Younger Adults’ Nuclear and Extended Family Relationships in Europe: A Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

The present study identifies and compares typical classes of relationship qualities in the nuclear and extended family ties of younger adults across nine European countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden). We used KINMATRIX data that were collected online in 2022-23 from an ego-centric perspective of 7,375 respondents aged 25–35. Employing latent class analysis and multinomial logistic regression models, we identified five distinct types of relationship qualities, labelled as ‘tight-knit’, ‘connected-but-autonomous’, ‘disharmonious but-supportive’, ‘intimate-but-distant’, and ‘detached’. The prevalence of these relationship types varied across the family system, showing a clear gradient from tight-knit relations being most prevalent in the nuclear family to distant-extended relations being dominated by detachment. This resulted in a high overall proportion of relatively ‘weak’ relationships within young adults’ family networks. The distribution of classes across countries confirmed the existence of a North-South gradient of increasingly close nuclear and extended family ties in Europe: ‘Weaker’ relationships were more (and ‘stronger’ ties less) common in the Nordic countries, compared to an ‘intermediate’ cluster of countries consisting of the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, as well as the United Kingdom, and – especially – compared to Italy. Our study demonstrates the applicability of common typologies of relationship qualities to assess kin relations beyond the nuclear family and it highlights the relevance of accounting for extended kin relations across a range of European countries.