Combining Event History and Sequence Analysis to Study Vulnerability over the Life Course

Abstract

AbstractThe life-course paradigm insists on the need to study trajectories and how they unfold over time. Two broad families of methodological strategies are generally used for this purpose. The first strategy focuses on the occurrence of events or transitions describing the dynamics of life trajectories. The second strategy emphasizes the holistic nature of trajectories or processes of categorical states by relying on sequence analysis. This chapter reviews recent methodological development combining these two approaches often presented as irreconcilable. “Competing Trajectory Analysis” aims to analyze jointly the occurrence of an event and the “trajectory” that immediately follows it. On the other hand, the “Sequence History Analysis” approach uses sequence analysis to better describe how an unfolding trajectory is linked with the occurrence of an upcoming event. The chapter proposes a theoretical presentation of these approaches discussing their respective strength and weaknesses for life-course research and more specifically the study of vulnerability over the life course. The added value of each approach is illustrated through a study of the relationship between divorce and professional trajectories using the retrospective data from the Swiss Household Panel.