The subjective life course framework: Integrating life course sociology with gerontological perspectives on subjective aging.

The expansion of life expectancy has precipitated a cultural transformation of the life course – altering the perceived temporal contours of middle and later life. However, our understanding of these perceptions is limited by the absence of a framework within which to examine them. This paper builds on the life course perspective – which emphasizes the objective patterning of lives – by focusing on the subjective side of the life course. Drawing on theoretically, methodologically, and substantively diverse studies, this paper develops the concept of the subjective life course – a term we use to denote individuals’ perceptions of the life course, including its structure and timing and their advancing location in it. We outline two dimensions of the subjective life course – the target of the perception (i.e., generalized other versus self) and the temporal frame of reference (i.e., past, present, or future). Using the resulting framework as an organizational tool, we then discuss key constructs located at each intersection along these dimensions, providing examples, where possible, of empirical studies examining them. We close with a discussion of two broad directions for research: leveraging the framework to yield insight on the subjective life course and exploring links between objective and subjective dimensions of the life course.

预期寿命的延长引发了生命历程的文化转变——改变了人们对中年和晚年的时间感知轮廓。然而，由于缺乏一个用以审视这些感知的框架，我们对它们的理解受到了限制。本文基于生命历程视角——该视角强调生命的客观模式——聚焦于生命历程的主观方面。借鉴理论、方法和实质上各不相同的研究，本文提出了主观生命历程的概念——我们用这个术语来表示个人对生命历程的感知，包括其结构和时间安排以及他们在其中所处的不断推进的位置。我们概述了主观生命历程的两个维度——感知的对象（即一般他人与自我）和时间参照框架（即过去、现在或未来）。利用由此产生的框架作为一种组织工具，我们接着讨论位于这些维度每个交叉点上的关键构念，并在可能的情况下提供研究它们的实证研究示例。最后，我们讨论了两个广泛的研究方向：利用该框架深入了解主观生命历程以及探索生命历程的客观维度和主观维度之间的联系。