title: Adult health in the context of everyday family life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Characteristics of family life are linked both cross-sectionally and prospectively to adult mental and physical health.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This paper discusses social and biological processes that may explain how families influence the health of their members.
  
  
  METHODS
  We review naturalistic studies of short-term biopsychosocial processes as they unfold within the family.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Day-to-day fluctuations in stressors, demands, and social and emotional experiences in the family are reflected in short-term changes in adult members' affect and in the activity of biological stress-response systems, particularly the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  To learn how family environments are linked to health, researchers should study the interlacing of different aspects of the everyday lives of family members, including their physiology, emotions, behavior, activities, and experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA.repetti@psych.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Rena L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Repetti
authors.forename: Shu-wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Darby E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Saxbe
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology*; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000503:physiopathology; D012931:Social Environment; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013315:Stress, Psychological