Families and Personal Networks An International Comparative Perspective

© The Author(s) 2018 61
K. Wall et al. (eds.), Families and Personal Networks, Palgrave Macmillan Studies in
Family and Intimate Life, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95263-2_3

3

A First Portrait of Personal Networks

in a Comparative Perspective

Rita Gouveia, Gaëlle Aeby, and Vida Česnuitytė

Introduction

What are the core characteristics of personal networks in Portugal,
Switzerland, and Lithuania? What are the main differences and similari-
ties between the three countries? What is the influence of birth-cohort,
gender, education, and normative contexts (family-related attitudes) on
the composition of personal networks? These are the questions that we
aim to address in this chapter in order to understand how changing
trends of individualization and pluralization affect personal networks in

R. Gouveia (*)
Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

G. Aeby
Life Course and Inequality Research Centre, University of Lausanne,
Lausanne, Switzerland

V. Česnuitytė
Sociological Research Laboratory, Mykolas Romeris University,
Vilnius, Lithuania