159tition in the first circle of sociability and that children push away siblings.
At the country level, women in Portugal and individuals with lower levels
of educational attainment in Lithuania are also more prone to develop a
configuration around their siblings.
Mixed configurations characterized by a coexistence of kin and non-
kin represent around 6% of the sample in Portugal and Switzerland, and
only 3.5% in Lithuania. This means that they are not often found in
Lithuania in comparison with Portugal. Younger individuals belonging
to the 1970–1975 birth cohort are more likely to develop Mixed configu-
rations in all three countries. At the country level, childlessness increases
the chances of developing Mixed configurations in Lithuania, and being
an only child has the same effect in Portugal. Finally, female respondents
in Switzerland are more likely to have Mixed configurations.
For Friendship configurations, the difference between countries is
striking. Whereas living in Switzerland increases the chances of develop-
ing Friendship configurations, living in Lithuania decreases them in com-
parison with Portugal. In Lithuania, only 2% of the respondents have
such a configuration, whereas in Switzerland this is true for one-fifth. At
the country level, some interesting facts are revealed. Childless individu-
als in Switzerland, non-partnered individuals in Lithuania, and individu-
als who are an only child in Switzerland and Lithuania are more likely to
develop Friendship configurations. In those two countries, the absence of
specific family ties explains a higher investment in friendship, indicating
a potential compensatory effect. In addition, in Switzerland education is
a determinant of Friendship configurations, as individuals with higher
levels of attainment (upper tertiary) are more likely to develop them, and
individuals with lower levels of attainment (primary) are less likely to
develop them, in comparison with individuals with a medium level of
educational attainment. This means that friendship is also constrained by
the structural position of individuals and is not purely affinity-based.
In Work-oriented configurations, as in Friendship configurations,
non- kinship ties are prominent. As with the other types of configura-
tion based on non-kin, Work-oriented configurations are mostly found
in Switzerland. In comparison with Friendship configurations, there is
an even stronger trend concerning the impact of higher levels of educa-
tion on the likelihood of developing Work-oriented configurations, in
Mapping the Plurality of Personal Configurations