Kin network size, structure, and social support.

摘要

There are two problems with how sociology of the family thinks about social capital in connection to intergenerational social support. The first problem is whether social capital is a characteristic of the individual or of the family group. The second is that other areas of sociology, i.e. economic sociology, define social capital in ways that contradict family sociology. This study resolves these problems by estimating support models that use contact as a measure of network structure at both levels of analysis. I use a context effects model to estimate the effect of strong ties between kin on social support using the second wave of the National Survey of Families and Households. I find statistically significant effects at both levels of analysis. In addition, network level effects are negative for all types of support, supporting economic sociology as a viable theoretical source for family scholarship. There are also consistent negative effects of network size, the larger the kin network (i.e. more adult children), the rate of social support becomes smaller. However, there is an important interaction between the strength of a network and its size. High levels of contact compensate for the negative effect of network size for between-household support. This study helps to settle part of the debate about the level of analysis for social capital by showing an instance of both levels operating at the same time and presents evidence of de facto competition in families with a strong family network.