LARNER, MARY B.; PHD

                         CORNELL UNIVERSITY, 1985

                         SOCIOLOGY, INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY STUDIES (0628)
 

                         Examining the argument that the residential mobility of the modern family disrupts the development of
                         social networks and community ties, this thesis presents longitudinal data documenting the effects that
                         local moves have on the personal social networks of urban mothers and their young children. Though
                         common sense tells us that geographic mobility unsettles social networks, we know little about the
                         change that occurs naturally in networks or about how factors other than mobility contribute to turnover
                         among personal ties. The study draws on interview data gathered from 326 urban families with a
                         preschool child in 1978-9 and again in 1981-2. Families who moved locally during the three years are
                         identified, the social ties of the six-year-old children are described, and changes in the size and
                         composition of the mothers' social networks are traced. The effects of local mobility are examined in
                         comparisons between the 85 families who moved to a new neighborhood and the 241 who did not
                         move. Variations in mobility experiences and in the consequences of mobility are highlighted by
                         comparisons between families from three cultural groups: Black and White families from the U.S., and
                         Swedish families (n = 53, 162, and 111 respectively). Results show that one third of the families moved,
                         and that turnover among social network relationships is high, (25% of the average mother's ties are lost
                         and replaced over the three year span). These two change processes are not directly linked, however.
                         Moving is strongly related to change in social ties only for U.S. White mothers. Change in the U.S. Black
                         networks often occurs because the friends and neighbors included in the networks move away, showing
                         that moving has collective as well as individual consequences. The changes experienced by Swedish
                         families are not driven by any of the situational factors considered here, perhaps because the protections
                         extended by Swedish family policy leave families free to move and exchange new for old personal ties
                         according to the private rhythms of their lives.

Social Systems Simulation Group P.O. Box 6904 San Diego, CA  92166-0904 Roland Werner, Principal Phone/FAX  (619) 660-1603