I am delighted to write my first editorial as the new Executive Editor for LLCS. There are big shoes to fill following on from Elizabeth and Heather, but I will try my best! I would like to note my gratitude for the work both Elizabeth and Heather have done over their respective terms as Exec Editors and their help with the handover has been invaluable. Thanks also need to go to our journal manager, Sarah Jeal, and Edwina Thorn and Julia Mortimer from Bristol University Press, for their guidance as I try to learn my way in the role. I look forward to embracing the opportunities and challenges this new role presents, but want to ensure that the readers and authors of LLCS help co-produce the type of journal you want to see and I believe through that, improve the visibility and value of LLCS. I am committed to ensuring LLCS remains a leading journal in the field, but one that continues to grow its readership, impact factor and wider impact in academia and policy.
This first issue under my tenure brings together articles that truly reflect the interdisciplinary nature of LLCS and the Society for Longitudinal and Lifecourse Studies (SLLS). For me the six research articles (Emery and Berchtold, 2023; Ganjour et al, 2023; Genge, 2023; Jeong et al, 2023; Rajaleid and Vågerö, 2023; and Stief, 2023) and one study profile (Buchanan et al, 2023) come together covering ‘Families, Finances and Status’, reflecting the times we are currently living in and the issues many people and families are facing with rising costs, social exclusion and ageing populations. Some of the articles use rich longitudinal data stretching back years or even decades, while other utilise more recent cohorts. All come together to highlight how our social, economic, political, cultural and environmental circumstances determine the trajectories of people’s and populations’ lives. The impacts are emerging now and others we will see worsen (or improve) over the coming years. These issues are key to the Christchurch Health and Development Study, highlighted in this issue’s study profile, which focuses on childhood adversity in New Zealand (Buchanan et al, 2023). Across all seven articles the relevance to policy is clear, although of course there can be a myriad of approaches to the types of policies suggested to improve and reduce inequalities in cognition, employment opportunities, well-being, health, retirement savings, housing tenure and quality, and exposure to adverse experiences.
Having such high-quality data as are being collected now are essential if we are to understand long-standing, but also emerging, issues in our populations and those working in longitudinal and life course studies must continue to fight the good fight in ensuring we have funding to keep such studies going and to fund new studies. During periods of economic austerity and rising costs, funding for things like the arts or for running cohort studies can be weaponised and branded as ‘luxuries’ we can ill afford. However, during such times these are exactly the types of things we need to fund to ensure we understand the impact of political decisions so we can make more evidence-informed decisions moving forward and not keep repeating the mistakes of the past.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Conflict of interest
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
References
Buchanan, M., Newton-Howes, G., McLeod, G. and Boden, J. (2023) Life course development following childhood adversity: methods and findings from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 624–40, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16783739382061
Emery, K. and Berchtold, A. (2023) Comparison of two approaches in multichannel sequence analysis using the Swiss Household Panel, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 592–623, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16698302233894
Ganjour, O., Gauthier, J.A., Le Goff, J.M. and Widmer, E.D. (2023) Income inequality in later years: occupational trajectories or initial social characteristics?, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 542–65, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16805239728832
Genge, E. (2023) An evaluation of self-reported material well-being using latent Markov models with covariates, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 514–41, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16719290621875
Jeong, S.J., Choi, S.J. and Hawley, J. (2023) Middle-aged adults’ career trajectories and later-life financial security: evidence from Korea, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 566–91, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16843342371110
Rajaleid, K. and Vågerö, D. (2023) Parental and family determinants of the Flynn effect, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 469–91, doi: 10.1332/175795921X16708793393107
Stief, K. (2023) Non-employment, gender norms and the risk of couple separation in eastern and western Germany, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 14(4): 492–513, doi: 10.1332/17579597Y2023D000000001
