the study of people’s lives, social changes, and structural contexts (Mitchell, 2003). This concept directs the focus on the power connection between individuals and the factors around them. It is defined as "a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time" (Mitchell, 2003). This concept defines family as a "collection of individuals with shared history who interact within ever-changing social contexts across ever increasing time and space" (Mitchell, 2003). Various concepts are included in the fundamental principles from this theory: socio-historical and geographical location; timing of lives; heterogeneity or variability; linked lives and social ties to other …show more content…

Umberson study provides the first evidence where age is highly and consistently associated with marital quality than is it with marital duration. Age is positively associated with the quality of marriage, meaning that with the increase in age there is also an increase in marital quality for the couple. In addition, age is also correlated with trajectories of change, but this strongly depends on parental status and parenting transitions. Age and marital duration indicate distinctive life course processes in an individual and they are also considered to be correlated. With the increasing in personal experience or maturation, age presumes developmental change in marital quality. Early in the 50s, sociologists concluded that “marital quality diminishes following the birth of the first child and does not begin to improve until children leave the parental home” (Umberson, 2005). Previous research suggests that age is highly and positive associated with marital quality. They suggest that the quality of marriage might increase with age. Parental status and marital

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