Household Position, Parenthood, and Self-reported Adult Health. Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Evidence from the Austrian Generations and Gender Survey

Abstract

Humans share their lives with parents, siblings, partners, children, relatives, friends, neighbours, and colleagues. These relational and institutional embedding and shared events—or the lack of events—over the life course as well as personal characteristics and the needs of those involved strongly influence an individual’s health. This study is based on the Austrian Generations and Gender Survey and examines women’s and men’s health in young and middle adulthood from a household and family perspective, focusing on reproductive years from a cross-sectional and a longitudinal perspective. We concentrate on household position by gender and account for partner status and the existence of pre-union children, parity, and the arrival of a newborn. While our primary interest is on the general relationships between an individuals’ family context and different health outcomes, we specifically include non-standard living arrangements, especially stepfamilies and individuals living apart together.