Causality in Life Course Studies

Abstract

The central premise of life course research is the presumption that no period of life can be understood in isolation from prior experiences, as well as individual’s aspirations for the future. This chapter discusses causal inference methods as they relate to life course research, including regression, propensity score matching, instrumental variables, fixed effects, and quasi-experimental designs. We also discuss strategies for incorporating variation in response to treatment according to heterogeneity, time-variation, and mediation, which are important components to estimating effects over the life course with a causal framework. The chapter aims to explain the assumptions behind the methods we present, and includes intuitive explanations. We also demonstrate the use of the methods discussed with an empirical example using constructed data with a known data generating process of the effects of exposure to violence on educational attainment.