Marital Status and Career Stage Influences on Social Networks of Young Adults

Excerpt During young adulthood men and women experience new roles that affect their interactions with social network members. The most common transitions during young adulthood—marriage and career—were examined with respect to descriptors of the social networks, including network size as well as affectionate and instrumental behavior exchanges. In addition, the network sectors of kin and friends were considered. Marital status, career stage, and gender interacted in various ways with each other as influences on network size and affectionate and instrumental behavior exchanges with kin and friends. The role changes associated with career entry and engagement or marriage seemed to be related to partial withdrawal from friends and an increase in kin contact among both men and women. Solidifying of kin relationships through affective involvement appeared for women but not men.