Life Course Perspective: Understanding Human Development

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Life course perspective is used in social science to help understand human development. It takes into account how a person grows and changes through life experiences. It looks at historical events as well as cultural changes that affect a person’ evolution over their life (The life course perspective, 2003-2018). Life course perspective states that there is complex interaction of social and environmental factors mixed with biological, behavioral, and physiological issues that define the course of a person’s life. Each stage in life exerts influences on the next stage, social, economic, and physical environments and they also have influences through a person’s life course. All these factors impact a person and the community (Richards, Picket, …show more content…

It has three concepts associated with the perspective which are activation, aggravation, and desistance. Activation is within the life course perspective and involves how behaviors concerning delinquency are created, how they continue, the frequency of the behaviors, and how they are diversified (Schmalleger, 2012). There are three concepts associated with life course perspective, activation, aggravation, and desistance. Each of these concepts are important in the perspective. Activation involves how behaviors concerning delinquency are created, how they continue the frequency of the behaviors, and how they are diversified (Schmalleger, 2012). Activation has three types, acceleration, stabilization, and diversification. Each of these types are associated with how a person …show more content…

These five principles are historical time and place, timing of lives, how lives are linked, human agency, and development and aging as a continual process of life (Schmalleger, 2012). The principle of historical time and place is a person’s life course through their individual life. The principle of timing involves the developmental effect that events or experiences have on a person and when they take place (Schmalleger, 2012). The principle of how lives are linked is the effect that social or shared relationships have on a person. The principle of human agency is the choices that are made by people within a historical context that leads to the development of their life course (Schmalleger, 2012). The principle of development and aging as a continual process of life is the understanding that a person’s behavior cannot be attributed to one time during a person’s life course and that all areas of a person’s life course have an impact (Schmalleger, 2012). One of the central organizing principles of the perspective is the link between human lives and social relationships with friends and family across a person’s life span. These relationships have considerable influence on a person’s life course (Schmalleger,