Initiatives and lessons: social-biological transitions.

David Blane.ESRC International Centre for Life Course

Studies in Society and Health – ICLS.

Initiative (1): Summer School in Longitudinal & Life Course Research.

• Summer school designed to bring together the different traditions of quantitative life course research in demography, epidemiology and sociology.

• Doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows and occasional research methods master’s student; 30-50 students each year.

• Faculty from each of the three disciplines.

Lessons.• Students: too often use concepts and

measures which lack clarity and precision such as socio-economic status and self-assessed health.

• Faculty: main division is between (a) epidemiology and (b) demography & sociology which differ only in their range of topics and whether qualitative methods can be used; genuine interest in biology, although tendency to equate it with genetics.

Initiative (2): day schools in biomedical measures.

• Designed to introduce non-biologists to the biomedical measures collected by some large-scale social surveys, of which ELSA, NCDS and UKHLS are on open academic access at UK Data Archive.

• Forced expiratory volume in 1 second, grip strength, systolic blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin, C-reactive protein are examples.

Lessons.

• Non-biologists gain the confidence to use biomedical measures.

• Glossaries are available on-line: (1) gold standard detail on UKHLS measures from Understanding Society website; (2) wider ranging coverage from ICLS website.

• Problem: non-biologists often lack the knowledge to put measures in their wider biological context.

Initiative (3): day school introduction to biology.

• Designed to put biomedical measures in context.

• eg1: Height, weight and adiposity as context for physical growth, body mass index, waist circumference, obesity.

• eg2: Cardio-respiratory physiology as context for lung function, blood pressure, ECG abnormalities.

Lessons.

• Somewhat surprisingly, appreciated equally by non-biologists and by those with a biological background.

• Started discussions between non-biologists and biologists; further such day schools requested.

• Hopefully will lay the basis for inter-disciplinary research collaborations.

Initiative (4): imaginary lives.

• Designed to introduce social-biological plausibility to interdisciplinary researchers.

• Specify the social and biological characteristics of a person (eg. Age 37 years, medical secretary, recently diagnosed cervical cancer) and ask the group to suggest a socially & biologically plausible life course.

Lessons.

• Creative and enjoyable.

• Requires collaboration between social and biological scientists.

• Demonstrates that life course research requires inter-disciplinarity.

• Counter-intuitive, so tendency for lesson to be forgotten.

Summary.

• The life course perspective offers a way into understanding social-biological transitions.

• Much of the necessary data are available on open academic access.

• There is much interest among researchers in this area of science.

• We’re starting to learn how to make the most of these opportunities.