Skip to main content

REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Health Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1329079

Life Course and Mental Health: A Thematic and Systematic Review

Provisionally accepted
Yuhu Zhang Yuhu Zhang 1Chen Shaojun Chen Shaojun 1*Tosin Y. Akintunde Tosin Y. Akintunde 1*Ekene Francis Okagbue Ekene Francis Okagbue 2Stanley Isangha Stanley Isangha 3Taha H. Musa Taha H. Musa 4
  • 1 Department of Sociology, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
  • 2 Southwest University, Chongqing, Chongqing Municipality, China
  • 3 City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR China
  • 4 Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objective: This study aims to explore the influence of the life course on mental health by identifying key trends, seminal works, and themes in existing research. Additionally, it highlights the major discussions at the intersection of life course and mental health Methods: Documents were extracted from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), to systematically analyze themes on mental health outcomes across the life course. The analysis was based on key bibliometric tools, including VOSviewer 1.6.11, R Studio software, and GraphPad Prism 9 to analyze the evolution and impact of scholarly contributions in this domain. Results: The accumulated body of research concerning the life course's impact on mental health, which began to emerge around 1990 displayed a consistently upward trend. Predominant contributions originate from developed nations and frequently delve into the psychosocial determinants of mental health over life course. Life course and mental health studies have been extensively infused with biopsychosocial frameworks that consider the role of genetic makeup, neurodevelopment, cognition, affect, sociocultural dynamics, and interpersonal relationships. Life course theory application in mental health highlight the substantive effects of accumulated adversities, notably social determinants of health, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), and their implications for subsequent mental health outcomes. Conclusion: The nexus of life course and mental health outcomes demands further scholarly interrogation, particularly within underserved regions, to strengthen protective mechanisms for vulnerable populations.

    Keywords: life course, Mental Health, Bibliometrics, Thematic analysis, Web of Science: Global Health

    Received: 28 Dec 2023; Accepted: 28 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zhang, Shaojun, Akintunde, Okagbue, Isangha and Musa. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Chen Shaojun, Department of Sociology, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
    Tosin Y. Akintunde, Department of Sociology, Hohai University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.