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Acknowledging that the composition and structure of personal networks is affected by meeting opportunities, social distance, and national origin similarity, we aim to disentangle their association with triadic closure in the core of personal networks. We use data (collected 2009) on the core networks of three groups of Swedes (all born in 1990): native Swedes, and first- and second-generation immigrants from Iran and former Yugoslavia, where the respondent (ego) mentions up to five core network members (alters) and whether each pair of alters (dyad) know each other (triadic closure). A three-level multiple membership logistic regression model is performed, which allows the testing of dyadic alter-alter effects, ego effects, and their interaction (i.e., ‘triadic’ effects) on triadic closure. We show that social distance, national origin similarity, and the sharing of social contexts are all associated with triadic closure in the expected direction, and that the effects of social distance and national origin similarity become smaller if shared social contexts are taken into account. The effects of the sharing of social contexts are the largest and are robust, indicating that shared social contexts are a dominant and more important condition for triadic closure than are similarity on relevant socio-demographic characteristics.

Although the average number of confidants and practical helpers in Dutch networks only slightly changes over seven years, we found considerable changes among these relationships over these years. To explain the stability of existing relationships as well as the emergence of new ones, we paid attention to meeting opportunities in specific social contexts, such as the work place, family, sports clubs, voluntary associations, and the neighborhood.Notably, we found that a lack of meeting opportunities is an important reason why many personal relationships are discontinued, and that a path-dependent use of social contexts makes new relationships more likely to emerge in a specific context if existing network members are already met in that context. Finally, it is proposed that care should be taken when interpreting changes in personal networks if one relies on information about networks that are delineated using only one name generating question.

Households and personal networks We investigate the association between household arrangements and social network characteristics by using three structural perspectives: social context, time demands, and social support. Evidence from the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch 2007/2008 (SSND; N = 950) best supports the social support and time demands perspectives. While persons living in households with a partner and/or with children generally hold fewer and less diverse ties to household externals with whom they discuss important personal matters; those living alone have larger core discussion networks with more different contacts. This suggests that those living alone are not less socially integrated than people who share a household with others.