Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Life Course Events and Network Composition

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Social Networks and the Life Course

Part of the book series: Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research ((FSSR,volume 2))

Abstract

This chapter suggests that life course events create opportunities for contact with some new types of persons while reducing the accessibility of others, and thereby shape social networks. Examination of General Social Survey data on social networks and informal socializing activity offers considerable support for the perspective set forth. Family-related life course states, particularly marital status, shape contacts with relatives; entering the paid workforce raises the likelihood that confiding networks include workplace colleagues. Some competition across foci of activity is evident, as employed people appear somewhat less apt to draw their confidants from the family or the residential neighborhood, and likewise to have fewer social contacts with neighbors. Suggestive findings indicate that marriage and the presence of children may hold different implications for the social lives of wives/mothers and husbands/fathers.

Author’s Note: A first rendition of the ideas here was presented at the May, 2015 conference “Together Through Time” held at Penn State University. Subsequently they were discussed at colloquia held in CIS Summer Seminars on Sociological and Political Research at the Real Colegio Complutense (August, 2015 and 2016), the Forschungskolloquium Mikrosoziologie at the Institut für Soziologie, Universität Bremen (November, 2015), and the Department of Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (March, 2016). I appreciate the helpful comments I received from participants in all of these sessions, and from the editors of this volume.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    i.e. those who are separated, divorced, or widowed.

  2. 2.

    The 2004 GSS also included name generator data parallel to those collected in 1985. Because serious questions have been raised regarding anomalies in those data (Fischer 2009; Paik and Sanchagrin 2013), however, we do not study them here.

  3. 3.

    The wording of the role relation question is: “Here is a list of some of the ways in which people are connected to each other. Some people can be connected to you in more than one way. For example, a man could be your brother and he may belong to your church and be your lawyer. When I read you a name, please tell me all the ways that person is connected to you. How is (NAME) connected to you?” Answer options included spouse, parent, sibling, child, other family, co-worker, member of group, neighbor, friend, advisor, and “other.” Respondents could select more than one answer for each alter; after their initial answer, interviewers probed once for additional connections.

  4. 4.

    Qualitatively similar, but even less pronounced, age differences are found in name generator data about “good friends” collected in the 1988 and 1998 GSSs. Because these studies did not obtain information on network composition, we do not examine them further here.

  5. 5.

    An exception is that visiting bars and taverns rises sharply with age until age 23, represented here using a spline function. The peak age of visiting bars is just above the legal age for alcohol consumption in the United States. For more detailed examination of age patterns in socializing, see Marsden and Srivastava (2012).

References

  • Alwin, D. F. (2012). Integrating varieties of life course concepts. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 67(2), 206–220.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Antonucci, T. C., & Akiyama, H. (1987). Social networks in adult life and a preliminary examination of the convoy model. Journal of Gerontology, 42(5), 519–527.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Balbo, N., & Barban, N. (2014). Does fertility behavior spread among friends? American Sociological Review, 79(3), 412–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernardi, L., & Klärner, A. (2014). Social networks and fertility. Demographic Research, 30(22), 641–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bidart, C., & Lavenu, D. (2005). Evolutions of personal networks and life events. Social Networks, 27(4), 359–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blau, P. M. (1977). Inequality and heterogeneity: A primitive theory of social structure. New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blau, P. M., & Schwartz, J. E. (1984). Cross-cutting social circles: Testing a macrosociological theory of intergroup relations. New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R.S. (1984). Network items and the general social survey. Social Networks 6(4), 293–339.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. S. (1986). A note on sociometric order in the general social survey network data. Social Networks, 8(2), 149–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural holes: The social structure of competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chua, V. (2013). Categorical sources of varieties of network inequalities. Social Science Research, 42(5), 1236–1253.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chua, V., Mathews, M., & Loh, Y. (2016). Social capital in Singapore: Gender differences, ethnic hierarchies, and their intersection. Social Networks, 47, 138–150.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cornwell, B., Laumann, E. O., & Schumm, L. P. (2008). The social connectedness of older adults: A national profile. American Sociological Review, 73(2), 185–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crossley, N., Bellotti, E., Edwards, G., Everett, M. G., Koskinen, J., & Tranmer, M. (2015). Social network analysis for ego-nets. London: Sage.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Degenne, A., & Lebeaux, M. (2005). The dynamics of personal networks at the time of entry into adult life. Social Networks, 27(4), 337–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1985). Perspectives on the life course. In G. H. J. Elder (Ed.), Life course dynamics: Trajectories and transitions, 1968–1980 (pp. 23–49). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1994). Time, human agency, and social change: Perspectives on the life course. Social Psychology Quarterly, 57(1), 4–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elder, G. H. (1995). The life course paradigm: Social change and individual development. In P. Moen, G. H. Elder, & K. Lüscher (Eds.), Examining lives in context: Perspectives on the ecology of human development (pp. 101–139). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Feld, S. L. (1981). The focused organization of social ties. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 1015–1035.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, C. S. (1977). Perspectives on community and personal relations. In C. S. Fischer, R. M. Jackson, C. A. Stueve, K. Gerson, & L. M. Jones (Eds.), Networks and places: Social relations in the urban setting (pp. 1–16). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, C. S. (1982). To dwell among friends: Personal networks in town and city. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, C. S. (2009). The 2004 GSS finding of shrunken social networks: An artifact? American Sociological Review, 74(4), 657–669.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fischer, C. S., & Oliker, S. J. (1983). A research note on friendship, gender, and the life cycle. Social Forces, 62(1), 124–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goffman, E. (1961). Asylums: Essays on the social situation of mental patients and other inmates. Garden City: Anchor Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hammer, M., Gutwirth, L., & Phillips, S. L. (1982). Parenthood and social networks. Social Science & Medicine, 16(24), 2091–2100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heise, D. R. (1972). Employing nominal variables, induced variables, and block variables in path analysis. Sociological Methods and Research, 1(2), 147–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlbert, J. S., & Acock, A. C. (1990). The effects of marital status on the form and composition of social networks. Social Science Quarterly, 71(1), 163–174.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jonczyk, C. D., Lee, Y. G., Galunic, C. D., & Bensaou, B. M. (2016). Relational changes during role transitions: The interplay of efficiency and cohesion. Academy of Management Journal, 59(3), 956–982.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, R. L., & Antonucci, T. C. (1980). Convoys over the life course: Attachment, roles, and social support. In Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 3, pp. 253–286). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalmijn, M. (2003). Shared friendship networks and the life course: An analysis of survey data on married and cohabiting couples. Social Networks, 25(3), 231–249.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kalmijn, M. (2012). Longitudinal analyses of the effects of age, marriage, and parenthood on social contacts and support. Advances in Life Course Research, 17(4), 177–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lois, D. (2016). Types of social networks and the transition to parenthood. Demographic Research, 34(23), 657–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, P. V. (1987). Core discussion networks of Americans. American Sociological Review, 52(1), 122–131.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, P. V. (1990). Network diversity, substructures, and opportunities for contact. In C. Calhoun, M. Meyer, & W. R. Scott (Eds.), Structures of power and constraint: Papers in honor of Peter M. Blau (pp. 397–410). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, P. V., & Smith, T. W. (2012). Appendix: The general social survey project. In P. V. Marsden (Ed.), Social trends in American life: Findings from the general social survey since 1972 (pp. 369–378). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marsden, P. V., & Srivastava, S. B. (2012). Trends in informal social participation: 1974–2008. In P. V. Marsden (Ed.), Social trends in American life: Findings from the general social survey since 1972 (pp. 240–263). Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, V. W., & Mueller, M. M. (2003). Theoretical roots of the life-course perspective. In Social dynamics of the life course: Transitions, institutions, and interrelations (pp. 3–32). New York: Walter de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCannell, K. (1988). Social networks and the transition to motherhood. In R. M. Milardo (Ed.), Families and social networks (pp. 83–106). Beverly Hills: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • McPherson, J. M., & Smith-Lovin, L. (1982). Women and weak ties: Differences by sex in the size of voluntary organizations. American Journal of Sociology, 87(4), 883–904.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moen, P. (2001). The gendered life course. In R. H. Binstock & L. K. George (Eds.), Handbook of aging and the social sciences (5th ed.). New York: Academic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mollenhorst, G., Volker, B., & Flap, H. (2014). Changes in personal relationships: How social contexts affect the emergence and discontinuation of relationships. Social Networks, 37, 65–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore, G. (1990). Structural determinants of men’s and women’s personal networks. American Sociological Review, 55(5), 726–735.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, D. L., Neal, M. B., & Carder, P. (1997). The stability of core and peripheral networks over time. Social Networks, 19(1), 9–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Munch, A., McPherson, J. M., & Smith-Lovin, L. (1997). Gender, children, and social contact: The effects of childrearing for men and women. American Sociological Review, 62(4), 509–520.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paik, A., & Sanchagrin, K. (2013). Social isolation in America: An artifact. American Sociological Review, 78(3), 339–360.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarkisian, N., & Gerstel, N. (2016). Does singlehood isolate or integrate? Examining the link between marital status and ties to kin, friends, and neighbors. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 33(3), 361–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Small, M. L. (2009). Unanticipated gains: Origins of network inequality in everyday life. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Stueve, C. A., & Gerson, K. (1977). Personal relations across the life-cycle. In C. S. Fischer, R. M. Jackson, C. A. Stueve, K. Gerson, & L. M. Jones (Eds.), Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting (pp. 79–98). New York: Free Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verbrugge, L. M. (1977). The structure of adult friendship choices. Social Forces, 56(2), 576–597.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, B., Wong, R. Y., Tindall, D., & Nazer, N. (1997). A decade of network change: Turnover, persistence and stability in personal communities. Social Networks, 19(1), 27–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whitt, H. P. (1986). The sheaf coefficient: A simplified and expanded approach. Social Science Research, 15(2), 174–189.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Peter V. Marsden

Authors
  1. Peter V. Marsden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Peter V. Marsden .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Duane F. Alwin

  2. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Diane H. Felmlee

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, USA

    Derek A. Kreager

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Marsden, P.V. (2018). Life Course Events and Network Composition. In: Alwin, D., Felmlee, D., Kreager, D. (eds) Social Networks and the Life Course. Frontiers in Sociology and Social Research, vol 2. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71544-5_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71544-5_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71543-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71544-5

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation