Life Transitions

Life Course Transitions

A traditional developmental perspective describes developmental tasks to be completed at each stage or transition in life. For instance, a Western developmental perspective might define the transition to adulthood as involving further establishment of personal identity, and increasing social and economic independence from parents. A life course perspective acknowledges the developmental uniqueness of transitions, but emphasizes the embedding of transitions within social contexts and historic and temporal processes. Thus, the meaning of a given transition, and individuals' ease in traversing it, depends on the social contexts within which it occurs. Similarly, the effects of social contexts on individuals depend on the stage or transition in the life course during which they occur. For example, research on the psychological and socioeconomic effects of military experiences during World War II found that effects depended on whether entry into the military occurred in early or later adulthood. For those entering the military right out of high school and before they had invested heavily in their careers, military service often resulted in positive socioeconomic outcomes in later adulthood, as it provided training and work experiences, educational, health, and financial benefits, as well as a much improved economy upon returning home. In contrast, for those entering the military in their early 30s, military experience represented a major interruption of careers and family lives, resulting in significant setbacks upon returning home.

An important distinction is whether transitions occur at normative times and in normative sequences. Life course theory posits that life transitions are age graded, meaning that they typically occur within a given age range, and in a normative sequence. Transitions that occur at unusual ages (i.e., “off time”), or out of sequence, may be particularly difficult. The loss of a parent, for example, although never insignificant, has been found to have very different consequences if it occurs early in life (e.g., during childhood) or at a more normative age in later midlife. In addition to the timing of transitions, their duration is also of consequence. Research on the effects of poverty for children, for example, finds that short spells of poverty are less detrimental than prolonged exposures to economic hardship.

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