Family and Personal Networks: How a Partner and Children Affect Social Relationships

Abstract

This books describes and explains how a romantic partner and child(-ren) affect social relationships. Whereas many scholars have studied the importance of personal networks as a resource for the individual, comparatively little is known about how social networks emerge and how network composition can be explained. This study adds to our understand of this topic, by describing the short and long term influence of a partner and child(-ren) on various network characteristics, including the content of relations and the gender and age composition of networks. In addition, this research looks at differences between people who undergo the same transition but who differ on crucial aspects, such as the amount of support they receive from their spouse, children and network members, the amount of time and energy they spend on childcare, housework and paid work, and their timing of parenthood. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data from the Netherlands, Germany and Switzerland are used to explore these aspects.