The Life Course Perspective Theory

Personal lifestyle choices can be influenced by the family of origin, peers, social movements, and global revolutions, and can have a positive or negative life-long impact. A COUPLE OF SENTENCES DEFINING THE LIFE COURSE PERSPECTIVE AND HOW/WHY IT IS USEFUL IN UNDERSTANDING OLDER ADULTS. Based on an in-depth qualitative interview, this paper will include an analysis of lifestyle choices and trajectories, particularly how human agency and cohort effects, have impacted the life course of my interviewee Chris (Christine).

The developmental process of a criminal offender has been heavily discussed; concerning most theoretical opinions vary throughout time. Anthony Hairston was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1998, and was chosen as my case study for exploiting the following theories. Anthony’s early exposure to criminality lead to his adoption of evolving criminal deviance. “These authors tend to agree that childhood is a time during which a criminal trajectory - especially for the most serious, chronic offenders.” (Cullen & Agnew & Wilcox, 2014. 514.) I met Anthony 3 years ago, as he transitioned lifestyles due to financial opportunities. My applied stereotypes and his accepted deviance eventually developed a strong relationship to benefit both of us.

People have a tendency of ascribing external stimuli as reasons for actions and behaviour of man. If a person becomes a criminal, we look for reasons in his background and social setting. However, it is not always necessary that a poor person will take to crime to alleviate his misery.

The movie “Menace 2 Society” which highlights the livelihood in Watts, California and had characters that had relations with many criminological theories. Watts, is an impoverished and crime reckoned neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The movie highlights the life of Caine who is an African-American 18 year old. Although Caine graduated from high school he struggled to find ambition to go on to find a job or obtain higher education. He rather do obtain wealth by drug dealing and hang out with peers in his neighborhood. Most of his friends were no strangers to experiencing crime as crime rate was high in Watts. Some of them would go out and commit murder. Because how bad the living is in his neighborhood, he has thoughts of moving out. During my analyzation of the characters and their actions in the movie, I’ve related them to the criminological theories of social strain theory, social learning theory and Self-control theory.

One of the most persisting health disparities is the birth outcomes between African Americans and White Americans. A significant portion in infant mortality is the increase of low birth weight, and preterm birth among black infants. The socially and economically disadvantaged population affects the maternal and child health outcomes. “The life course perspective “is the women’s life -course experiences that links to the maternal health and pregnancy outcome. It is used to understand how transitions and trajectories factors impact one’s life. The cumulative pathway mechanism how stress, exposures to the physical and the social environment in different life stages that accumulates over time affect health and causes dysfunction. Racial

In module two we learned that life course perspective are how relationships, social change and other factors can shape our life from birth to death. The theory behind this concept is that it can also be used to answer questions for scientific inquires. It can give us answers to how our mother, or father and their ancestor's health can have a major impact on our own health. This is something that does not cross our mind until something threaten our health. This can include cancer, STDS, trying to get pregnant, and other health issues. These unfortunate circumstance can make us take a look at our past exposures trying to figure out how, what, where, and when exactly did this happen. What behavior, decisions or motivates influence it. For an example

Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behaviour. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment.

When looking into analyzing crime we tend to focus on the current events that lead to the crime being committed. When looking at an individual who stole a supermarket, one can conclude that the robber was in need of fast income at the moment and thus decided to steal. If a person kills another it is because they were threatened or their life was in danger. These examples show that the person doing the action did so because at the time they needed a fast response, which then leads analyzers and investigators to see the events that lead to the crime. This retracing of events does not expand far, mostly resulting in a few days prior to the crime. Life-course theory suggests criminologists should also focus on the events that lead towards the crime, not just analyze the days prior, but from

This methodology encompasses examining the child’s life through many different contexts, such as: demography, history, sociology, biology, developmental psychology, and economics. ( w. website ) The Life Course Perspective takes the combination of the historical and social factors and sees them in an individual’s course of personal development. A life course is defined as a sequence of socially defined events and roles that the individual enacts over time. ( W. website ) The theory loosely follows the sage old adage, “To know where you’re going, you have to know where you have been.” More precisely, the theory explains that the roles, events or transitions in an individual’s life don’t naturally progress in a structures order, but instead but create the sum of one’s life experience. (website) Transitions play an important role in the life experience.

The life course theory/perspective (LTC) provides another valuable tool to look at calcium intake. This theory refers to a “multidisciplinary paradigm” for the study of individual’s lives, structural contexts, and social change, looking at a sequence of events and roles that the individual undertakes over time that constitute the total of the person’s experience (“Life Course Theory,” 2016). Like the health belief model, the life course theory is characterized by several key constructs: (a) socio-historical and geographical location, (b) timing of lives, (c) heterogeneity or variability, (d) social ties to others, (e) human agency and personal control, and (f) how the past shapes the future. The socio-historical and geographic location construct deals with how geography, geopolitical events, economic cycles, and ideologies influence the individual. The timing of lives relates to individual time or chronological age, generational time, which refers to the age groups in which people are grouped, and historical time, which references societal or major events and their influences on individuals and families. Variability recognizes that not all individuals in a group share the same perspectives, but rather are influenced by a variety of other social, cultural, and uniquely personal factors. Social ties refer to how individuals are connected to and influenced by others. The construct of human agency and personal control reflects the individual’s ability to

Criminologists and sociologist have long been in debate for century's to explain criminal behaviour. The two main paradigms of thought are between 'nature' and 'nurture'. Nature is in reference to a learnt behaviour where a multitude of characteristics, in society influence whether a person becomes deviant such as poverty, physical abuse or neglect. Nurture defines biological features which could inevitability lead to a individuals deviant or criminal behaviour, because criminality is believed by biological positivist to be inherited from a persons parents. However, I believe that criminal behaviour is a mixture of characteristics that lead to deviant acts such as psychological illness & Environmental factors. Therefore, this essay

Terrie E. Moffitt’s theory argues that antisocial behavior can be 1) life-course persistent offenders who spend the majority of their life exhibiting antisocial behavior and 2) adolescence-limited offenders who grow out of the antisocial behavior as they age. (Cullen & Agnew, 2011, Pg. 477) While it may be disputed that there are only two categories of antisocial individuals, Moffitt’s theory is supported by our other course readings. For example, Patricia Brennans study concluded that a lack of cognitive abilities due to

Criminals are born not made is the discussion of this essay, it will explore the theories that attempt to explain criminal behavior. Psychologists have come up with various theories and reasons as to why individuals commit crimes. These theories represent part of the classic psychological debate, nature versus nurture. Are individuals predisposed to becoming a criminal or are they made through their environment. There are various theories within the biological explanation as to why individuals commit criminal behavior, these include: genetic theory, hereditary theory,.

The life course perspective, or life course theory, is an approach that includes the mental, physical, and social heath of individuals to determine the affect they have on the experiences of the individual throughout their life course. Life course theory focuses directly on the impact of historical and socioeconomic contexts which can alter how individuals from various cohorts experience the world during their life course. A fundamental assumption of the life course theory is that lives of the individuals are lived in a reasonably ordered manner in patterns shaped by age, social structures, and historical change.

It is possible to consider the notion that some people may be more predisposed to committing a criminal behaviour or could become a criminal by committing an offence (Gottfredson, Hirschi 1990). For example, people in certain areas have a higher rate of crime. This higher crime rate in those areas seems to remain constant over time (Hayes, Prenzler, 2009). There may be many reasons influencing this phenomenon including socio-economic, and the limited resources associated with this (including less money and fewer services). This may be a factor contributing to the reason people living in these areas become a criminal – that is, to survive (Baumer & Gustafson, 2007).