Men’s health in families in Russia

Abstract

The family is a key source of support and strain for the health of family members. This thesis explores the family’s health effects by examining the relationship between various types of living arrangements and measures of men’s health over the life-course. With the example of Russia, this research is the first attempt at creating a comprehensive understanding of the interlinkages between men’s health and co-residing family members in the post-communist context of low male life expectancy and high reliance on family networks through intergenerational living arrangements (ILAs). Drawing on the theories and mechanisms of men’s health disadvantage, three papers of this thesis use rich and dynamic information on men, their household members and living arrangements from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS, 1994-2016). The results identify the importance of an ILA and partnership status within this type of a living arrangement for men’s health disadvantage in Russia, while multilevel models point to the existence of both causality and selectivity in this relationship, which are overlooked in previous research. While co-residency with a partner protects men’s health within ILAs, living with an older generation in poor health can still be detrimental for men’s health. In turn, although living with a partner and adult children seems to benefit men’s health, multilevel models reveal selection effects of men’s transition to a living arrangement where all children left the parental home on their health status, binge drinking and heavy smoking. This thesis demonstrates how the complexity of the family’s co-residency and ‘linked lives’ can affect or select on health differently across the life-course. Despite the theorised protective effect of the family, the case of Russia suggests a need for further research on the possible burden of stress from living in ILAs, particularly with unhealthy parents(-in-law), as the potential causal or selection mechanism of offspring’s poor health or nest-leaving, respectively.

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ORCID for Brienna Perelli-Harris: orcid.org/0000-0001-8234-4007

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