IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/demogr/v50y2013i3p881-902.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Parametric and Nonparametric Analysis of Life Courses: An Application to Family Formation Patterns

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Bonetti
  • Raffaella Piccarreta
  • Gaia Salford

Abstract

We discuss a unified approach to the description and explanation of life course patterns represented as sequences of states observed in discrete time. In particular, we study life course data collected as part of the Dutch Fertility and Family Surveys (FFS) to learn about the family formation behavior of 1,897 women born between 1953 and 1962. Retrospective monthly data were available on each 18- to 30-year-old woman living either with or without children as single, married, or cohabiting. We first study via a nonparametric approach which factors explain the pairwise dissimilarities observed between life courses. Permutation distribution inference allows for the study of the statistical significance of the effect of a set of covariates of interest. We then develop a parametric model for the sequence-generating process that can be used to describe state transitions and durations conditional on covariates and conditional on having observed an initial segment of the trajectory. Fitting ofthe proposed model and the corresponding model selection process are based on the observed data likelihood. We discuss the application of the methods to the FFS. Copyright Population Association of America 2013

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Bonetti & Raffaella Piccarreta & Gaia Salford, 2013. "Parametric and Nonparametric Analysis of Life Courses: An Application to Family Formation Patterns," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(3), pages 881-902, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:881-902
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-012-0191-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s13524-012-0191-z
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13524-012-0191-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hilde Bras & Aart Liefbroer & Cees Elzinga, 2010. "Standardization of pathways to adulthood? an analysis of Dutch cohorts born between 1850 and 1900," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(4), pages 1013-1034, November.
    2. Raffaella Piccarreta & Orna Lior, 2010. "Exploring sequences: a graphical tool based on multi‐dimensional scaling," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(1), pages 165-184, January.
    3. Lavit, Christine & Escoufier, Yves & Sabatier, Robert & Traissac, Pierre, 1994. "The ACT (STATIS method)," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 97-119, August.
    4. Kowalski J. & Pagano M. & DeGruttola V., 2002. "A Nonparametric Test of Gene Region Heterogeneity Associated With Phenotype," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 97, pages 398-408, June.
    5. Cees H. Elzinga, 2005. "Combinatorial Representations of Token Sequences," Journal of Classification, Springer;The Classification Society, vol. 22(1), pages 87-118, June.
    6. Piccarreta, Raffaella, 2010. "Binary trees for dissimilarity data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1516-1524, June.
    7. Francesco Billari & Raffaella Piccarreta, 2005. "Analyzing Demographic Life Courses through Sequence Analysis," Mathematical Population Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(2), pages 81-106.
    8. Francesco C. Billari & Johannes Fürnkranz & Alexia Prskawetz, 2006. "Timing, Sequencing, and Quantum of Life Course Events: A Machine Learning Approach," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 37-65, March.
    9. Duncan McVicar & Michael Anyadike‐Danes, 2002. "Predicting successful and unsuccessful transitions from school to work by using sequence methods," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(2), pages 317-334, June.
    10. Raffaella Piccarreta & Francesco C. Billari, 2007. "Clustering work and family trajectories by using a divisive algorithm," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 170(4), pages 1061-1078, October.
    11. Liming Cai & Mark D. Hayward & Yasuhiko Saito & James Lubitz & Aaron Hagedorn & Eileen Crimmins, 2010. "Estimation of multi-state life table functions and their variability from complex survey data using the SPACE Program," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 22(6), pages 129-158.
    12. Frank A. Sonnenberg & J. Robert Beck, 1993. "Markov Models in Medical Decision Making," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 13(4), pages 322-338, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marco Raffaella Piccarreta & Marco Bonetti & Stefano Lombardi, 2018. "Comparing models for sequence data: prediction and dissimilarities," Working Papers 113, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    2. Anette Fasang & Marcel Raab, 2014. "Beyond Transmission: Intergenerational Patterns of Family Formation Among Middle-Class American Families," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(5), pages 1703-1728, October.
    3. Cees H. Elzinga & Matthias Studer, 2015. "Spell Sequences, State Proximities, and Distance Metrics," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 44(1), pages 3-47, February.
    4. Piccarreta, Raffaella & Bonetti, Marco, 2019. "Assessing and comparing models for sequence data by microsimulation (with Supplementary Material)," SocArXiv 3mcfp, Center for Open Science.
    5. Júlia Mikolai & Hill Kulu, 2019. "Union dissolution and housing trajectories in Britain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(7), pages 161-196.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Piccarreta, Raffaella & Bonetti, Marco, 2019. "Assessing and comparing models for sequence data by microsimulation (with Supplementary Material)," SocArXiv 3mcfp, Center for Open Science.
    2. Arnstein Aassve & Francesco C. Billari & Raffaella Piccarreta, 2007. "Strings of Adulthood: A Sequence Analysis of Young British Women’s Work-Family Trajectories," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 369-388, October.
    3. Piccarreta, Raffaella, 2010. "Binary trees for dissimilarity data," Computational Statistics & Data Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 54(6), pages 1516-1524, June.
    4. Nicola Barban, 2013. "Family Trajectories and Health: A Life Course Perspective [Trajectoires familiales et santé: une approche sous l’angle de parcours de vie]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(4), pages 357-385, November.
    5. Marco Raffaella Piccarreta & Marco Bonetti & Stefano Lombardi, 2018. "Comparing models for sequence data: prediction and dissimilarities," Working Papers 113, "Carlo F. Dondena" Centre for Research on Social Dynamics (DONDENA), Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi.
    6. Christian Brzinsky-Fay & Ulrich Kohler, 2010. "New Developments in Sequence Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(3), pages 359-364, February.
    7. Anette Eva Fasang & Tim Futing Liao, 2014. "Visualizing Sequences in the Social Sciences," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 43(4), pages 643-676, November.
    8. Cees H. Elzinga, 2010. "Complexity of Categorical Time Series," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(3), pages 463-481, February.
    9. Júlia Mikolai & Hill Kulu, 2019. "Union dissolution and housing trajectories in Britain," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(7), pages 161-196.
    10. repec:jss:jstsof:40:i04 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Brendan Halpin, 2010. "Optimal Matching Analysis and Life-Course Data: The Importance of Duration," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(3), pages 365-388, February.
    12. Matthias Studer & Gilbert Ritschard & Alexis Gabadinho & Nicolas S. Müller, 2011. "Discrepancy Analysis of State Sequences," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 40(3), pages 471-510, August.
    13. Michael Anyadike-Danes & Duncan McVicar, 2010. "My Brilliant Career: Characterizing the Early Labor Market Trajectories of British Women From Generation X," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 38(3), pages 482-512, February.
    14. Cees H. Elzinga & Matthias Studer, 2019. "Normalization of Distance and Similarity in Sequence Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 48(4), pages 877-904, November.
    15. Gabadinho, Alexis & Ritschard, Gilbert & Müller, Nicolas S & Studer, Matthias, 2011. "Analyzing and Visualizing State Sequences in R with TraMineR," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 40(i04).
    16. Luca Maria Pesando & Nicola Barban & Maria Sironi & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2021. "A Sequence‐Analysis Approach to the Study of the Transition to Adulthood in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 719-747, September.
    17. Serah Shin & Hyungsoo Kim, 2018. "Health Trajectories of Older Americans and Medical Expenses: Evidence from the Health and Retirement Study Data Over the 18 Year Period," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 19-33, March.
    18. Raffaella Piccarreta, 2012. "Graphical and Smoothing Techniques for Sequence Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 41(2), pages 362-380, May.
    19. Piccarreta, Raffaella & Struffolino, Emanuela, 2019. "An Integrated Heuristic for Validation in Sequence Analysis," SocArXiv v7mj8, Center for Open Science.
    20. Raffaella Piccarreta, 2017. "Joint Sequence Analysis," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 46(2), pages 252-287, March.
    21. Fasang, Anette Eva & Liao, Tim Futing, 2014. "Visualizing Sequences in the Social Sciences: Relative Frequency Sequence Plots," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 43(4), pages 643-676.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:50:y:2013:i:3:p:881-902. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.