This introduction surveys the field of family clustering of deaths and discusses the contributionsin this special issue. The main focus is on mortality in historical contexts.Clustering of deaths in families has been found both in historical and contemporarypopulations, and we argue that the ‘family approach’ to infant and child mortality yieldsimportant and interesting insights for our understanding of different mortality patternsand the mortality transition. The articles in this issue, representing different but complementaryapproaches to the problem of death clustering, demonstrate that we shouldbe aware of the strong family effects on child health, but also that we need to developadequate methods for the analysis of this complex phenomenon. Here we discuss severalexplanations for death clustering, such as different biodemographic factors andthose focusing on socioeconomic and cultural variables. We also discuss some of themethodological challenges in studying family clustering, and emphasize the need forcomparison and the adoption of common measures.
Special Issue: Death Clustering in Families