Changes of Personal Network Configuration Over the Life Course in the USA: A Latent Class Approach

This chapter describes the changing composition of personal networks over the life course and tests if the effects of network composition on well-being, especially happiness, vary over age. Data are drawn from the social network module in 2004 General Social Survey, which collected general social network information of respondents aged over 18 year old (N = 975). Results demonstrate that six different types of personal network composition are distributed to varying degrees over the life course. In addition, each type of personal network has different implications for an individual’s happiness according to age group. In this regard, socially isolated people consistently show low levels of happiness compared with others in most age groups.