Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface.- Part I. Foundations of Life Course Studies and Future Research -- Chapter 1. The Institutionalization of Life Course Studies; John Bynner.- Chapter 2. Age, Cohorts, and the Life Course; Glen H. Elder and Linda K. George.- Chapter 3. Opening the Social: Sociological Imagination in Life Course Studies; Dale Dannefer, Jessica Kelley-Moore and Wenxuan Huang -- Chapter 4. The Changing Social Construction of Age and the Life Course: Precarious Identity and Enactment of 2Early3 and 2Encore3 Stages of Adulthood; Jeylan T. Mortimer and Phyllis Moen -- Chapter 5. Changing Demographic and Legal-Regulatory Contexts:  Neglected Sources of Life Course Structures; Gunhild O. Hagestad, and Pearl A. Dykstra.- Part II. Changing Social Contexts and Life Course Patterns.- Chapter 6. Family Heterogeneity over the Life Course; Sandra Hofferth and Francis Goldscheider -- Chapter 7. Educational Pathways; Robert Crosnoe and Aprile Benner -- Chapter 8. College for All: New Institutional Conflicts in the Transition to Adulthood; Claudia Zapata-Gietl, James E. Rosenbaum, Caitlin Ahearn and Kelly Iwanaga Becker.- Chapter 9. Changes in Educational Inequality in Cross-National Perspective; Pia N. Blossfeld, Gwendolin J. Blossfeld and Hans-Peter Blossfeld -- Chapter 10.  Work Over the Gendered Life Course; Phyllis Moen -- Chapter 11.  Military Service in the Life Course: Where Do We Go From Here?; Andrew S. London and Janet M. Wilmoth -- Chapter 12. Criminal Justice and the Life Course; Sara Wakefield and Robert Apel -- Chapter 13. Disaster and Life Course Processes; Jack DeWaard -- Part III. Health and Development through the Life Course.- Chapter 14. Early Childhood Poverty: Short and Long-Run Consequences over the Life-Span; Ariel Kalil, Greg J. Duncan and Kathleen M. Ziol-Guest -- Chapter 15. Does the Body Forget? Adult Health, Life Course Dynamics, and Social Change; Mark Hayward and Connor M. Sheehan -- Chapter 16. Education, Health, and Historical Change; Monica Kirkpatrick Johnson, Jeremy Staff, John E. Schulenberg, and Megan E. Patrick.- Chapter 17. Life Course Lens on Aging and Health; Kenneth F. Ferraro.- Chapter 18. Mental Health; William Avison.- Chapter 19. Agency Across the Life Course; Steven Hitlin and Hye Won Kwon.- Chapter 20. Cognitive Development and the Life Course: Growth, Stability, and Decline; Duane Alwin, Jason R. Thomas, and Linda A. Wray.- Part IV.  Life Course Research Methodologies.- Chapter 21. Longitudinal Qualitative Research; Joseph Hermanowicz.- Chapter 22. Causality in Life Course Studies; Ravaris Moore and Jennie E. Brand -- Chapter 23. The Logic and Practice of Growth Curve Analysis: Modeling Strategies for Life Course Dynamics; Ross Macmillan and Frank F. Furstenberg.- Chapter 24. Three Generation Studies: Methodological Challenges and Problems; Terrence P. Thornberry -- Chapter 25. Neighborhood, Place, and the Life Course; Christopher R. Browning, Kathleen A. Cagney, and Bethany Boettner.- Part V. The Life Course and Policy: Building the Nexus -- Chapter 26. Life Course Research and the Shaping of Public Policy; John H. Laub -- Chapter 27. Epidemiological Perspectives on the Life Course; Michael EJ Wadsworth and Diana Kuh.- Chapter 28. The Influence of Social Welfare Policies on Health Disparities Across the Life Course; Pamela Herd.- Chapter 29. Life Course Risks and Welfare States’ Risk Management; Martin Diewald -- Chapter 30. Longitudinal Studies and Policy for Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence from Young Lives; Paul Dornan.-Chapter 31. Lags and Leaps: The Dynamics of Demography, Economy, and Policy and Their Implications for Life Course Research; Angela O’Rand and Amie Bostic.          .