Structural Determinants of Men's and Women's Personal Networks

Abstract

Men's and women's personal networks often differ in composition, with women's more focused on family and men's on nonkin, especially coworkers. Using data from the 1985 General Social Survey, I find that these gender differences arise in part from dissimilar social structural locations of men and women, which lead to distinct opportunities for and constraints on the formation of close personal ties. Most gender differences in network composition disappear or are considerably reduced when variables related to employment, family, and age are controlled. However, some gender differences remain. Women have a larger number, higher proportion, and greater diversity of kin ties in their personal networks than men, even when compared with men in similar social structural positions.