ABSTRACT
The usefulness of cohort analysis demonstrated by the early studies and the convenience of using simple indicators that are widely available in many kinds of data facilitated the quick spread of cohort analysis in demography and epidemiology. The applicability of Age-period-cohort (APC) analysis relies on the substantive importance of cohort influences. APC analysis is, in this sense, synonymous with cohort analysis. Studies of aging use cohort analysis to assess changes in individual outcomes in relation to aging within or across birth cohorts. Sociological theories of aging and the life course emphasize that the way individual lives unfold with age is largely shaped by social historical context. Because the objective of cohort analysis is to identify the source of variations attributable to birth cohort, it is imperative first to distinguish cohort from potential confounding factors, including age and period. Cohort analysis aims at distinguishing age, period, and cohort effects and is theoretically important in different ways.
