Livsløpets

Livsløpets, commonly referred to in English as the life course, is a theoretical and empirical framework used in sociology, demography, and psychology to study how individuals experience a sequence of life events and transitions over time, shaped by social structures, institutions, and historical context.

Core concepts include life stages (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age), transitions (education completion, entering the labor market, marriage, parenthood), trajectories, turning points, and timing (early, on-time, or late). The approach emphasizes linked lives, where events in one person's life affect others, and the interaction of individual agency with social constraints.

Methods and domains: life course research relies on longitudinal data, life history interviews, and sequence analysis to examine how education, work, family, health, and housing trajectories unfold across the lifespan. It also accounts for cohort effects, aging processes, and period influences such as policy changes or economic cycles.

Applications and significance: insights from the life course approach inform social policy, retirement planning, education and family policy, and health and aging services. The framework notes substantial cross-cultural variation and the ways gender, class, and ethnicity shape life trajectories. Limitations include methodological demands, data quality, and challenges in cross-cultural comparability.

Related fields include life course theory and life course epidemiology, which apply the concepts to health outcomes and population studies.