Life course perspectives on social factors and mental illness

Virtually all major issues in the study of mental health involve conceptualizing and modeling change. Social selection and social causation, estimating the effects of stress, identifying other antecedents of mental illness, examining the consequences of mental illness - these and many other topics require conceptualization of processes and analysis of longitudinal data. Despite the centrality of dynamic processes to our understanding of mental health and illness, most longitudinal studies span relatively short periods of time and focus on temporality as a prerequisite for causal inference. © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Duke Scholars

Author Linda K. George Sociology