Gerald Mollenhorst

Social contexts and personal relationships: The effect of meeting opportunities on similarity for relationships of different strength

This paper examines the effect of social contexts on similarity in personal relationships. We argue that the effect of social contexts is larger for weaker, and smaller for stronger relationships. Using data from The Survey of the Social Networks of the Dutch (collected in 1999/2000, n = 1007), we first describe where people got to know their acquaintances, friends and partner and that similarity in these relationships with regard to age, level of education, sex, and religion, generally varies. We then inquire whether getting to know each other in a certain context affects similarity, and whether this effect is different for relationships of different strength. Our main conclusion, however, is that the effect of social contexts on similarity is remarkably consistent across partnerships, friendships, and acquaintanceships.

Social Contexts and Core Discussion Networks: Using a Choice-Constraint Approach to Study Similarity in Intimate Relationships

Social contexts in which confidants get to know each other affect the composition of their personal networks, inter alia the similarity among confidants. Results from analyses on a representative sample of the Dutch population between 18 and 65 years of age (SSND 2000), support the idea that differences in similarity among confidants can be explained by 1.) the social composition of a context, 2.) the extent to which interactions within a context are enforced, and 3.) the amount of time people spend in a context. Moreover, there is a certain degree of path-dependency in the use of social contexts, that leads to reinforced context effects on similarity among confidants.

Changes in personal relationships: How social contexts affect the emergence and discontinuation of relationships

Abstract Although the average number of confidants and practical helpers in Dutch networks only slightly changes over seven years, we found considerable changes among these relationships over these years. To explain the stability of existing relationships as well as the emergence of new ones, we paid attention to meeting opportunities in specific social contexts, such as the work place, family, sports clubs, voluntary associations, and the neighborhood. Notably, we found that a lack of meeting opportunities is an important reason why many personal relationships are discontinued, and that a path-dependent use of social contexts makes new relationships more likely to emerge in a specific context if existing network members are already met in that context. Finally, it is proposed that care should be taken when interpreting changes in personal networks if one relies on information about networks that are delineated using only one name generating question.

Shared contexts and triadic closure in core discussion networks

This paper inquires into structural explanations for triadic closure in networks of confidants with whom one discusses important personal matters. Building upon the assumption that meeting opportunities affect network characteristics, we primarily argue that the social contexts in which network members meet, substantially affect triadic closure. The main empirical findings are (a) that about sixty percent of the triads in core discussion networks are closed triads, which also means that a substantial part of ones strong relations is unconnected, and (b) that meeting network members in the same social contexts is an important condition for, but certainly does not guarantee triadic closure. Importantly, the specific characteristics of social contexts explain why sharing certain contexts positively affects triadic closure, while sharing other contexts does not.

Romantic relationship formation, maintenance and changes in personal networks

According to the social withdrawal hypothesis, a personal network becomes smaller when a person starts dating, cohabitates and marries. This phenomenon is widely established in the literature. However, these studies were usually done with cross-sectional data. As a consequence, it is still unclear whether or how personal networks actually change after the formation of a romantic relationship (i.e. dating), after starting cohabitation and after getting married. It is also unclear how long and to what extent social withdrawal continues. To overcome these shortcomings, we examine how the size and composition of personal networks change after relationship formation. We use two waves of the PAIRFAM dataset (2008 and 2011), which include information about 6640 Germans who were between 16 and 39 years of age at the time of the second interview in 2008. Results from fixed effects regression models underscore that the association between romantic relationships and changes in personal networks is more dynamic than previous studies suggested. For example, after the formation of a romantic relationship people show a decrease in non-kin contacts, while an increase in non-kin contacts is observed after two years of dating, as well as after two years of cohabitation. These network changes suggest that people adapt their social networks to the demands and constraints of each phase of a romantic relationship. Because the decline in network size after dating is not stable, there is no need to be afraid that those who have a romantic partner remain isolated from other relationships.

Context Overlap and Multiplexity in Personal Relationships

In the sociological literature, it is suggested that grand changes in the structure of modern western societies in the 19th and 20th century, resulted in low levels of overlap among social contexts nowadays, which means that people usually meet each network member in a single social context. In this contribution, I examine the overlap structure among social contexts in which people meet personal network members, thereby especially focusing on overlap between public contexts and private contexts. Next, because it is also suggested that low levels of context overlap result in a replacement of multiplex relationships by uniplex relationships, I examine the extent to which sharing multiple contexts affects multiplexity in personal relationships. The main conclusions, which are based on empirical tests on data from the second wave of The Survey of the Social Networks of the Dutch, are a) that private contexts are much more likely to overlap with other contexts than public contexts, and b) that sharing multiple contexts in general, but especially sharing multiple private contexts, has a substantial positive effect on multiplexity.

Changes in the social networks of prisoners: A comparison of their networks before and after imprisonment

This study examines the social networks of detainees before and after their incarceration. We use unique panel data on 702 detainees and their core discussion networks. Our results show that while the size of the core discussion network remains stable, detainees have replaced more than 60% of their network members after incarceration. By far not all new core network members are truly new: in particular friendship ties have a higher change to deteriorate and be replaced by ties to relatives. We estimate multinomial multilevel models and find, moreover, that changes in the core discussion network are most likely to occur for detainees who have served a longer prison spell, who did not return to the same place of residence, who had fewer strong or family relationships, and who were suspected of involvement in a violent or sexual offense.

Family and Friends: Which Types of Personal Relationships Go Together in a Network?

We examine the link between family and personal networks. Using arguments about meeting opportunities, competition and social influence, we hypothesise how the presence of specific types of family members (i.e., a partner, children, parents and siblings) and non-family members (i.e., friends, neighbours and colleagues) in the network mutually affect one another. In addition, we propose that—beyond their mere presence—the active role of family members in the network strongly affects the presence of non-family members in the network. Data from the third wave of the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch, collected in 2012 and 2013, show that active involvement is of key importance; more than merely having family members present in one’s personal network, the active involvement of specific types of family members in the personal network is associated with having disproportionally more other family members and having somewhat fewer non-family members in the network.

Neighbourhood Social Capital and Residential Mobility

This chapter reports findings from research in the Netherlands that links the change in neighbourhood social capital between 2002 and 2006 with resident’s moving intentions and their actual mobility outcomes. The underlying hypothesis is that those who live in a neighbourhood with high levels of macro level social capital are better off than others, even when they themselves do not have many actual social ties themselves. If neighbourhoods with high levels of macro social capital are good for you, than it can be hypothesised that those living in neighbourhoods that lack of macro level social capital are more likely to develop an intention to leave their neighbourhood and act on this desire. Using data from the Netherlands, the chapter shows that low and decreasing neighbourhood social capital stimulates moving intentions and actual moving behaviour. It is suggested that to get a better understanding of the interactions between moving intentions, moving behaviour and social capital, future work should inquire more deeply into the conditions which cause social capital in neighbourhoods to change.

Changes in the Personal Networks of Young Immigrants in Sweden

Abstract In this chapter, we focus on the social integration of young immigrants in Sweden who themselves and/or one or both of their parents came from Iran or former Yugoslavia. In particular, we look at the share of alters in their core networks who are of the same parental national origin and how this has changed within a period of four years. To explain network changes, we consider the parental national origin similarity among them, changes in opportunities to meet network members, and important life events. We analyzed two waves of survey data collected in 2010 and 2014 from 1,537 individuals who live in Sweden and who were all born in 1990, including 325 immigrants from Iran, 447 immigrants from former Yugoslavia, and 805 native Swedes. The results indicate that: (a) the share of parental national origin similar alters in the core networks of immigrants significantly increases over time, (b) first-generation immigrants in particular increasingly associate with others who are of the same parental national origin, (c) important life events hardly result in network changes, and (d) schools and work places are social contexts that enhance the social integration of immigrants, because in these contexts immigrants meet and engage in personal relationships with individuals who do not share their parental national origin.