Toward a Life Course Framework for Studying Vulnerability

TLDR

Interest in vulnerability research has grown across many disciplines. This article proposes a multidisciplinary life‑course framework to unify the field. The framework integrates multidimensional, multilevel, and multidirectional research, defining vulnerability as a dynamic process of stress and resources across domains, levels, and time.

Abstract

Interest in the study of vulnerability has experienced impressive growth across various disciplines. To contribute to this major but scattered development in the study of vulnerability, this article argues for a multidisciplinary life-course framework. This framework promotes a systemic and dynamic perspective focused on three complementary research directions: multidimensional, multilevel, and multidirectional. On the basis of this life course perspective, the authors also propose a definition of vulnerability as a dynamic process of stress and resources across various domains of life (i.e., work, family, health, migration, etc.), levels (i.e., person, group, collective), and time (i.e., long-term processes).