The development of health across an individual’s life depends on many factors, but social determinants play a vital role. This timely Handbook simultaneously uses theoretical, descriptive, explanatory and policy approaches to explore health inequalities related to income, education, occupational status, social capital, and also biological and genetic factors.

Drawing upon perspectives from across the globe and employing an interdisciplinary life course approach, this handbook explores the production and reproduction of different types of inequality across a variety of social contexts. Inequalities are not static, easily measurable, and essentially quantifiable circumstances of life. They are processes which impact on individuals throughout the life course, interacting with each other, accumulating, attenuating, reproducing, or distorting themselves along the way. The chapters in this handbook examine various types of inequality, such as economic, gender, racial, and ethnic inequalities, and analyse how these inequalities manifest themselves within different aspects of society, including health, education, and the family, at multiple levels and dimensions. The handbook also tackles the global COVID-19 pandemic and its striking impact on the production and intensification of inequalities. The interdisciplinary life course approach utilised in this handbook combines quantitative and qualitative methods to bridge the gap between theory and practice and offer strategies and principles for identifying and tackling issues of inequality. This book will be indispensable for students and researchers as well as activists and policy makers interested in understanding and eradicating the processes of production, reproduction, and perpetuation of inequalities.

This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. ​This handbook synthesizes and analyzes the growing knowledge base on life course health development (LCHD) from the prenatal period through emerging adulthood, with implications for clinical practice and public health. It presents LCHD as an innovative field with a sound theoretical framework for understanding wellness and disease from a lifespan perspective, replacing previous medical, biopsychosocial, and early genomic models of health. Interdisciplinary chapters discuss major health concerns (diabetes, obesity), important less-studied conditions (hearing, kidney health), and large-scale issues (nutrition, adversity) from a lifespan viewpoint. In addition, chapters address methodological approaches and challenges by analyzing existing measures, studies, and surveys. The book concludes with the editors’ research agenda that proposes priorities for future LCHD research and its application to health care practice and health policy. Topics featured in the Handbook include: The prenatal period and its effect on child obesity and metabolic outcomes. Pregnancy complications and their effect on women’s cardiovascular health. A multi-level approach for obesity prevention in children. Application of the LCHD framework to autism spectrum disorder. Socioeconomic disadvantage and its influence on health development across the lifespan. The importance of nutrition to optimal health development across the lifespan. The Handbook of Life Course Health Development is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians/professionals, and graduate students in developmental psychology/science; maternal and child health; social work; health economics; educational policy and politics; and medical law as well as many interrelated subdisciplines in psychology, medicine, public health, mental health, education, social welfare, economics, sociology, and law.

"The Handbook on health inequality monitoring: with a special focus on low- and middle-income countries is a resource that enables countries to do just that. It presents a comprehensive yet clear overview of health inequality monitoring in a user-friendly manner. The handbook succeeds in giving those involved in health inequality monitoring an appreciation of the complexities of the process, as well as building the practical knowledge and skills for systematic monitoring of health inequalities in low- and middle-income countries. The use of the handbook will enable countries to better monitor and evaluate their progress and performance with a high degree of accountability and transparency, and allow them to use the results to formulate evidenced-based policies, programmes and practices to tackle inequalities in an effective manner."--Publisher's description.

Using a life course approach, the main chapters in this truly original and enlightening text focus on health and well-being during each of our life stages. A wide range of contemporary literature from disciplines such as public health, sociology, epidemiology and social policy are drawn upon to examine key health and well-being issues in these stages, and to illustrate how health effects can accumulate across the life course. Interactive activities based on the text and on extracts from primary sources are used to encourage critical reflection and debate. Mary Larkin′s book will be essential reading for students on the many courses that need an understanding of health and well-being across all age groups. It will also be an invaluable resource for those in the health and social care sector as well as practitioners working in the field.

At a time when social inequalities are increasing at an alarming rate, this new edition of Mel Bartleys popular book is a vital resource for understanding the extent of health inequalities and why they are proving to be persistent despite decades of growing knowledge and policies on the issue. As in the first edition, by examining influences of social class, income, culture and wealth as well as gender, ethnicity and other factors in identity, this accessible book provides a key to understanding the major theories and explanations of what lies behind inequality in health. Bartley re-situates the classic behavioural, psycho-social, and material approaches within a life-course perspective. Evaluating the evidence of health outcomes over time and at local and national levels, Bartley argues that individual social integration demands closer attention if health inequality is to be tackled effectively, revealing the important part that identity plays in relation to the chances of a long and healthy life. Health Inequality will be essential reading for students taking courses in the sociology of health and illness, social policy and welfare, health sciences, public health and epidemiology and all those interested in understanding the consequences of social inequality for health.

This cutting-edge Handbook offers fresh perspectives on the key topics related to the unequal use of digital technologies. Considering the ways in which technologies are employed, variations in conditions under which people use digital media and differences in their digital skills, it unpacks the implications of digital inequality on life outcomes.