Framework: Jordi Gumà and Gabriele Doblhammer -- Summary and research implications: Jordi Gumà and Gabriele Doblhammer -- Keynote chapters: Families and Health (in Europe): Karsten Hank and Anja Steinbach -- The new roles of men and women and implications for families and societies: Livia Sz. Oláh, Irena E. Kotowska and Rudolf Richter -- Sex differences in health and survival: Anna Oksuzyan, Jordi Gumà and Gabriele Doblhammer -- Country specific chapters:Gender differences in the relationship between household position and health in twelve European countries: Are they associated with the value climate?: Jordi Gumà and Gabriele Doblhammer -- Similarity of perceived health between household members: The “Mutual influences” hypothesis: Patrizia Giannantoni and Viviana Egidi -- Household position, parenthood, and self-reported adult health. Cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence from the Austrian Generations and Gender Survey: Isabella Buber-Ennser and Doris Hanappi -- The Contextual and Household Contribution to Individual Health Status in Germany: What is the Role of Gender and Migration Background?: Daniela Georges, Daniel Kreft and Gabriele Doblhammer -- Health-risk behaviour of women and men—differences according to partnership and parenthood. Results of the German Health Update (GEDA) survey 2009–2010: Elena von der Lippe and Petra Rattay -- Fertility Histories and Health in Later Life in Italy: Cecilia Tomassini, Giorgio Di Gessa and Viviana Egidi -- The Effect of Current Family Situation on Slow Walking Speed at Old Age: Gabriele Doblhammer, Steffen Peters, Debora Rizzuto and Anna-Karin Welmer. .

Open Access

This book is published open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This open access book examines the triangle between family, gender, and health in Europe from a demographic perspective. It helps to understand patterns and trends in each of the three components separately, as well as their interdependencies. It overcomes the widely observable specialization in demographic research, which usually involves researchers studying either family or fertility processes or focusing on health and mortality. Coverage looks at new family and partnership forms among the young and middle-aged, their relationship with health, and the pathways through which they act. Among the old, lifelong family biography and present family situation are explored. Evidence is provided that partners advancing in age start to resemble each other more closely in terms of health, with the health of the partner being a crucial factor of an individual’s own health. Gender-specific health outcomes and pathways are central in the designs of the studies and the discussion of the results. The book compares twelve European countries reflecting different welfare state regimes and offers country-specific studies conducted in Austria, Germany, Italy - all populations which have received less attention in the past - and Sweden. As a result, readers discover the role of different concepts of family and health as well as comparisons within European countries and ethnic groups. It will be an insightful resource for students, academics, policy makers, and researchers that will help define future research in terms of gender and public health.