191The third one is differentiation, by which the possible states associated
with a given life sphere increase. Explaining adults’ changing life path-
ways and resources, the life course perspective underlines the crucial role
not only of education, with entry into the labour market delayed by lon-
ger educational trajectories, but also of co-residence and family events,
such as living alone before entering conjugal life, and later on, divorce,
repartnering, and departure of one’s child. Beyond co- residence and occu-
pation, individuals’ life courses and ways of connecting are also framed by
various socio-historical contexts (Mayer 2001 ) and by different welfare
regimes, in particular through what Krüger and Levy ( 2001 ) name paral-
lel institutionalization, by which family policies associated with housing
and unemployment benefits contribute to shape residential autonomy
and work–family balance (Aidukaite 2006 ; Arts and Gelissen 2002 ).
Life Trajectories and Macro Context
Studying the relation between life trajectories and personal networks
implies considering these configurations at the interplay of micro-, meso-,
and macro-sociological levels (Mills 1959 ). The data at hand provide
indicators measured at the individual (micro) level, such as number of
children, level of education, or marital status. However, taken at the
country level, these indicators should be understood as reflecting specific
welfare characteristics, institutional arrangements, and local constraints
(type of political regime, GDP, level of de-commodification, etc.). Indeed,
country-specific institutionalization processes are at play. Levy ( 2013 )
presents three main ways in which institutions influence life courses by
distinguishing phasing, relating, and supporting institutions. According
to this author, phasing institutions are those that enable the tripartition of
the life course into education, occupation, and retirement phases. The
level of systemic integration of these institutions, their stability, and the
universality of access to them is given by a set of laws (e.g., compulsory
schooling, prohibition of child labour, legal retirement age) and by the
modalities of the transition from one phase to the other, particularly as
concerns the bridge between education and employment, which varies
greatly from one country to another. The central relating institution in a
Linking Family Trajectories and Personal Networks