Linking Life Histories and Mental Health
A Person-Centered Strategy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8019683 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Burton Herbert Singer (0000-0002-5295-5971, Princeton University), Burton Singer, Carol D Ryff (0000-0002-4693-9190, University of Wisconsin–Madison), Deborah Carr (0000-0002-8175-5303, University of Michigan), Wendy Magee (0000-0003-3120-6565, University of Toronto), William J Magee (University of Toronto) |
| Year | 1998 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-51 |
| Publication date | 1998-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Methodology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0081-1750 • E-ISSN: 1467-9531 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1111/0081-1750.00041 |
| OpenAlex | W1994828315 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 46 |
| References cited | 81 |
We present a strategy for using longitudinal survey data to identify life history pathways linked with mental health outcomes. The central aim is to begin with richly detailed descriptions of individual lives and, from them, to discern generalizable features of aggregates of multiple lives. Conceptual principles guiding the organization and interpretation of life history information are summarized. Data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) are used to illustrate the specific steps for analyzing life histories of “resilient” women (those with a history of depression who report high levels of current well-being). The steps begin with writing narratives of individual life histories, which are then reviewed for commonalities, and subsequently thinned to more generic descriptions. The process culminates with tests of distinguishability, contrasting the “resilient” with three other mental health groups. Illustrating the constructive tensions between idiographic and nomothetic analyses, our approach documents multiple life pathways to resilience. The methodology also underscores the delicate interplay between activities of the mind and machine in facilitating scientific discovery
Cognitive psychology · Constructive · Developmental psychology · Interpretation (philosophy · Life course approach · Life history · Mental health · Narrative · Nomothetic · Nomothetic and idiographic · Process (computing · Psychological resilience · Psychotherapist · Aging and Gerontology Research · Computer Science · Health disparities and outcomes · Health, psychology, and well-being · Psychology · Social Psychology
Paths of psychological health
Positive health
Know Thyself and Become What You Are
Using Narrative in Social Research
Reconsidering happiness
Psychological Well-Being and Ill-Being
Social Inequalities in Health
Interpersonal Flourishing
Hierarchies of Life Histories and Associated Health Risks
The Contours of Positive Human Health
Protocol for a Mixed Qualitative and Comparative Cross-National Community Study on Social Loss (Linloss)
Social Context in Gene–Environment Interactions
‘We are “free range” prison officers’, the experiences of Scottish Prison Service throughcare support officers working in custody and the community
Excavating LGBTQ+ lives in the birth cohort
The narrative potential of the British Birth Cohort Studies
Complex recovery
Status Inequalities, Perceived Discrimination, and Eudaimonic Well-Being
Who is most at risk, and when? Gender-differentiated patterns and risk heterogeneity of adolescent depression in China
Pluralized life courses? An exploration of the life trajectories of individuals with psychiatric disorders
Accumulating adversity and advantage on the path to postsecondary education
Systemic and Reflexive
Cumulative Advantage as a Mechanism for Inequality
As We Age
Using a Narrative Approach to Analyze Longitudinal Mixed Methods Data
Between life course research and social history
Assembling life history narratives from quantitative longitudinal panel data
Neighborhood archetypes for population health research
Long-term Trends in Depression among Women Separated from Abusive Partners
The experiences of “aging” among formerly homeless adults with chronic mental illness
Resilience in Louisiana Fema Parks
A Structural Approach to the Representation of Life History Data 1
Terminal decline in well-being
Diverse pathways to positive and negative affect in adulthood and later life
Pathways to Adulthood in Changing Societies
Optimizing well-being
Recomposing persons
Brightening the Bulb
Receding horizons of health
Life Course Patterns of Career-Prioritizing Decisions and Occupational Attainment in Dual-Earner Couples
How to Conduct a Mixed Methods Study
Getting a life
The Impact of Binational Barriers to Medical Care on the Care-Seeking Practices of Mexican Immigrants
What is "Qualitative" in Qualitative Research? Why the Answer Does not Matter but the Question is Important
Putting the positive in health psychology
Uncertain Time
Hispanic Fertility, Immigration, and Race in the Twenty-First Century
Education, occupation, and earnings
Research in Sociology of Education and Socialization (Research in Sociology of Education)
Life course dynamics
Social support and health
Overcoming the Odds
Transitions and social change
Event History Analysis
Induction
Simultaneous Statistical Inference
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
The Study of Stress and Competence in Children
Social Change and the Transition to Adulthood
Psychological Well-Being in Adult Life
Socioeconomic Status and Psychiatric Disorders
Children in Poverty
Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms
Psychosocial Resources and the Stress Process
Cross-cultural Feasibility, Reliability and Sources of Variance of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI)
The Contours of Positive Human Health
Resilience in Development
Psychological Well-Being
Stress
Stress, appraisal, and coping
Social Relationships and Health
The Comparative Method
Idiographic goals and methods in the study of lives
The magical number seven, plus or minus two
Sociological Methodology 1997
New Methods for Analyzing Individual Event Histories
The Three Faces of Social Psychology
Studying lives through time
Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms
Sequence Comparison Viaalignment and Gibbs Sampling
Narrative, Event-Structure Analysis, and Causal Interpretation in Historical Sociology
The four faces of Eve
Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being
Conceptual analysis and measurement of the construct of ego-resiliency
Personality in the life course
The structure of psychological well-being revisited
Time, Human Agency, and Social Change
The Epidemiology of Social Stress
Life Transitions, Role Histories, and Mental Health
Resiliency and Vulnerability to Adverse Developmental Outcomes Associated With Poverty
Sex Differences in Vulnerability to Undesirable Life Events
Cumulative Advantage and Inequality in Science
Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis
Social and Cultural Mobility
The Revival of Narrative
Stress, Coping, and Social Support Processes
Worklives and Longevity
Lifetime Traumas and Mental Health
Education, Age, and the Cumulative Advantage in Health
Socioeconomic Status Differences in Vulnerability to Undesirable Life Events
Models for the Stress-Buffering Functions of Coping Resources
Perceived Support, Received Support, and Adjustment to Stressful Life Events
The Structure of Coping
From Causes to Events
Socioeconomic Status and Depression
Measuring Resemblance in Sequence Data
Measuring the process of role change during the transition to adulthood
| Unique citing works | 46 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,64 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2026 (29) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 45 |