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UrduAbstract
Objective
Background
The life course approach is a well-recognized interdisciplinary paradigm in family research but often remains too abstract to guide hypotheses about family life course variation.
Method
We demonstrate the utility of the proposed framework with a qualitative case study on family life courses in Senegal and a quantitative case study on family life course change between Baby Boomer and Millennial cohorts in the United States using sequence analysis.
Results
Findings of the two example applications support that fertility decline in Senegal was primarily driven by material considerations and not by ideational change and that family life course de-standardization was greater between White Baby Boomers and Millennials compared to Black Boomers and Millennials.
Conclusion
Developing narrower mid-range theories that fill the basic life course principles with substantive content and target specific fields of application, such as family life courses, is promising to advance life course theory.
