The share of overall mortality attributable to alcohol is higher in Europe than elsewhere in the world because of the high prevalence of alcohol consumption. There are, however, substantial differences across countries and between the sexes in levels of alcohol-related mortality.

Traditionally, Dutch long-term care arrangements were mainly provided by the government. But to limit costs, during the past few decades the Netherlands has been reforming its historically generous, public long-term care services. The reforms aimed to encourage people to be more active in caring for dependent relatives. Researcher Thijs van den Broek and his colleagues now show that despite the new policies to promote family engagement in care, care ideals in the Netherlands have shifted away from, rather than towards, the family having a prominent caring role.

Some immigrants stay in their host countries while others decide to return home, but return motives can be remarkably diverse. Migrants may decide to return if they have not been able to improve their lives through migration, a situation that can perhaps be read as a ‘failure’. Others instead may make the same decision only when they have saved and remitted enough to invest in their country of origin, making the return a measure of success.

Polish migration within Europe has increased sharply since Poland’s entry to the European Union in 2004. Over the past decade, Poles are the largest group of foreign nationals settling in the Netherlands. Still, little is still known about the link between migration and family behaviours of this group of immigrants. Tom Kleinepier, Helga A. G. de Valk, and Ruben van Gaalen address this gap in their latest study and find six different types of family life paths among young adult Polish migrants. They also identify important gender differences in family and migration behaviour.

Several studies have examined attractiveness standards and aspects of romantic relationships of gay men and lesbians. However, despite the growing popularity of digital dating markets among individuals with same-sex preferences, no studies have yet to examine their relationship intentions and values when searching for a partner online. In their current publication, Gina Potârcă, Melinda Mills and Wiebke Neberich explore two aspects of relationship preferences: long-term dating intentions (i.e., interest in starting a long-lasting relationship) and belief in monogamy.

The authors analyse anonymous profile and preference information of users registered at the eDarling online dating site. In an agreement with the company, data were accessed for all users in September 2011, resulting in a total pooled sample of 58,880 heterosexual members. The focus relies on initial profile information, and more precisely the selection criteria that users impose in terms of race, as well as their socio-demographic data records when they first fill out their profile.