Stress and Adversity over the Life Course: Trajectories and Turning Points

Cambridge University Press, 6/13/1997
EAN 9780521550758, ISBN10: 0521550750

Hardcover, 312 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm
Language: English

Although stress occurs at every stage of life, much research studies its effects over short-term periods, typically within circumscribed life stages. Little attention has been given to the possibilities that the consequences or impact of stress depend critically on the timing in the life course in which the individual is exposed to the stress, and that the sequence of prior stressors acts as a context for these effects. This book attempts to map the influence of early stressful experiences on later life outcomes, studying the trajectories of stressors over the life course. It examines the ramifications of stressful events at key life-course transition points, and explores the diversity of outcomes for individuals who have suffered through trauma. Finally, the book suggests methods for study of stress and adversity through the life course, where issues of timing, ordering and sequencing of stressors are crucial.

List of contributors
1. Trajectories and turning points over the life course
concepts and themes Blair Wheaton and Ian H. Gotlib
Part I. Trajectories
Long-Term Effects of Adverse Experience
2. Childhood adversity and adult psychopathology Ronald C. Kessler, Jacquelyn Gillis-Light, William J. Magee, Kenneth S. Kendler and Lindon J. Eaves
3. The impact of twenty childhood and adult traumatic stressors on the risk of psychiatric disorder Blair Wheaton, Patricia Roszell and Kimberlee Hall
4. Intergenerational sanction sequences and trajectories of street-crime amplification John Hagan and Bill McCarthy
5. School-leavers' self-esteem and unemployment
turning point or a station on a trajectory? David Dooley and JoAnn Prause
6. Intergenerational consequences of social stressors
effects of occupational and family conditions on young mothers and their children Elizabeth G. Menaghan
7. Women's roles and resilience
trajectories of advantage or turning points? Phyllis Moen
Part II. Turning Points
Changes in Life Trajectories
8. Becoming unsupervised
children's transitions from adult-care to self-care in the afterschool hours Deborah Belle, Sara Norell and Anthony Lewis
9. Children whose parents divorce
life trajectories and turning points Donald Wertlieb
10. Life after high school
development, stress and well-being Susan Gore, Robert Aseltine, Jr, Mary Ellen Colten and Bin Lin
11. Turning points in midlife Elaine Wethington, Hope Cooper and Carolyn S. Holmes
12. Adaptation to retirement Robert S. Weiss
Part III. New Methods for the Study of the Life Course
13. Construction and use of the life history calendar
reliability and validity of recall data Nan Lin, Walter M. Ensel and Wan-foon Gina Lai
14. Using discrete-time survival analysis to study event occurrence across the life course John B. Willett and Judith D. Singer
Index.