Misc,
Communication with family and friends across the life course
(Dec 30, 2015)
Abstract
Each stage of the human life course is characterized by a distinctive pattern
of social relations. We study how the intensity and importance of the closest
social contacts vary across the life course, using a large database of mobile
communication from a European country. We first determine the most likely
social relationship type from these mobile phone records by relating the age
and gender of the caller and recipient to the frequency, length, and direction
of calls. We then show how communication patterns between parents and children,
romantic partner, and friends vary across the six main stages of the adult
family life course. Young adulthood is dominated by a gradual shift of call
activity from parents to close friends, and then to a romantic partner,
culminating in the period of early family formation during which the focus is
on the romantic partner. During middle adulthood call patterns suggest a high
dependence on the parents of the ego, who, presumably often provide
alloparental care, while at this stage female same-gender friendship also
peaks. During post-reproductive adulthood, individuals and especially women
balance close social contacts among three generations. The age of
grandparenthood brings the children entering adulthood and family formation
into the focus, and is associated with a realignment of close social contacts
especially among women, while the old age is dominated by dependence on their
children.
