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Extended conjugal configurations (horizontal ties and in-laws) are more
present in Portugal and point to a more inclusive perception of family
and kinship in this context than in the other two countries. They are
mostly developed by younger individuals belonging to the 1970–1975
birth cohort. The Extended conjugal configuration can be illustrated by
the case presented in Fig. 5.3. The focal person is a Portuguese woman
belonging to the younger cohort who achieved the second stage of basic
education. She works as a dressmaker in a small tailoring business in an
urban area in the North of Portugal. Her network is made up of the part-
ner, whom she met when she was 14 years old, her daughter (aged 16),
her son (aged 10), her mother-in-law, and her sister-in-law. For her, per-
sonal life is about alliances between families, joining different levels of
kinship in a single personal configuration.
Sibling-oriented configurations are developed in all three countries by
around one-tenth of the respondents. However, they are more prominent
in Switzerland, and to a lesser extent in Lithuania, than in Portugal. This
may be related to the fact that individuals in Portugal are even more
inclusive and are more likely to develop Extended conjugal or Mixed con-
figurations. Childless individuals are more likely to develop Sibling-
oriented configurations. The fact that in the three countries the absence of
a transition to parenthood favoured Sibling-oriented configurations indi-
cates that children and sibling relationships are to some extent in compe-
Fig. 5.3 Interaction in an extended conjugal configuration, Portugal
G. Aeby et al.