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The Family Life Course Framework: Perspectives on Interdependent Lives and Inequality

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Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies

Abstract

Families are natural spaces within which multiple generations connect and develop interdependencies (Hagestad & Dykstra, 2016). Indeed, a key tenet of the life course approach—and arguably the most important and the most underdeveloped—is that of “linked lives,” which is that an individual’s life affects and is affected by others (e.g., Elder, 1994). An individual’s life is defined and shaped by family members, friends, and “consociates” (Plath, 1980) in local and global communities who share life choices and chances. Within the field of family science, the family life course framework is unique in its careful attention to the linked lives of family members, both within and across generations over time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kevin M. Roy

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Public Health and Human Sciences, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

    Richard A. Settersten Jr.

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Correspondence to Kevin M. Roy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Kari Adamsons

  2. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    April L. Few-Demo

  3. Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, College of Education and Human Development University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA

    Christine Proulx

  4. Department of Family Science, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kevin Roy

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Roy, K.M., A. Settersten, R. (2022). The Family Life Course Framework: Perspectives on Interdependent Lives and Inequality. In: Adamsons, K., Few-Demo, A.L., Proulx, C., Roy, K. (eds) Sourcebook of Family Theories and Methodologies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92002-9_20

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