201type was named Transition to empty nest (N = 301, 10.6%, mean age in
2010: 57). It brings together those living as a couple (average 9 years)
after a stable period of cohabitation with their children (average 11 years).
The third type of co-residence trajectories, labelled Leaving parental home
(N = 225, 7.9%, mean age in 2010: 38), is composed of those individuals
who stay longer with their parents compared to those belonging to the
first type (12 vs. 4 years). Only a minority of them had made the transi-
tion to parenthood at the time of the interview (average parenting time:
1.4 years). We named the fourth type Transition to lone parenthood
(N = 142, 5%, mean age in 2010: 50), as individuals belonging to it have
experienced a long period living alone with their children (average
13 years) after a spell of about five years with their partner and children.
The fifth type, Conjugality (N = 289, 10%, mean age in 2010: 50), brings
together individuals who have lived a stable conjugal relationship with-
out children for most of the period of observation (average 16 years). In
the sixth type, which we name Alternatives (N = 113, 4%, mean age in
2010: 43), we find individuals who, after leaving their family of orienta-
tion, co-resided mostly with kin outside their nuclear family or with
other non-kin. The seventh type is named Solo (N = 229, 8%, mean age
in 2010: 48), as the individuals following it lived alone for more than
15 years on average and only one and a half years with a partner. The
eighth type, Nesting one parent (N = 90, 3%, mean age in 2010: 42), is
composed of those who lived about 15 years on average with only one of
their parents and only for very short spells with both parents (average
1.4 years), alone, or with a partner, with or without children (one year
each on average). Finally, the last type is labelled Parenthood (N = 1006,
35%, mean age in 2010: 50), as it is followed by individuals who have
spent almost all of the period of observation living with their partner and
children (average 18 years). As it is the most frequent type and represents
a standard form of living throughout adulthood, it will be used as the
reference category in the logistic regressions presented below (Table 7.4).
The distribution of these types across the three countries reveals con-
trasting patterns of co-residence trajectories between 1990 and 2010.
Table 7.2 shows the distribution across countries (percentages and chi-
squared test). The most frequent type of 20-year-long past co-residence
trajectories is Parenthood. It is overrepresented in Portugal and underrep-
Linking Family Trajectories and Personal Networks