175both density of support and interaction are average compared with the
two other countries. Overall, individuals in Switzerland develop, on aver-
age, bridging social capital more often than individuals in the two other
contexts, while their level of bonding social capital is not significantly
below the level of individuals residing in Lithuania. Therefore they more
often benefit from a comprehensive type of social capital. Individuals in
Portugal feature bonding social capital more often than individuals in the
two other national contexts. Individuals in Lithuania have a distinct kind
of bonding social capital, based on interactions rather than on support. It
remains to be seen, however, whether these differences between countries
remain when other factors of social capital are taken into account at the
same time.
Social Capital and Network Composition
We now consider how the composition of personal networks relates to
social capital structures, by examining the variations of structural indica-
tors per types of configurations identified in Chap. 5 (Table 6.3^2 ).
Overall, the configurations revealed by Chap. 5 produce distinct social
capital structures. There is a divide in terms of social capital, between
configurations focused on children and parents, and configurations
focused on friends or the work environment. The former are associated
with high density of both interactions and emotional support. In their
case, centralisation is low. This is clear evidence of the salience of bonding
social capital in such configurations. In contrast, friends and work con-
figurations have low density of interactions and emotional support and
high centralisation. Extended-conjugal and Siblings feature both elements
of bridging and bonding social capital, as they have medium to high
density of interactions and emotional support, and medium centralisa-
tion. Another relevant aspect relies on the fact that configurations focused
on the nuclear family (Nuclear-narrow and Nuclear-standard) show high
density of interactions and a low level of centralisation. This means that
restricting personal networks to members of the family of procreation,
and probably also current household members, facilitates daily contact.
Finally, Empty networks, which represent individuals who did not cite
Understanding Personal Networks as Social Capital