From graduating college to dealing with health problems, major life changes can disrupt our social world. A forthcoming book, “Personal Networks over the Life Course: Dynamic Perspectives,” which was written by scholars from UC Berkeley and other institutions, examines how and why our relationships change over a lifetime.
The researchers found that major life events can strain or break some relationships. For example, moving to a new country or graduating college can cause people to lose touch with friends. However, most people eventually rebuild their support networks, whether that be by restrengthening connections with family or by forming new friendships.
The researchers also concluded that stronger ties tend to last. For example, even if one moves to a new country, they will likely remain close to their family. Furthermore, people tend to forge new connections to take the place of ones that fade – for instance, by meeting new friends, coworkers or neighbors.
According to UC Berkeley Sociology Professor Claude Fischer, one of the book’s authors, access to resources also plays an important role in how well people maintain relationships. People with financial stability or strong social skills are more likely to replace lost connections or reconnect with previous ones.
“At the most general level, we found that major life events typically disrupt personal ties for a limited time,” said Fischer. “Usually, after a while, people either restore severed or strained relationships or find substitutes.”
The book found similar patterns across different countries and life stages. Fischer explained that forming a romantic relationship often means spending less time with friends, especially single friends. Having children amplifies that effect, leading people to focus more on family.
Moving to a new place can also sever relationships, he explained. However, after a few years in a new community, most people eventually build networks that resemble the ones they left behind.
“We addressed how a long list of life events might affect personal ties: health disruptions, partnering, un-partnering, parenting, graduating, job changes, retiring, moving domestically and migrating internationally,” said Fischer.
These findings challenge the idea that losing touch with people during transitions is a personal failure. According to Fischer, social turnover is common because our lives and the lives of those around us are constantly changing. This is true across Western societies.
The book also highlights the adaptability of personal networks. Fischer noted that even when people feel isolated or lonely after a major life change, their relationships tend to recover. This also explains why personal relationships are such an important source of both emotional and practical support.
“The life course entails a good deal of turnover in who the active members of people’s networks are,” said Fischer. “Most people experience network turnover, so it is, in that sense, both normal and predictable. Leaving school, getting married, retiring, and so on, will usually lead to changes in the network, especially for people who change communities.”
To explore these patterns, the researchers analyzed surveys across several countries. In the U.S. and other surveys, participants were instructed to identify the people important to them and describe those relationships.
The book draws on research from the U.S., France, Switzerland, Israel and Spain. The team compared results across countries to identify common processes underlying the evolution of personal networks.
Fischer explained that the book sought to answer common questions about personal relationships: “What we wanted to know most broadly is how life events and transitions alter personal networks and also how individuals remake their networks after such events.”
“Critically, we wanted to know what answers we could find that crossed national boundaries,” said Fischer. “The dynamics that the studies in our book describe show us the plasticity of networks, that they typically change over time – at least in societies such as ours – and that people do much to adjust them to the various stages of the life course.”