Age-Period-Cohort Models

Age-period-cohort (APC) models broadly refer to statistical techniques used to isolate the effects of chronological age (ie, age effects), societal conditions at the time of observation (ie, period effects), and experiences shared among individuals in the same historical moment (ie, cohort effects)–“shared experiences” are sometimes specific (eg, graduation from high school, military service, marriage, etc.), but demographers and social scientists typically operationalize cohort in more general terms (ie, birth cohort). Aging scholars use APC models to understand how age, period, and cohort effects influence a range of health and socioeconomic outcomes that are evaluated through either longitudinal or repeated cross-sectional data.