THE GENDERED EFFECTS ON HEALTH OF LIVING ARRANGEMENTS, NEIGHBOURHOOD ENVIRONMENT, AND MARITAL STATUS

As we are approaching the summer and family holidays in the North, this June issue portrays interesting new information on the effects on health of the options we follow to organise our reproductive life. There is a longstanding tradition in social epidemiology of studying the effects on health of marital status and also of neighbourhood quality. What is new, and indeed attractive, in this issue, is the merging of both research traditions to build a research hypothesis. Following these pathways, Martikainen et al conclude that, “Living arrangements (alone or with others), are strongly associated with mental health, particularly among men”. Their analysis shows that the experience of cohabiters did not differ …