“Life Course Events and Network Composition.” Pp. 89-113 in Duane F. Alwin, Diane H. Felmlee and Derek A. Kreager (eds.) Social Networks and the Life Course. New York: Springer International, 2018.

The life course paradigm focuses attention on individual life trajectories composed of interrelated transitions into and out of states such as marriage or employment. The paradigm has a clear affinity with the study of social networks: life course transitions often imply the formation of new relationships or the dissolution of previously-existing ones. This chapter, rooted in social network studies, examines general-population social survey data on the life course positions and social networks of U.S. adults. Emphasizing a conceptualization of the life course as a set of transitions, it examines the manner in which life course events shape networks. After reviewing findings of some prior studies that link these phenomena, the chapter proposes opportunity-based network theories—Feld's (1981) focus theory in particular—as a basis for understanding how life course transitions may shape the size and composition of individual social networks. It then examines General Social Survey data on how network size, network composition, and network activity vary across life course states. In keeping with a prominent emphasis in life course theory, the chapter considers the prospect that particular transitions hold different consequences for men and women. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)