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Complexity and Uncertainty in Geography of Health Research: Incorporating Life-Course Perspectives

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  • Jamie R. Pearce

Abstract

Geographers, including those interested in the relationships between health and place, have made important contributions to how, when, and where humans are exposed to and influenced by different spatial contexts. Using detailed and sometimes real-time spatial and temporal data, geographers have enhanced our understanding of how people move within and between different social and physical environments and the implications for health outcomes and behaviors. Yet almost all of this work focuses on spatial–temporal mobility over short time periods (e.g., day, week), and there has been little effort to understand the extent to which people are exposed to different types of places and environments over their full life span. This article examines the analytic possibilities of, and technical challenges to, incorporating this uncertainty into a life-course framework to better understand (1) the accumulation of environmental circumstances over life and (2) whether there are critical periods during life when aspects of place are particularly pertinent in understanding health. It is argued that this approach not only offers opportunities to better understand the complex relationships between health and place (and other social outcomes) but can strengthen the evidence for causal relationships between the environment and health. Finally, there is a brief discussion of some of our own nascent work considering these issues using longitudinal data collected in the United Kingdom.

Suggested Citation

  • Jamie R. Pearce, 2018. "Complexity and Uncertainty in Geography of Health Research: Incorporating Life-Course Perspectives," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(6), pages 1491-1498, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:108:y:2018:i:6:p:1491-1498
    DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2017.1416280
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    Cited by:

    1. Curtis, Sarah & Pearce, Jamie & Cherrie, Mark & Dibben, Christopher & Cunningham, Niall & Bambra, Clare, 2019. "Changing labour market conditions during the ‘great recession’ and mental health in Scotland 2007–2011: an example using the Scottish Longitudinal Study and data for local areas in Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 1-9.
    2. Bell, Sarah L. & Foley, Ronan, 2021. "A(nother) time for nature? Situating non-human nature experiences within the emotional transitions of sight loss," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 276(C).
    3. Mark P.C. Cherrie & Niamh K. Shortt & Catharine Ward Thompson & Ian J. Deary & Jamie R. Pearce, 2019. "Association Between the Activity Space Exposure to Parks in Childhood and Adolescence and Cognitive Aging in Later Life," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(4), pages 1-13, February.
    4. Atkinson, Sarah, 2021. "The toxic effects of subjective wellbeing and potential tonics," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    5. Agata A Troost & Heleen J Janssen & Maarten van Ham, 2023. "Neighbourhood histories and educational attainment: The role of accumulation, duration, timing and sequencing of exposure to poverty," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(4), pages 655-672, March.
    6. Curtis, Sarah & Cunningham, Niall & Pearce, Jamie & Congdon, Peter & Cherrie, Mark & Atkinson, Sarah, 2021. "Trajectories in mental health and socio-spatial conditions in a time of economic recovery and austerity: A longitudinal study in England 2011–17," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 270(C).
    7. Stephen Jivraj & Owen Nicholas & Emily T. Murray & Paul Norman, 2021. "Life Course Neighbourhood Deprivation and Self-Rated Health: Does It Matter Where You Lived in Adolescence and Do Neighbourhood Effects Build Up over Life?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-13, September.
    8. Bambra, Clare & Smith, Katherine E. & Pearce, Jamie, 2019. "Scaling up: The politics of health and place," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 36-42.
    9. Georgia Rudd & Kane Meissel & Frauke Meyer, 2023. "Measuring Childhood Exposure to Neighbourhood Deprivation at the Macro- and Micro-level in Aotearoa New Zealand," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 16(4), pages 1581-1606, August.
    10. Lucherini, Mark, 2020. "Spontaneity and serendipity: Space and time in the lives of people with diabetes," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    11. Sarah Atkinson & Anne-Marie Bagnall & Rhiannon Corcoran & Jane South & Sarah Curtis, 2020. "Being Well Together: Individual Subjective and Community Wellbeing," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1903-1921, June.

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