Exploring the Impacts of Spatial Contexts on the Life Course Trajectory Status of Vulnerability

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to investigate in what ways the spatial context matters for the life course trajectory status in terms of vulnerability. In particular, it explores the impacts of spatial contexts aggregated from life course trajectories. It uses a longitudinal micro‐dataset, 1990–2019 from Statistics Sweden, to analyze the relationship between geographical context constructed by aggregated life course trajectories, and individual life course trajectories. A latent class analysis (LCA) is employed to identify life courses and examines how these trajectories are influenced by individualized neighborhoods. The findings show that spatial context plays a significant role in shaping individuals' life course trajectories of vulnerability: (1) being in any sort of trajectory of vulnerability, (2) four transitional categories of vulnerability. Residing in a context of Families in distress was associated with higher odds of experiencing vulnerability. Other factors such as country of birth, gender, earlier vulnerability also impact life course trajectory status. This study contributes to answering the question if poor neighborhoods make their residents poorer, posed by Jürgen Friedrichs in the late 1990s. The study goes beyond merely measuring cross‐sectional single variable residential segregation patterns as context, offering valuable insights into consequences, supporting planning for geographic equality of opportunity.