Lifespan Initiative for the Research and Data Archive Repository

Abstract

Turning the Lifespan Collection (LC) into a digitally searchable and accessible collection for secondary analysis is a project that has long been overdue. The LC can be seen as the last and arguably the most ambitious initiative that arose from a longer tradition of using life history approaches and socio-historical contexts to understand psychosocial risks for psychiatric disorder in the community. It includes an intergenerational sample of almost 600 family members selected through members living in North London in the 1990s, who gave their life stories from childhood to the present day in audio-taped interviews. In addition to the specific research interests of the original projects, the collection now represents a highly interdisciplinary resource, with potential for use across the humanities and the social and health sciences