72
tion of the Swiss towards the ascendants compared to the other two
countries points to a higher functional autonomy of children in relation
to their parents. Issues of family expectations and responsibilities com-
bined with more stable social and economic conditions may contribute
to this weaker functional interdependence.
In relation to friends, both female and male friends are overrepresented
in Switzerland (29.8% and 25%, respectively) and underrepresented in
Lithuania (4.1% and 2.2%, respectively). Portugal presents almost the
same percentage as in the total sample, with 19.1% citing female friends
and 15.1% citing male friends. Friendship undoubtedly plays a major
role in Swiss personal relationships, which contrasts sharply with
Lithuanian networks, whose relational boundaries are totally confined to
the kinship realm. As we have mentioned, although it might be consid-
ered the archetype of choice-based ties, friendship is strongly structured
by the social circumstances of individuals and these cross-country differ-
ences illustrate how friends differ in their availability and validation.
Grandchildren are much less commonly included in personal networks
in Switzerland (1.5%) than in Portugal (10.2%) and Lithuania (9%).
The affinity attributions assigned to grandchildren in Portugal and
Lithuania are certainly related to a greater emotional and instrumental
interdependency between grandparents and grandchildren as the former
are often strong caregivers in the absence of state childcare arrangements.
Also, these respondents belong to a generation (1950–1955) character-
ized by an early transition to both partnership and parenthood, and
therefore with a higher probability of being grandparents at the age of 60.
In Switzerland, we found a much lower normative expectation in relation
to grandparents taking care of their grandchildren; and it is parents who
are responsible for finding strategies to reconcile work and family life and
childcare. Therefore, Swiss grandparents may have less opportunities to
cultivate this bond. Additionally, this undervaluation of grandchildren in
Switzerland can also be a product of a different demographical pathways
towards the verticalization of multigenerational families in this country.
Contrasting with Portugal and Lithuania, the postponement of
parenthood calendars and the greater incidence of childless individuals in
Switzerland make grandchildren less available for Swiss respondents of
this generation.
R. Gouveia et al.