How are we affected by the hardships of our near and dear ones? Studies of the relationship between adverse events among our family or relatives and our own health and welfare
Information
Period
2023-2025/2026
Funder
Forte
Amount
€ 383 700
Project members
- Kristiina Rajaleid | Stockholm University (PI)
- Bitte Modin | Stockholm University
Description
The aim of this project is to investigate whether adult individuals’ health and welfare are affected by adverse life events among their sibling(s) and grandparents. A second aim is to investigate whether accumulated adverse life events within the extended family affect health. Although emotional attachments to the members of one’s family of origin generally lasts a lifetime, studies on adult family relationships have mainly focused on the individual’s own family formation (i.e. the nuclear family). Furthermore, alongside all the positive things that family relationships bring, they also tend to affect us when things go wrong. Previous research shows that coping with sickness in the family can involve emotional distress, feelings of obligation as well as fear of possible heredity, for example. Studies on the consequences for the by-standing family member are rare, and have largely focused on childhood illness or on the nuclear family.
We will use the RELINK53-data, containing administrative records from health care, social welfare and crime registers for a 1953 cohort and their family across four generations. There is a lack of research on the role of family members outside the nuclear family for the health of adults. Increased knowledge on how adverse events among family members affect health could be used to inform care and health care workers who meet the family members of patients or who have patients that express anxiety for a loved one.