These findings provide strong support for the use of a life course perspective to study the ways that healthy behaviors change over time. Resources during adolescence have a persistent role in promoting healthy behavior engagement during the transition to adulthood, and with the exception of social support resources, these effects generally do not accumulate or diminish over time. A life course perspective reorients the scope of healthy behavior research to evaluate the persistent influences of early social environments across life course stages, and the role
of changing social environments on individuals’ behaviors. Recognizing the contribution of the adolescent social environment to young adults’ engagement in healthpromoting behaviors advances researchers’ understandings of the life course processes that help to create and maintain adolescent and young adult stratification in health-promoting behaviors.