Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

The present study examined different ways that a sample of 49 working- and middle-class married couples structured their shared and separate relationships with family and friends. The research focused on the married couple as the unit of analysis, and used information from both members of the dyad to construct descriptions of couples' conjoint networks. Couples were empirically classified according to network structural variables considered simultaneously. Four different types of conjoint networks were found to characterize the sample. Couples with different types of conjoint networks were found to differ in their self-reports of marital satisfaction. Conjoint network type was also differentially related to self-reports of depression and psychological symptoms for husbands and wives.

We examine how spouses and community members provide social support: companionship, emotional aid and services for dealing with domestic situations. Torontonians engage their networks from their homes; there is no Bottian tendency for networks to lure people away from their spouses. Spouses exchange a wide range of support, but most community members provide specialized support. We develop a typology based on the extent of support that people receive from spouses and networks. Networkers, with much spousal and network support, tend to be in their thirties, parents of preschoolers, with wives who are home much of the time, have larger networks and more contact with network members. Householders, with spousal support but little network support, tend to be in their forties, with both spouses doing paid work, have the smallest networks and do not have much contact with the members of their small networks. Self-Reliants, getting little support from spouses and networks, tend to have no children living at home, small networks and little contact with network members.

This article calls for more research that embeds dyadic relationships in their physical, social and temporal contexts. We use ethnographic accounts of courtship, wedding and placemaking practices in two different societies and find that: (1) social and environmental rituals often make salient the couple members' relationship to one another and their degree of obligation to their families and society; (2) events almost always involve significant use of the physical environment in terms of the location of events, the exchange of gifts, the use of special clothing and objects, etc.; and (3) activities occurring during these stages often symbolize and forecast future relationships between dyad members and between the dyad and its family and kin. Although network researchers often take into account the dyad's social context, our analysis suggests that physical and temporal qualities are also important.

Changes in one's personal network can be expected to follow after retirement. A certain loss of relationships, for example with colleagues, is inevitable. How do people who are either about to retire or have recently done so react to this life event? Do they form new relationships or deepen their existing ones? Which type of relationships are most likely to be terminated? Is over benefiting or under benefiting in support a significant aspect in the termination of relationships? This article addresses these questions on how retirement affects support networks. The data were obtained from 50 men, interviewed before and after retirement. At T₂ approximately a third of the personal relationships were no longer part of the network. The average size of the networks had not changed. A larger proportion of network members was unemployed and most of the relationships with colleagues were terminated. The relationships were evaluated as being more pleasant and the frequency of the contact was higher. On average, the relationships at T₂ were with older persons and tended to be more frequently with an acquaintance than those at T₁. More exchanges were carried out at T₂ than at T₁. They were mainly exchanges in which support was given by the respondents to network members, so that there was a small reduction in the overall reciprocity. The results confirm the hypothesis concerning the significance of reciprocity for the stability of exchange relationships.

By centering on the assumption that clear conceptualization precedes appropriate measurement, four methods for defining and enumerating personal networks are detailed. Global networks are defined in terms of the domain from which all other personal networks are derived. The three additional types, including significant other, exchange and interactive networks, are conceptually unique and largely non-overlapping in their memberships. The network types reviewed here do not exhaust all of the methods available for sampling personal networks, but they do represent methods with favorable psychometric properties and, most importantly, clear conceptual foundations.