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considered as-family, we also find individuals who exclude some close
biological ties such as children, parents, and siblings from their family
network, others who include friends and distant kin and others still
that do not consider any of their important close persons as family. As
a result, our analysis reveals a complex typology of as-family networks.
The most frequent types are the Friendship-origin network, which
includes friends as well as some close kin, and the nuclear type of cou-
ples with children (Nuclear-son, Nuclear-daughter) that also branches
out to other close kin or that focuses only on the couple and children
(Restricted nuclear). We also find networks that mainly include siblings
(Siblings), those that span across several generations (Beanpole) or, more
surprisingly, that exclude biological ties and elect only the partner as
their family (a network labelled the Couple network); the latter type of
network represents almost one in ten of all networks across the three
countries. Some of these types of networks, such as the No-family, the
Friendship-origin, or the Couple networks, thus seem to indicate the
important role not only of pluralization but also of individualization,
which promotes individual agency and choice within a wide array of
affinities; in this context, partnership, an elective process in itself in
contemporary conjugality, emerges today as a central principle driving
the meaning of significant family ties.
Findings also reveal both commonalities and differences between the
national scenarios. These national nuances seem to be linked to historical
pathways which interact with biographical and structural factors of the
life course and fully impact the mechanisms that generate family mean-
ing within personal networks. Three main conclusions may be put
forward.
First, the mechanisms which generate family meaning operate in dif-
ferent ways in the three national scenarios. In Switzerland, there is a weak
process of suffusion between personal and family bonds, mainly linked to
the fact that non-kin members, in particular friends (who are frequently
cited by Swiss respondents) are, in general, unlikely to be perceived as
family. In this country, family meaning thus emerges as more strongly
driven by blood and alliance principles as well as strong electivity within
close kinship ties, meaning that even parents and children, usually given
K. Wall et al.