Citation
Yang, Yang Claire & Land, Kenneth C. (2013). Cohort Analysis.. Baxter, Janeen (Ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Abstract
Cohort analysis deals with the conceptualization, estimation, and interpretation of the differential contributions of three dimensions of temporal changes in phenomena of interest to demographers, epidemiologists, and social scientists. Researchers in these disciplines often deal with population or sample survey data in the form of observations or measurements on individuals or other units of analysis, such as groups / populations of individuals that are repeated or ordered temporally. The focus of interest is on the effects of the three temporal dimensions: (1) the ages of the individuals at the time of observation on an outcome of interest, termed age (A) effects, (2) the time periods of observation or measurement of the outcome, termed period (P) effects, and (3) the year of birth or some other shared life events for a set of individuals, termed cohort (C) effects. To address this problem, researchers compare age-specific data recorded at different points in time and from different cohorts. A systematic study of such data is termed age-period-cohort (APC) analysis. APC analysis has the unique ability to depict parsimoniously the entire complex of social, historical, and environmental factors that simultaneously affect individuals and populations of individuals. It has thus been widely used to address questions of enduring importance to studies of social change, aging, the etiology of diseases, and population processes and dynamics.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/OBO/9780199756384-0104Reference Type
Book SectionYear Published
2013Author(s)
Yang, Yang ClaireLand, Kenneth C.