TY - CHAP T1 - Measuring life course events and life histories T2 - Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (Ninth Edition)Handbooks of Aging Y1 - 2021 A1 - Jacqui Smith A1 - Hu, Mengyao A1 - Lee, Haena ED - Kenneth F Ferraro ED - Deborah Carr KW - calendar interview methods KW - Life event inventories KW - methodological issues KW - report accuracy KW - retrospective life histories KW - Sequence analysis AB - Whereas some life events are considered potential sources of stress, others are viewed as markers of interconnected life course transitions and processes. In this chapter, we first review the theoretical roots of measures of life events and discuss longstanding methodological critiques regarding the categorization of life events and factors associated with the reliability and validity of reports. We then review calendar interview methods that employ an Event (or Life) History Calendar approach to collect timeline data. These methods, based on cognitive theories of autobiographical memory, are designed to facilitate retrospective recall of thematic temporal sequences of personal memories. We describe the challenges of collecting retrospective life histories in studies of older adults, strategies used to evaluate the veracity of retrospective life history recall, and summarize recent analytic methods that examine the heterogeneity and dynamics of domain-specific and cross-domain timing and sequencing of transitions and events in the lives of individuals. JF - Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (Ninth Edition)Handbooks of Aging PB - Academic Press SN - 978-0-12-815970-5 ER - TY - JOUR T1 - EVALUATING ITEM NONRESPONSE IN A LIFE HISTORY CALENDAR: AN ANALYSIS OF MEMORY EFFECTS JF - Innovation in Aging Y1 - 2019 A1 - Hu, Mengyao A1 - Melipillán, Roberto A1 - Zhang, Xinyu A1 - Jacqui Smith KW - Memory AB - Memory decline contributes to response inaccuracy and can produce item missing data, especially in retrospective surveys with older adults. Event history calendars, or the life grid approaches, are commonly used to obtain retrospective life history data. As indicated in previous literature, this approach can assist respondents’ memory retrieval. Despite its wide use, the important issue of item nonresponse due to memory effects in life grid questions has received little attention. Autobiographical memory (AM) research has shown that there are two interconnected long-term memory systems: episodic memories of event details from specific remote times in an individual’s life; and semantic memories of the important facts and themes that define an individual’s life history. Episodic and semantic AM may introduce different levels of difficulty in retrieving memory and thus contribute to different levels of missing data. This study examines the effects of both item-level predictors (e.g., types of memories) and respondent-level predictors (e.g., cognitive status, age, and health status) on the likelihood of item missing data in life grid questions. We analyzed missing data in the 2017 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) Life History Mail Survey (n = 3,844), using multilevel logistic regression. The results revealed higher rates of item missing for episodic memories, and that overall respondents’ cognitive status was significantly associated with their likelihood of providing item missing data. Recent residential information was better recalled than childhood information. These results have implications for life course analysis of exposures linked to residential histories. VL - 3 UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igz038.3138 ER -