The life course approach examines an individual's life history and investigates, for example, how early events influenced future decisions and events such as marriage and divorce, engagement in crime, or disease incidence. The primary factor promoting standardization of the life course was improvement in mortality rates brought about by the management of contagious and infectious diseases such as smallpox.
The life course approach analyzes an individual's lifetime experiences and explores, for instance, how early occurrences impacted future choices and events like marriage and divorce, involvement in crime, or disease frequency. The main reason for standardizing the life course was the reduction of mortality rates due to the control of contagious and infectious diseases such as smallpox.