Life-Course Implications of US Public Policy

Janet M. Wilmoth is Professor and Chair of Sociology, and Director of the Aging Studies Institute, at Syracuse University. She is affiliated with the Center for Aging and Policy Studies, the Center for Policy Research, and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion. Her research examines older adult migration, living arrangements, and health status, and explores how military service shapes various life-course outcomes.Andrew S. London is Associate Dean and Professor of Sociology at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. He is affiliated with the Aging Studies Institute, the Center for Aging and Policy Studies, the Center for Policy Research, and the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion. His areas of specialization are in medical sociology, demography, aging and the life course, veterans, families, poverty, and social welfare.

Janet Wilmoth and Andrew London’s timely collection assembles an impressive cast of social scientists to illuminate how American policies and programs create, perpetuate, or otherwise seek to offset inequalities in distinct periods of life and across the life course. In making these processes more visible, the authors invite us to reimagine policies and programs and intervene into the social world in order to improve the health and well-being of individuals, families, and populations.Richard A. Settersten, Jr., Barbara E. Knudson Endowed Chair and Professor of Human Development and Family Sciences, Oregon State UniversityLife-Course Implications of US Public Policies, edited by Janet Wilmoth and Andrew London, draws attention to the manifold ways life course research and policy can and should inform public policy. Its ten chapters cover rapidly growing societal problems and needs, coupled with markedly insufficient extant policy responses, across a wide range of domains, including food and nutrition, health, housing, and immigration. The selections highlight escalating requirements for innovative programs and policies directed to issues that arise throughout the life course, from juvenile delinquency to long-term care of the elderly and grandparent care work. This comprehensive, highly accessible and engaging collection is a must read for scholars of the life course and for social policy makers.Jeylan Mortimer, Professor of Sociology, University of MinnesotaThis volume is a fantastic intersection between policy, life course concepts, and leading edge theoretical and empirical research. It is both timely and accessible, and therefore highly valuable to a broad range of readers in multiple disciplines across both academic and applied contexts.Miles G. Taylor, Professor of Sociology, Florida State University

• Foreword Jennifer Karas Montez Preface Janet M. Wilmoth and Andrew S. London 1. An Introduction to Life Course Perspectives on Public Policies Janet M. Wilmoth and Andrew S. London 2. Process, Policy and Unintended Consequences: The Life Course Patterning of Cumulative (Dis)Advantage Dale Dannefer and Chengming Han 3. Structural Sexism and Life Course Health: Implications for Public Policy Patricia Homan 4. Wealth Policy as Health Policy: A Population Aging Perspective and Racial Equity Perspective Courtney Boen 5. Understanding the Role of Housing Policy in Life-Course Health: HUD Rental Assistance and Health Outcomes for Children and Adults Andrew Fenelon 6. U.S. Food and Nutrition Policy Across the Life Course Colleen Heflin 7. Crime and Delinquency over the Life Course: Adolescence, Peers, and Policy Jason P. Robey and Michael Massoglia 8. Immigration Policies and the Health of the Older Foreign-Born in the United States Zoya Gubernskaya 9. The Future of Long-term Care in the Latino Population: Where Will the Burden Fall? Jacqueline L. Angel and Sunshine M. Rote 10. How Social Policies Affect Grandparent Care Work Madonna Harrington Meyer and Amra Kandic 11. Social Policies for Older Workers Debra Street and Áine Ní Léime