Stress and the Life Course: A Paradigmatic Alliance

Abstract

Research both into the stress process and into the life course is concerned with changing lives. Yet, the conceptual paradigms that guide the work of these two fields are largely segregated, borrowing little from each other. This article explores some of the junctures at which the study of social stress might benefit from life-course perspectives and, conversely, those at which life-course research might profitably employ the vantage points of stress research. In the first case, an awareness of life-course trajectories can sensitize stress researchers to the restructuring of lives across time, particularly to the shifting landscape of stressors to which people are exposed and changes in their access to resources in dealing with the stressors. For its part, stress research may be useful in clarifying some basic life-course constructs. Thus, it can direct attention to conditions that help to define the experiential distinctiveness of historical cohorts and to conditions that produce intracohort variations. It is also useful in providing an interpretive framework for understanding how the timing and sequencing of transitional events impact people's lives. The perspectives of the stress process, finally, are also relevant to the critical appraisal of the constructs of life satisfaction and successful aging.

A review of successful aging models: Proposing proactive coping as an important additional strategy

“…The criteria are regarded as fixed end points rather than personal goals that individuals strive for throughout their life span (Pearlin & McKean Skaff, 1996); it describes those who have aged successfully rather than defining the process. In addition, gerontologists pointed out that, as a result of these fixed criteria, the model does not consider the many possible patterns of successful aging (Baltes & Carstensen, 1996;Scheidt & Humpherys, 1999).…”

Functional Limitations and Changes in Levels of Depression Among Older Adults: A Multiple-Hierarchy Stratification Perspective

“…T HE stress process perspective identifies limitations in activities of daily living as among the most pernicious stressors in late life (Pearlin & Skaff, 1996). Levels of functional limitations are higher among older age groups (Long & Pavalko, 2004) and are associated positively with depression (Kelley-Moore & Ferraro, 2005;Yang & George, 2005).…”

Age at First Birth and Fathers' Subsequent Health: Evidence From Sibling and Twin Models

“…A social epidemiological approach to examining health problems focuses on diffuse social conditions, such as social class, that are associated with a broad array of diseases and symptoms. A life-course approach emphasizes both temporally proximate and distal antecedents of an individual's health status (Pearlin & Skaff, 1996). Synthesizing these two approaches, age at first birth is conceptualized here as an important component in the life-course processes of cumulative advantage and disadvantage, and a pivotal element in the associations between biological and psychosocial factors (Mirowsky, 2002;Stein & Susser, 2000).…”