Artikelen

Veranderingen in vriendschapsnetwerken tijdens de levensloop. Een toets van de paarsgewijze-afzonderingshypothese

Auteurs

  • Kalmijn,Matthijs

Samenvatting

Changes in friendship networks over the lift course: A test of the dyadic withdrawal hypo­thesis. Summary: The dyadic withdrawal hypothesis argues that friendship networks become smaller when people enter a cohabiting relationship and that friendship networks become more overlapping with the partner during the course of the relationship. This hypothesis has received fragmented support in earlier research and has not been tested in The Netherlands. A nationally representative data set is analyzed which includes information on the five 'best friends' of the respondent. A special feature of the data is that both partners were interviewed which allows us to check whether the friends reported by the respondent were also reported by the partner. In contrast to earlier studies, a broad set of lift course stages is compared: single, dating, married (or cohabiting) without children, married with children, and the empty nest stage. Bivariate and multivariate results indicate that friendship networks become smaller over the lift course, although these changes primarily occur when people start dating and enter wedlock. Later changes are dominated by a simple age effect. For overlap, the models show that the percentage of shared friends and the number of joint contacts increase over the lift course. These changes do not occur, however, for friends that are reported as 'best'friends by both partners; they only occur for what can be called 'asymmetrically shared' friends.

Gepubliceerd

2001-09-01

Nummer

Sectie

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