71Turning to the family of orientation (parents and siblings), some inter-
esting findings come into view. The category of mother is underrepre-
sented in Switzerland (27.5%) and overrepresented in Lithuania (35.2%),
compared to 32.3% in the total sample; whereas the category of father is
overrepresented among the Portuguese respondents (23.1%) compared
to 19.3% in the total sample. By contrast, there are no statistically signifi-
cant country differences in the distribution of brothers (14.2%) and sisters
(18.7%) among tie categories. The similar level of inclusion of siblings
across countries indicates that more horizontal genealogical ties are less
susceptible to both demographical variations and normative expectations
(compared to parent-child or conjugal dyads). Moreover, it points to the
persistence of commitment and emotional closeness between siblings
over the life cycle (Cicirelli 1995 ; Rittenour et al. 2007 ). The low orienta-
Table 3.2 Percentage of respondents who cited at least one alter in each tie cat-
egory (N = 2774)
Portugal Switzerland Lithuania Total χ^2
Partner 76.7 72.6 67.8 72.5 20.15
Daughters 49.1 32.5 45.3 43.3 52.34
Sons 47.2 31.8 46.3 42.7 50.51
Mother 33.0 27.5 35.2 32.3 11.75
Father 23.1 16.7 17.3 19.3 15.31
Sisters 16.8 20.0 19.8 18.7 4.18
Female friends 19.1 29.8 4.1 16.7 208.30
Brothers 13.0 14.8 15.0 14.2 1.90
Male friends 15.1 25.0 2.2 13.3 198.66
Grandchildren 10.2 1.5 9.0 7.4 54.29
Collaterals 8.0 6.6 6.1 6.9 2.97
Colleagues 5.1 8.9 4.5 5.9 16.65
Children-in-law 7.0 1.5 7.5 5.7 34.55
Siblings-in-law 6.8 4.8 4.2 5.3 7.39
Parents-in-law 7.9 3.0 3.8 5.1 26.28
Non-kin members 2.5 5.0 6.5 4.6 18.69
Ex-partners 2.8 3.7 1.0 2.4 13.96
Stepfamily members 2.0 2.9 1.4 2.1 4.63
Grandparents 1.3 0.5 1.5 1.2 4.00
Fictive kin 1.2 1.2 0.5 1.0 3.32
Notes: p < 0.05; p < 0.01; p < 0.001; numbers underlined with single line
mean underrepresentation of tie categories among countries; double-
underlined numbers refer to overrepresentation of tie categories
A First Portrait of Personal Networks in a Comparative...