The cohort effect is the effect on a person's life based on the time
period in which they lived, or grew up. For example, if you came
of age in the 1940s, then you were less likely to have premarital sex
than those who came of age in the 1990s, however you were more likely to
have polio.
A cohort is an age group, like a generation. If you are 21
right now then you are of the 1980/84 cohort. The cohort effect is the effect on
you because you are of the 1980/84 cohort. For example, you may have
taken ketamine as a recreational drug, and you probably never had the measles.
In statistics, primarily medical statistics, the cohort effect is
important when looking at data over a long period of time. If statisticians
detect a certain variable, such as ecstasy use, rise substantially during a
period of time, then they can assume those coming of age during that time period
are under the cohort effect when it comes to that variable. Also, taking the
cohort effect into account, a statistician would not consider those who grew up
in the 1940s to be healthier because they didn't use ecstasy. The
difference is that the age group who came of age in the 1940s was under a
different cohort effect than those in the 1990s.
Although statisticians define a cohort age group by their birth years,
studies involving the cohort effect do not always focus on adolescents of the
era. The cohort effect of a certain aspect can include the dying age group,
the infant age group, or the elderly age group. For example, one study has
shown that the 1920/24 cohort in the Netherlands had a considerably high
mortality rate while they were in their 40s and 50s (during the 1960s).
Sometimes statisticians shrug off data, citing the cohort effect. For
instance, we would not assume that high school students in the 1973 were more
able to deal with internet addiction than students in the 2003 because the
internet was not available to the 1955/59 cohort, unlike the 1985/89 cohort.
see: epidemiology
References:
http://www-th.phys.rug.nl/~lpkok/iac2001a/sld006.htm
http://home.thirdage.com/Retirement/dwightl/CohortEffect.html