compare and contrast essay friends vs family

Compare And Contrast Friends And Family Essay

Today in our lives, we are surrounded by many people. Some of these people we are surrounded by are either people we do not care for, or they are the people that we cannot spend enough time with. These people we enjoy the most of, are either our family or our closest friends. You may think that friends and family are just a like, but they do differ from each other, and without either of them our life would feel incomplete. The definition of friends is a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. Friends are the people you trust outside of your family. These are the people that you surrounded yourself with by choice. The ones that you tell your deepest darkest secrets to. The ones that you go to school with or hang out with on the weekends. Your friends become so close to you they become your “family”. For an example, my closest friend, Kaitlyn Arrington, are always getting asked if we are cousins or sisters. Kaitlyn and I do absolutely everything together. I share everything about my life with her, and she does the same to me. I could not imagine my life without her. Friends are the family you get to choose. On the other hand, you do not get to choose your family, you just have to deal with them. The true definition of a family is a group of people usually of the same blood, but do not always have to be. I have a large family. I have two sets of grandparents, two great-grandparents, two parents, two brothers, three uncles, one aunt, one

Wonder August's Sister Character Analysis

Similarity, friends can have a huge impact on one’s identity. Friends can help you get through things. If a dog dies or parents get divorced you will have friends by your side. Friends can be bad because

Definition Essay Friendship

Helen Keller once stated that “Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light.” Friendship can be defined in many different ways. For example a four year old might say that a friend is the other boy that gave him a cookie. While an adult says someone to talk and relate to when they need it. They are also formed in a plethora of ways. For instance, the two four year olds could grow up staying friends, or you meet some random person in the supermarket and start talking, or even through another friend. Friends are part of what makes life fun, being able to enjoy the joyous times with another person, and lean on them in the challenging times.

Child Development Interview Essay

A friend is a person in school you like to be around and being a friend they like to play with you and sometimes you can call them best friend like me and Jalen.

Onka's Big Maka Research Paper

What is a family? How are families shaped and what effect do they have on society? In the United States a family consists of both parents, one’s self, siblings (biological or adoptive) and extended family members; however, this is not the case around the world. The concept of family and who is family changes in each culture, but is mostly centered around who is kin and who a person marries. Family, kin, and marriage are established through how society decides their lineage, which establishes cultural rituals within the society.

The American Family Where We Are Today By Stephanie Coontz

According to the dictionary family is a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household. Or family is from the descendants of a common ancestor. According to society family is a group, it can be related are not. My definition of family is anyone who is there for you through good and bad, someone who always have your back no matter what. Family is not just blood. However some of the best families are the ones you are not related to.

Meaning Of Family In Richard Bach's Breaking The Code

Richard Bach states, “The bond that leads your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s lives.” Yes, it is true that one cannot choose his/her biological parent or family for that matter, however, having a biological family does not necessarily defines the word family and what it represents. Webster dictionary defines family as a group consisting of parents, and children living in a household together. However, this definition is scarce and fails to look beyond the surface. The word family has an in-depth and deeper meaning that people tend to disregard. In the movie “Breaking the Code”, the protagonist states, “one cannot choose his/her mother.” Although this is true in a scientific way based on the process of reproduction, I completely disagree with this statement. I believe that anyone can choose a mother, father, sister, brother if they have been more of a family to them.

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The reason that close friends can sometimes seem like family is because of the shared experiences you have had with them and the brotherly love you show them. I can corroborate this statement with the relationship I have with my mom’s college friend’s kids. I have known them for all of my life and when I was little,

Family Life In A Thousand Splendid Suns

The dictionary definition of family is “a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household.” or even “all the descendants of a common ancestor.” In some cases, that is not always true. Most families hardly even have both parents in the picture. Some kids get even adopted or put into foster care, yet the guardians are there for them nonetheless. To me, family is so much more than that.

Blood I Carry: The Definition Of Family

I believe that that is a very basic definition of the word family. Family goes into far more depth than that. Take Willow Chance in Counting by 7s into consideration. Of course she loved her parents and they loved her and cared for her, but they died. Then, someone that she hardly knew, opened their arms up and took her in. Mae and her family let her stay with them in their home and cared for her. Mae and family and Willow aren’t related by blood. They hardly knew each other except for hanging out at Duke’s office for counseling. When Mae took Willow in, Mae was accepting her into the family. Mae and Willow are family now.

Friendships are an important part of everyday life, but what does one look like? If you were asked to define what a friendship would look like, how would you describe it? A friendship is a type of relationship that requires certain key components in order to be labeled a friendship. The first component, and very important component, is a reciprocity or mutuality. In order for a friend to truly be considered a friend, they have to believe that you are their friend also. It’s a two-way street. Try driving down a one-way street during traffic and see how far you get: not far. Both people have to consider each other a friend or the friendship is not. The next question would be how close of a friend are they? There are many definitions of being

Open Up Research Paper

My friends are like my second family and to make a new family destroys you. That is why if you are ever friend I really open up and try not to let go. For me the word “friendship” is when you have a bond with another person and both of you tell each other everything and you both have each others back and do not go against each other instead overcome obstacles, someone you can call at anytime and know they will be there for you when you need them and they will not leave you alone at your worst to pick yourself up instead they will want to be there with you every single step of the way until you are fine and can stand on both of your feet they will be there with you good and bad times. That is why now in day I don’t have a lot of friends I lost all of mine because I got to close and when you get too close to me I back away because I don’t really want anyone getting too close because I might get laughed at again. Which for me is one of my biggest fears

Abraham Lincoln Research Paper

Friends play an important role in a person's life. They encourage when someone is sad, they entertain when someone is lonely, and they listen when someone has problems. There are varieties of friends. Co-workers, social workers, schoolmates, and much more. Each type of friends is helpful in one way or the other. Co-workers could help solve problems and let the workplace be less stressful. Friends from the community could widen someone's prospective by introducing them to new people from different areas. Friends that grew up together would share the happiness and sadness someone might has. It

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Throughout our lives we will need friends. Even when we fall in love and embrace ourselves in that companionship, we will still need friends to keep a part of our individuality.

Reflection on Family

A family can be defined in many ways, but the common denominator in all is the love and fulfillment one gets by being surrounded by family members. Families can sometimes be at odds with each other, but the strain of this type of relationship usually creates an upsetting feeling to the people involved. People want others to rely on, talk to, do things with, share, love, embrace, and be part of. No matter what the family dynamic is the qualities the word family has will remain the same, as time goes by, and life evolves once again for every person living their

Friends Vs Male Friends Essay

Friends is a word we hear very often quite frankly every day. Friends are defined as a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. There is all types and sorts of friends that people have. Some people prefer male friends over female or vice versa. Friends can be there to comfort you in your time of grieving or in the happiest part of your life. Friends can even help you with face or fight fearness, illnesses or depression. The difference between the two in my opinion are as stated; a male can be there to give you solutions from a male point of view and his experience about a female from what he has encountered through life. A female is more sensitive to anything that comes up. She is there to let you know how to handle a situation the right way without holding back on the feelings. Male friends like to hide their way of expressing the truth because they do not want to tarnish their image of trying to feel hard or tough.

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Family vs. Friends: Comparing Key Relationships

Gabrielle is an experienced freelance writer and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with experience using equine-assisted therapy.

Learn about our Editorial Policy .

Friendships and familial relationships can be both a source of stress and a source of comfort depending on the circumstances. Whatever your own unique relational balance is amongst your friends and/or family members, know that both friends and family can provide meaningful and fulfilling connections.

Family vs. Friends

When it comes to comparing friendships and familial relationships, know that the quality of the relationship is a key component of how meaningful, supportive, and fulfilling a relationship is. This means that whether you are mostly close with your friends or your family, you can still experience loving, healthy, and respectful relationships.

• Understanding What Is Considered Immediate Family (and Why It Matters)
• 6 Types of Family Structures Common in 2023

Which Is Better Family or Friends?

There is no "better" when it comes to a familial relationship or friendship. Relationships are all different and will vary based on unique circumstances. A fairer comparison would be to ask yourself which relationships are healthier? Healthy relationships may be absent amongst your family, but not amongst your friendships, or vice versa.

How Do Friends Differ From Family Members?

One big difference between family and friends is that your family member's relational label will not change, even if you have an argument. Your sibling, parent, aunt, or cousin will always maintain that relational label, even if you become estranged. With friendships, if you have a falling out, your relationship status can change and you may end up completely disconnected. In some families, there is more of an undertone that no matter what, family is family, and issues may be prioritized for resolution, while this may not be the case with some friendships.

Family vs. Friends Comparison Chart

Both family and friends can be caring, loving, irreplaceable, and maintain their relationship with you through the ups and downs of life. While some families are open, loving, and warm, others can be cold, abusive, and neglectful . Unlike with friendships, especially if you are a minor, families can feel more difficult to remove yourself from. Family relationships may also be associated with more complex issues, hierarchical disparities, and circumstances where one may feel indebted to another, while healthy friendships have an even power structure.

Why Do I Like My Friends More Than My Family?

If you feel like your friends have replaced your family or that you prefer your friends to your family, know that you are not alone. Many individuals turn to friends when they have difficulties with their family members or feel as if their friends are more trustworthy and understand them better than family members do. You have control over who you choose to surround yourself with friend-wise, but that's not the case when it comes to family. Being able to choose friends who support and accept you may feel a lot different when compared to your family relationships.

Do Family Members Count as Friends?

Family members can also be considered friends. There is no rule stating that a family member can't also be a friend. You may have a cousin close in age, a sibling who you consider to be a best friend, or another family member who you feel like you can truly confide in.

Friends or Family- Who Do You Rely on the Most and Why?

Relying more on a family member or friend will depend on your unique situation. Some individuals:

• Have an unhealthy family situation and prefer to rely on friends
• Have a more difficult time making and/or maintaining friendships and may rely more on family members
• May rely on family members for certain matters and friends for others

Family Versus Friends Quotes

Quotes about friendships and relationships with your family can highlight their similarities and differences. These quotes can feel inspirational to read, write in a card, or be communicate in other ways you see fit.

Are Friends Better Than Family for Your Health?

Research indicates that friendships, especially for adults, predict better health outcomes than familial relationships do. Having solid, reliable friendships was more closely tied to feeling happier and healthier.

Is It More Important to Have a Good Family Than Friends?

Research indicates that having good friends is tied to better mental and physical health outcomes. With that said, every circumstance is unique, and it's up to you to figure out which relationships in your life feel fulfilling, supportive, and loving, regardless if they are with a family member or friend.

Family or Friends

Relationships with friends and family members are unique to each individual. Know that there is no right or wrong way to have healthy and meaningful relationships, whether that means being closer to your friends or family members.

What is the Difference Between Friends and Family?

Written by: Eva Morley

Last Update: 22/01/2024

Friends and family are similar to two eyes. Together, our two eyes provide vision. Like family, friends provide love, care, and support. Both have value in their own right. Friendship is the relationship itself, but family is a certain manner we hold relationships.

The difference between friends and family is that friends are the people you choose to be in your life, while the individuals in your life who are related to you by blood are your family.

To understand further differences between friends and family, let’s first study definitions:

Table of Contents

Who are Friends?

For the majority of us, a friend is someone who stands with us throughout our everyday lives. Friends are people with whom you have a close relationship. You and your buddies have a few shared ideals and ideas.

Friends can live next door to you, across the country, or even on the other side of the world. A friend usually is someone you can trust or enjoy spending time with.

Friends communicate with one another and hang out together. They have mutual respect and assist one another when they are harmed or in need.

What Does Healthy Friendship Look Like?

1. celebrate each other’s success.

In a healthy friendship, friends praise each other’s achievements. Genuinely devoted friends will never be jealous of your achievement. They remain genuine.

A vital aspect of friendship is enjoying it, joyously appreciating it, and feeling proud of friends. True friends are concerned about their friends’ success.

2. Helping Each Other In Tough Times

Your friends might be a reliable source of support for you. If you have loving and healthy friendships, you assist each other when things are tough and care for each other’s needs.

3. Trust and Loyalty in Friendship

Loyalty and trust are the two important factors that matter the most in friendship.

Trusting each other is crucial because it allows us to be honest with one another and enjoy ourselves to the fullest.

In a friendship, loyalty means assisting the other person in becoming their best self. A loyal friend will remain by your side and ensure you are not experiencing pain and suffering alone.

A loyal buddy will stick by your side even after everyone else has left to support you through life’s challenges.

Who are Family?

A family is a collection of individuals that work together as a unit.

The definition of a family that is most frequently used is a unit that consists of parents and their kids living collectively. When we discuss family love, we most frequently refer to this definition.

Family can also refer to all ancestors who share the same last name. Some people view their friends as members of their family.

However, depending on your relationship type, your love for your friends may or may not suit when we talk about family love.

Learn more: What is the Difference Between Melodramatic and Dramatic?

What Does a Loving Healthy Family Look Like?

Families can differ greatly from one another and still be based on love for one another. However, there are some qualities of familial love that are shared by healthy families given below:

1. It Is Love, Unconditional Love

Unconditional affection in families is healthy. You still love the other family members for who they are, despite what they do, say, or feel. 

You might hold radically different political ideas. You might disagree with what a different family member does. However, they are your family and will always love you unconditionally.

2. You Treat One Another With Respect

When you healthily respect your family members, your words and deeds reflect that respect. Even if you disagree with a family member’s decision, you should respect their freedom to make it.

3. You Enjoy Doing Things Together

Families who participate in activities together develop closer bonds. The interactions between you and your family strengthen your bond, whether you go on an outing or spend the evening playing games.

Differences Between Friends and Family Video

The differences between friends and family are given below:

The main difference between friends and family is that a family is a system of relationships where members live nearby and spend most of their time together.

We cannot always choose these relationships, such as those with our parents, siblings, and other family members. Family shares a single home, a single kitchen, and most importantly, a common environment and each other’s energies .

On the other hand, a friend is someone who is familiar with all of your details. Friends are those who know when to correct you and when to comfort you despite the fact that you are wrong.

They are the ones who manage your anger and hatred and grasp you when you can also not analyze your own sentiments while still deciding to be by your side.

Another difference between friends and family is that family is one such attachment which cannot be lost easily. How harsh we speak to them or act in an ill-mannered way with them, we know that family loves us, and we love family deep inside.

Whereas, when it comes to friends, we tend to first make friends with those who share our thinking. As a result, we enjoy hanging out with them and doing all kinds of weird stuff.

Friends understand us very well and we can share any secrets with the friends which we cannot share or hesitate to share with family.

Family Vs. Friends

The comparison between family vs. friends are given below:

• The first comparison between family vs. friends is that we can choose the friends we want either good or bad, but we are unable to do so when it comes to family.
• In comparison between family vs. friends, connections with friends are created in the various locations to which we travel, thus they are frequently changing. While family is formed from the moment we are born, we are related to one another by blood and a variety of other characteristics.
• Family members are almost inseparable and overly bonded. Oppositely friends are connected socially, professionally, and officially, not from blood.

Friendship Vs. Family

The difference between friendship vs. family are:

Most friendships involve a trustworthy friend who is always there for you, whether with quiet words or great actions. Friendship is an affectionate bond between people.

The framework of friendship is significantly more open-ended and offers a wide range of potential interactions. In its own way, friendship is incredibly distinctive.

But when you are friends, you nearly always have a strong connection since you are around the same age, almost as mature, and almost as experienced in life.

Family members are those in your life who accept you for who you are and who want you to be a part of theirs. They are the people that love you unconditionally and would do anything to make you smile. Even when you treat them badly, they still come to you.

Your mother has since lost her sense of taste and her favorite meal, she still clearly remembers yours. Your sister is prouder of your accomplishments than of her own.

The only man in the world who never feels envious of your success and instead wants you to succeed is your father. Although your brother has never gotten into a fight, he is not afraid to defend you against the bullies at school.

What are the Differences Between Friends and Family?

Highlighting the differences between friends and family in the following table:

Family and friends offer you support at various times and under varying situations. From one person to another, it differs. 

Family creates you, forms you, loves you, and seeks your interests. Friends awaken you and make you feel at home anywhere.

If life is a race, to put it simply. Family is the person running beside you, while friendships are the rest stops. There are friends who become family and friends who are already family.

Read more: What is the Difference Between Sedan and SUV?

What is the Difference Between Vaporization and Evaporation?

What is the difference between family and relatives.

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• Comparing and contrasting in an essay | Tips & examples

Comparing and Contrasting in an Essay | Tips & Examples

Published on August 6, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

Comparing and contrasting is an important skill in academic writing . It involves taking two or more subjects and analyzing the differences and similarities between them.

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Table of contents

When should i compare and contrast, making effective comparisons, comparing and contrasting as a brainstorming tool, structuring your comparisons, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about comparing and contrasting.

Many assignments will invite you to make comparisons quite explicitly, as in these prompts.

• Compare the treatment of the theme of beauty in the poetry of William Wordsworth and John Keats.
• Compare and contrast in-class and distance learning. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

Some other prompts may not directly ask you to compare and contrast, but present you with a topic where comparing and contrasting could be a good approach.

One way to approach this essay might be to contrast the situation before the Great Depression with the situation during it, to highlight how large a difference it made.

Comparing and contrasting is also used in all kinds of academic contexts where it’s not explicitly prompted. For example, a literature review involves comparing and contrasting different studies on your topic, and an argumentative essay may involve weighing up the pros and cons of different arguments.

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As the name suggests, comparing and contrasting is about identifying both similarities and differences. You might focus on contrasting quite different subjects or comparing subjects with a lot in common—but there must be some grounds for comparison in the first place.

For example, you might contrast French society before and after the French Revolution; you’d likely find many differences, but there would be a valid basis for comparison. However, if you contrasted pre-revolutionary France with Han-dynasty China, your reader might wonder why you chose to compare these two societies.

This is why it’s important to clarify the point of your comparisons by writing a focused thesis statement . Every element of an essay should serve your central argument in some way. Consider what you’re trying to accomplish with any comparisons you make, and be sure to make this clear to the reader.

Comparing and contrasting can be a useful tool to help organize your thoughts before you begin writing any type of academic text. You might use it to compare different theories and approaches you’ve encountered in your preliminary research, for example.

Let’s say your research involves the competing psychological approaches of behaviorism and cognitive psychology. You might make a table to summarize the key differences between them.

Or say you’re writing about the major global conflicts of the twentieth century. You might visualize the key similarities and differences in a Venn diagram.

These visualizations wouldn’t make it into your actual writing, so they don’t have to be very formal in terms of phrasing or presentation. The point of comparing and contrasting at this stage is to help you organize and shape your ideas to aid you in structuring your arguments.

When comparing and contrasting in an essay, there are two main ways to structure your comparisons: the alternating method and the block method.

The alternating method

In the alternating method, you structure your text according to what aspect you’re comparing. You cover both your subjects side by side in terms of a specific point of comparison. Your text is structured like this:

Mouse over the example paragraph below to see how this approach works.

One challenge teachers face is identifying and assisting students who are struggling without disrupting the rest of the class. In a traditional classroom environment, the teacher can easily identify when a student is struggling based on their demeanor in class or simply by regularly checking on students during exercises. They can then offer assistance quietly during the exercise or discuss it further after class. Meanwhile, in a Zoom-based class, the lack of physical presence makes it more difficult to pay attention to individual students’ responses and notice frustrations, and there is less flexibility to speak with students privately to offer assistance. In this case, therefore, the traditional classroom environment holds the advantage, although it appears likely that aiding students in a virtual classroom environment will become easier as the technology, and teachers’ familiarity with it, improves.

The block method

In the block method, you cover each of the overall subjects you’re comparing in a block. You say everything you have to say about your first subject, then discuss your second subject, making comparisons and contrasts back to the things you’ve already said about the first. Your text is structured like this:

• Point of comparison A
• Point of comparison B

The most commonly cited advantage of distance learning is the flexibility and accessibility it offers. Rather than being required to travel to a specific location every week (and to live near enough to feasibly do so), students can participate from anywhere with an internet connection. This allows not only for a wider geographical spread of students but for the possibility of studying while travelling. However, distance learning presents its own accessibility challenges; not all students have a stable internet connection and a computer or other device with which to participate in online classes, and less technologically literate students and teachers may struggle with the technical aspects of class participation. Furthermore, discomfort and distractions can hinder an individual student’s ability to engage with the class from home, creating divergent learning experiences for different students. Distance learning, then, seems to improve accessibility in some ways while representing a step backwards in others.

Note that these two methods can be combined; these two example paragraphs could both be part of the same essay, but it’s wise to use an essay outline to plan out which approach you’re taking in each paragraph.

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Some essay prompts include the keywords “compare” and/or “contrast.” In these cases, an essay structured around comparing and contrasting is the appropriate response.

Comparing and contrasting is also a useful approach in all kinds of academic writing : You might compare different studies in a literature review , weigh up different arguments in an argumentative essay , or consider different theoretical approaches in a theoretical framework .

Your subjects might be very different or quite similar, but it’s important that there be meaningful grounds for comparison . You can probably describe many differences between a cat and a bicycle, but there isn’t really any connection between them to justify the comparison.

You’ll have to write a thesis statement explaining the central point you want to make in your essay , so be sure to know in advance what connects your subjects and makes them worth comparing.

Comparisons in essays are generally structured in one of two ways:

• The alternating method, where you compare your subjects side by side according to one specific aspect at a time.
• The block method, where you cover each subject separately in its entirety.

It’s also possible to combine both methods, for example by writing a full paragraph on each of your topics and then a final paragraph contrasting the two according to a specific metric.

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10.7 Comparison and Contrast

Learning objectives.

• Determine the purpose and structure of comparison and contrast in writing.
• Explain organizational methods used when comparing and contrasting.
• Understand how to write a compare-and-contrast essay.

The Purpose of Comparison and Contrast in Writing

Comparison in writing discusses elements that are similar, while contrast in writing discusses elements that are different. A compare-and-contrast essay , then, analyzes two subjects by comparing them, contrasting them, or both.

The key to a good compare-and-contrast essay is to choose two or more subjects that connect in a meaningful way. The purpose of conducting the comparison or contrast is not to state the obvious but rather to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities. For example, if you wanted to focus on contrasting two subjects you would not pick apples and oranges; rather, you might choose to compare and contrast two types of oranges or two types of apples to highlight subtle differences. For example, Red Delicious apples are sweet, while Granny Smiths are tart and acidic. Drawing distinctions between elements in a similar category will increase the audience’s understanding of that category, which is the purpose of the compare-and-contrast essay.

Similarly, to focus on comparison, choose two subjects that seem at first to be unrelated. For a comparison essay, you likely would not choose two apples or two oranges because they share so many of the same properties already. Rather, you might try to compare how apples and oranges are quite similar. The more divergent the two subjects initially seem, the more interesting a comparison essay will be.

Writing at Work

Comparing and contrasting is also an evaluative tool. In order to make accurate evaluations about a given topic, you must first know the critical points of similarity and difference. Comparing and contrasting is a primary tool for many workplace assessments. You have likely compared and contrasted yourself to other colleagues. Employee advancements, pay raises, hiring, and firing are typically conducted using comparison and contrast. Comparison and contrast could be used to evaluate companies, departments, or individuals.

Brainstorm an essay that leans toward contrast. Choose one of the following three categories. Pick two examples from each. Then come up with one similarity and three differences between the examples.

• Romantic comedies
• Internet search engines
• Cell phones

Brainstorm an essay that leans toward comparison. Choose one of the following three items. Then come up with one difference and three similarities.

• Department stores and discount retail stores
• Fast food chains and fine dining restaurants
• Dogs and cats

The Structure of a Comparison and Contrast Essay

The compare-and-contrast essay starts with a thesis that clearly states the two subjects that are to be compared, contrasted, or both and the reason for doing so. The thesis could lean more toward comparing, contrasting, or both. Remember, the point of comparing and contrasting is to provide useful knowledge to the reader. Take the following thesis as an example that leans more toward contrasting.

Thesis statement: Organic vegetables may cost more than those that are conventionally grown, but when put to the test, they are definitely worth every extra penny.

Here the thesis sets up the two subjects to be compared and contrasted (organic versus conventional vegetables), and it makes a claim about the results that might prove useful to the reader.

You may organize compare-and-contrast essays in one of the following two ways:

• According to the subjects themselves, discussing one then the other
• According to individual points, discussing each subject in relation to each point

See Figure 10.1 “Comparison and Contrast Diagram” , which diagrams the ways to organize our organic versus conventional vegetables thesis.

Figure 10.1 Comparison and Contrast Diagram

The organizational structure you choose depends on the nature of the topic, your purpose, and your audience.

Given that compare-and-contrast essays analyze the relationship between two subjects, it is helpful to have some phrases on hand that will cue the reader to such analysis. See Table 10.3 “Phrases of Comparison and Contrast” for examples.

Table 10.3 Phrases of Comparison and Contrast

Create an outline for each of the items you chose in Note 10.72 “Exercise 1” and Note 10.73 “Exercise 2” . Use the point-by-point organizing strategy for one of them, and use the subject organizing strategy for the other.

Writing a Comparison and Contrast Essay

First choose whether you want to compare seemingly disparate subjects, contrast seemingly similar subjects, or compare and contrast subjects. Once you have decided on a topic, introduce it with an engaging opening paragraph. Your thesis should come at the end of the introduction, and it should establish the subjects you will compare, contrast, or both as well as state what can be learned from doing so.

The body of the essay can be organized in one of two ways: by subject or by individual points. The organizing strategy that you choose will depend on, as always, your audience and your purpose. You may also consider your particular approach to the subjects as well as the nature of the subjects themselves; some subjects might better lend themselves to one structure or the other. Make sure to use comparison and contrast phrases to cue the reader to the ways in which you are analyzing the relationship between the subjects.

After you finish analyzing the subjects, write a conclusion that summarizes the main points of the essay and reinforces your thesis. See Chapter 15 “Readings: Examples of Essays” to read a sample compare-and-contrast essay.

Many business presentations are conducted using comparison and contrast. The organizing strategies—by subject or individual points—could also be used for organizing a presentation. Keep this in mind as a way of organizing your content the next time you or a colleague have to present something at work.

Choose one of the outlines you created in Note 10.75 “Exercise 3” , and write a full compare-and-contrast essay. Be sure to include an engaging introduction, a clear thesis, well-defined and detailed paragraphs, and a fitting conclusion that ties everything together.

Key Takeaways

• A compare-and-contrast essay analyzes two subjects by either comparing them, contrasting them, or both.
• The purpose of writing a comparison or contrast essay is not to state the obvious but rather to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities between two subjects.
• The thesis should clearly state the subjects that are to be compared, contrasted, or both, and it should state what is to be learned from doing so.

There are two main organizing strategies for compare-and-contrast essays.

• Organize by the subjects themselves, one then the other.
• Organize by individual points, in which you discuss each subject in relation to each point.
• Use phrases of comparison or phrases of contrast to signal to readers how exactly the two subjects are being analyzed.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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It's Time To express Yourself

Friends vs. family: why friends are just as important as family.

You ever love people so much you're just happy to spend time with them? I feel that regularly because I surround myself with people who love me back. Some of these people are related to me and some aren't. 

I’ve lived a lifetime being pulled in two different directions – toward the obligation of family and the fun of friends. At some point, however, the lines started to blur and I couldn’t tell anybody apart anymore.

Before you know it, your friends are so close they feel like family and then the friend hangs start to seem like obligations too. Relatives may be left feeling neglected as you fit them into a calendar of events. It happens.

For some people, life circumstances have dictated who to prioritize and for some of us, it is not so clear. 

Comparing the relationship between friends and family

Friends are the people you choose to surround yourself with while being involved with family can seem like more of an obligation.

Familial relationships are for better or for worse. Blood, marriage, adoption – something has tied you to these people definitively. Even if the ties are strained, these people are still family. When a relative marries someone who you wouldn’t necessarily choose to spend your time with under other circumstances – still family.

It is easier for friends to come and go, but that also means the ones who stick together are worth it. Without the traditional obligations of holidays and family events, friends have to make an effort to be together. This can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, friends can get into all kinds of shenanigans together, usually with the understanding that they are in it together. On the other, one random disagreement could break the entire relationship.

Families are steeped in generations of tradition while friendships develop through shared experiences.

Family relationships tend to be hierarchical whereas friendships are more evenly balanced. We make friends through our common interests and these people become our peers.

Some people are subject to the “family is first” mentality. While this makes it clear that family is a priority, it can be a trap for those who want to step outside of any family norm or put their own needs first from time to time. It can also be difficult when an individual's values don't align with that of their relatives. 

When you’re with friends you have more freedom to be your true self. Again, this goes back to shared experiences. You have bonded with these people through something you have all taken part in, by choice or by happenstance, and that experience likely shapes some part of your personality. Everything we do affects who we are. With family, you may feel the need to fit a profile or you may not share everything for fear of judgment being passed. You may have to be conscious of your actions, the way you dress, and even what you say to keep the peace.

The effects of the family begin in childhood and last throughout your entire life 

These are the first relationships you form and they make an impact throughout the course of your entire life. Here’s a short video from Psych2Go on how the things that happen in our childhood do just that.   

The impact of the family is vast and the effects are both positive and negative. The reality is not everybody is close to their family. They could be separated by distance or circumstance. There could be something much deeper keeping people sharing the familial bond apart.

According to research published by the Oxford University Press, the quality of relationships within a family can impact a person’s well-being.  When support is received from one’s family, it can boost self-esteem and give a person a greater sense of self-worth. On the flip side, when family relationships are strained, it can cause stress which can lead to health-compromising behaviors.

At the end of the day, blood is blood no matter what the dynamic is and sometimes a person needs to reach outside of that to find a place in the world. The love from family can be deep, unyielding, and overbearing or it can be practically non-existent. While it’s important to develop friendships, it becomes even more crucial when there is no support coming from those to whom one is related.

Maintaining quality friendships has a positive impact on your well-being 

When it comes to friends, quality is definitely more important than quantity. There is a sense of belonging that comes from friendship and worthwhile friends have a profound impact on each other’s lives.

Friends lend support in a variety of ways. They celebrate our wins. They’re there to suffer through the pain of loss. We call on them when we need help and when we are bored. We enlist each other to partake in any number of shenanigans.

Friends are great when you need a reality check. If you have the kind of boundary-less friends that I do, you aren’t shy about your opinions and even though contempt or judgment shines through on occasion, you always know it comes from a place of caring. Plus, better to hear all the worst things about yourself from the people who love you so it doesn't phase you when the haters talk. 

Friends also provide an outlet for venting. We can share things with them that we might not be so open about with family members. This is what causes those lines to start getting fuzzy, especially when we want to avoid drama. We don’t have to censor ourselves around friends because we have already chosen to be in each other’s lives, also a reason why the reality checks work so well. When the only common interest we share with someone is blood, the relationship can be much more fragile.

Friends are the family that you choose. 

You might not be sure if you love your family because you have to or if it’s because you want to. You might not have a family to love at all. Whatever the case maybe we all need people. When all else fails, you literally can just pick your family.

There are no rules. There’s no guide to follow on how we build our tribe. Over the course of my lifetime, I’ve collected several friends for whom friend just doesn’t feel like a strong enough word. So we add labels, like a best friend, person, sister or brother, and aunt, uncle, or cousin by association – no blood, marriage, or adoption required.

Sometimes the bond of a chosen family can be stronger than that which you hold with true relatives. Not to let this be taken out of context, it doesn’t mean you don’t love those people to whom you are related, it just means that the love you hold is different.

We all have the right to choose which people we want in our lives, who we spend our time with. When your related family doesn’t fit the bill, handpicking your posse is the next best thing

How to balance relationships with friends and family so nobody feels neglected

1. Plan time for both by organizing priorities and blocking in time for each.

2. Plan something with all of them centered around yourself so they can spend time together and get to know each other.

3. Remind the people you love how important they are to you. 

4. Let everybody know it's not a competition for your attention. 

5. Plan fun activities so everybody can look forward to the time you will spend together.

6. Hang on to your traditions with each group respectively.

7. Be in the moment with whoever you are spending time with and don't let yourself be distracted with other responsibilities. 

8. Understand that there are very few true emergencies when you might be called on to blow off other plans. 

9. Set boundaries with your time so neither party can dominate it.

10. When all else fails, communicate - talk about how you feel, how they feel, and find a solution that has everybody feeling good.

There is room to love your friends and your family, and the bond of blood isn’t the only thing that can keep a group together. As I write this, I'm looking toward a group activity this weekend with friends I've known for 20+ years, planned months in advance. This comes on the heels of spending all day at the beginning of the week with my mother for Mother's day. And at the end of May, it's the greatest spectacle in racing - the Indy 500, a tradition 46 years in the making courtesy of my father and godfather, with a band of second-generation fanatics whose goal is to continue racking up the years as we pass it on to a third. 

Take the liberty and freedom to explore your options if you find the bonds in your closest relations lacking. If you’re lucky enough to have close relatives and close friends, throw them all in the pot together and make it your very own version of a big happy family.

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Difference Between Family And Friends (Essay Sample)

Difference between family and friends.

The difference between friends and family has been controversial in recent history. Today there is a common saying that states that family is the friends that you choose. The biological and legal definition of family is the people that are related by blood or marriage. These include parents, brothers, sisters, cousins, great-aunts, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, great-uncles and great-great-grandparents and so on. The most definitive feature is that families are as a result of an accident at birth. People do not have a choice over their families until they are old enough to marry to get married. That is when they choose those they would like to spend the rest of their lives with. On the other hand, friends are the people that we interact every day with. These are the people that we meet over the course of our lives and develop relationships that might last long or might be short lived.

Family members are the people who hail from a common ancestry while friends are not related to people. According to a recently concluded research relationships between family members tend to last longer compared to those created via friendship. People who come from a common ancestry tend to be loyal to each other compared to friends who get into relationships to achieve certain goals. Families usually have more complicated ties compared to friendships. People come into this world inform of a family even if they do not know where they are they do exists. Friends are the people they meet in the course of their lives whom they do not have any blood relation with and develop relationships.

Another major difference between friends and family is in the structures of each. The traditional American structure of a family tart with two people who get married and bear children who also bear children and the structure continue that trend. However, friendships do not have a specific structure that they follow.  Friends are the people that we develop special bonds with and feel like we can share some of our information with. They are the people that other people feel comfortable when around. Friends share most private things among themselves that they do not share with their family members. The friend of an individual is in a position to know more about that particular individual compared to a family member.

Today the notion that friends are the family that one chooses is beginning to shape many relationships and the traditional form of friendship. People today are showing more loyalty to their friend than their families. Cases have been reported all over the world where family members are killing each other over loyalty to their friends or for personal gain. Traditionally relationships between family members lasted for long periods compared to relationships forged over friendship. Additionally, relationships among family members tend to be steadier and firm compared to those among friends.  A recently concluded research suggests that friends maintained more contact compared to relatives. Most friends still call each other to discuss certain matters affecting them and the solutions to these problems compared to family. Critics argue that this is because family members tend to be more judgmental compared to friends. Friends, on the other hand, can motivate one to get into trouble for their enjoyment while family members will tend to protect their relatives from trouble. Relationship among family members are based on the fact that these people shared a bloodline. However it is important to note that most people share secrets with friends as opposed to family. This is because they feel that they have some things in common with their friends that they do not experience with their family members. Friendships can only evolve into family that is through marriage or adoption while at the same time people have to be open and close to their family members for them to be considered as friends.

Comparing and Contrasting

What this handout is about.

This handout will help you first to determine whether a particular assignment is asking for comparison/contrast and then to generate a list of similarities and differences, decide which similarities and differences to focus on, and organize your paper so that it will be clear and effective. It will also explain how you can (and why you should) develop a thesis that goes beyond “Thing A and Thing B are similar in many ways but different in others.”

Introduction

In your career as a student, you’ll encounter many different kinds of writing assignments, each with its own requirements. One of the most common is the comparison/contrast essay, in which you focus on the ways in which certain things or ideas—usually two of them—are similar to (this is the comparison) and/or different from (this is the contrast) one another. By assigning such essays, your instructors are encouraging you to make connections between texts or ideas, engage in critical thinking, and go beyond mere description or summary to generate interesting analysis: when you reflect on similarities and differences, you gain a deeper understanding of the items you are comparing, their relationship to each other, and what is most important about them.

Recognizing comparison/contrast in assignments

Some assignments use words—like compare, contrast, similarities, and differences—that make it easy for you to see that they are asking you to compare and/or contrast. Here are a few hypothetical examples:

• Compare and contrast Frye’s and Bartky’s accounts of oppression.
• Compare WWI to WWII, identifying similarities in the causes, development, and outcomes of the wars.
• Contrast Wordsworth and Coleridge; what are the major differences in their poetry?

Notice that some topics ask only for comparison, others only for contrast, and others for both.

But it’s not always so easy to tell whether an assignment is asking you to include comparison/contrast. And in some cases, comparison/contrast is only part of the essay—you begin by comparing and/or contrasting two or more things and then use what you’ve learned to construct an argument or evaluation. Consider these examples, noticing the language that is used to ask for the comparison/contrast and whether the comparison/contrast is only one part of a larger assignment:

• Choose a particular idea or theme, such as romantic love, death, or nature, and consider how it is treated in two Romantic poems.
• How do the different authors we have studied so far define and describe oppression?
• Compare Frye’s and Bartky’s accounts of oppression. What does each imply about women’s collusion in their own oppression? Which is more accurate?
• In the texts we’ve studied, soldiers who served in different wars offer differing accounts of their experiences and feelings both during and after the fighting. What commonalities are there in these accounts? What factors do you think are responsible for their differences?

You may want to check out our handout on understanding assignments for additional tips.

Using comparison/contrast for all kinds of writing projects

Sometimes you may want to use comparison/contrast techniques in your own pre-writing work to get ideas that you can later use for an argument, even if comparison/contrast isn’t an official requirement for the paper you’re writing. For example, if you wanted to argue that Frye’s account of oppression is better than both de Beauvoir’s and Bartky’s, comparing and contrasting the main arguments of those three authors might help you construct your evaluation—even though the topic may not have asked for comparison/contrast and the lists of similarities and differences you generate may not appear anywhere in the final draft of your paper.

Discovering similarities and differences

Making a Venn diagram or a chart can help you quickly and efficiently compare and contrast two or more things or ideas. To make a Venn diagram, simply draw some overlapping circles, one circle for each item you’re considering. In the central area where they overlap, list the traits the two items have in common. Assign each one of the areas that doesn’t overlap; in those areas, you can list the traits that make the things different. Here’s a very simple example, using two pizza places:

To make a chart, figure out what criteria you want to focus on in comparing the items. Along the left side of the page, list each of the criteria. Across the top, list the names of the items. You should then have a box per item for each criterion; you can fill the boxes in and then survey what you’ve discovered.

Here’s an example, this time using three pizza places:

As you generate points of comparison, consider the purpose and content of the assignment and the focus of the class. What do you think the professor wants you to learn by doing this comparison/contrast? How does it fit with what you have been studying so far and with the other assignments in the course? Are there any clues about what to focus on in the assignment itself?

Here are some general questions about different types of things you might have to compare. These are by no means complete or definitive lists; they’re just here to give you some ideas—you can generate your own questions for these and other types of comparison. You may want to begin by using the questions reporters traditionally ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? If you’re talking about objects, you might also consider general properties like size, shape, color, sound, weight, taste, texture, smell, number, duration, and location.

Two historical periods or events

• When did they occur—do you know the date(s) and duration? What happened or changed during each? Why are they significant?
• What kinds of work did people do? What kinds of relationships did they have? What did they value?
• What kinds of governments were there? Who were important people involved?
• What caused events in these periods, and what consequences did they have later on?

Two ideas or theories

• What are they about?
• Did they originate at some particular time?
• Who created them? Who uses or defends them?
• What is the central focus, claim, or goal of each? What conclusions do they offer?
• How are they applied to situations/people/things/etc.?
• Which seems more plausible to you, and why? How broad is their scope?
• What kind of evidence is usually offered for them?

Two pieces of writing or art

• What are their titles? What do they describe or depict?
• What is their tone or mood? What is their form?
• Who created them? When were they created? Why do you think they were created as they were? What themes do they address?
• Do you think one is of higher quality or greater merit than the other(s)—and if so, why?
• For writing: what plot, characterization, setting, theme, tone, and type of narration are used?
• Where are they from? How old are they? What is the gender, race, class, etc. of each?
• What, if anything, are they known for? Do they have any relationship to each other?
• What are they like? What did/do they do? What do they believe? Why are they interesting?
• What stands out most about each of them?

Deciding what to focus on

By now you have probably generated a huge list of similarities and differences—congratulations! Next you must decide which of them are interesting, important, and relevant enough to be included in your paper. Ask yourself these questions:

• What’s relevant to the assignment?
• What’s relevant to the course?
• What’s interesting and informative?
• What matters to the argument you are going to make?
• What’s basic or central (and needs to be mentioned even if obvious)?
• Overall, what’s more important—the similarities or the differences?

Suppose that you are writing a paper comparing two novels. For most literature classes, the fact that they both use Caslon type (a kind of typeface, like the fonts you may use in your writing) is not going to be relevant, nor is the fact that one of them has a few illustrations and the other has none; literature classes are more likely to focus on subjects like characterization, plot, setting, the writer’s style and intentions, language, central themes, and so forth. However, if you were writing a paper for a class on typesetting or on how illustrations are used to enhance novels, the typeface and presence or absence of illustrations might be absolutely critical to include in your final paper.

Sometimes a particular point of comparison or contrast might be relevant but not terribly revealing or interesting. For example, if you are writing a paper about Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight,” pointing out that they both have nature as a central theme is relevant (comparisons of poetry often talk about themes) but not terribly interesting; your class has probably already had many discussions about the Romantic poets’ fondness for nature. Talking about the different ways nature is depicted or the different aspects of nature that are emphasized might be more interesting and show a more sophisticated understanding of the poems.

Your thesis

The thesis of your comparison/contrast paper is very important: it can help you create a focused argument and give your reader a road map so they don’t get lost in the sea of points you are about to make. As in any paper, you will want to replace vague reports of your general topic (for example, “This paper will compare and contrast two pizza places,” or “Pepper’s and Amante are similar in some ways and different in others,” or “Pepper’s and Amante are similar in many ways, but they have one major difference”) with something more detailed and specific. For example, you might say, “Pepper’s and Amante have similar prices and ingredients, but their atmospheres and willingness to deliver set them apart.”

Be careful, though—although this thesis is fairly specific and does propose a simple argument (that atmosphere and delivery make the two pizza places different), your instructor will often be looking for a bit more analysis. In this case, the obvious question is “So what? Why should anyone care that Pepper’s and Amante are different in this way?” One might also wonder why the writer chose those two particular pizza places to compare—why not Papa John’s, Dominos, or Pizza Hut? Again, thinking about the context the class provides may help you answer such questions and make a stronger argument. Here’s a revision of the thesis mentioned earlier:

Pepper’s and Amante both offer a greater variety of ingredients than other Chapel Hill/Carrboro pizza places (and than any of the national chains), but the funky, lively atmosphere at Pepper’s makes it a better place to give visiting friends and family a taste of local culture.

You may find our handout on constructing thesis statements useful at this stage.

Organizing your paper

There are many different ways to organize a comparison/contrast essay. Here are two:

Subject-by-subject

Begin by saying everything you have to say about the first subject you are discussing, then move on and make all the points you want to make about the second subject (and after that, the third, and so on, if you’re comparing/contrasting more than two things). If the paper is short, you might be able to fit all of your points about each item into a single paragraph, but it’s more likely that you’d have several paragraphs per item. Using our pizza place comparison/contrast as an example, after the introduction, you might have a paragraph about the ingredients available at Pepper’s, a paragraph about its location, and a paragraph about its ambience. Then you’d have three similar paragraphs about Amante, followed by your conclusion.

The danger of this subject-by-subject organization is that your paper will simply be a list of points: a certain number of points (in my example, three) about one subject, then a certain number of points about another. This is usually not what college instructors are looking for in a paper—generally they want you to compare or contrast two or more things very directly, rather than just listing the traits the things have and leaving it up to the reader to reflect on how those traits are similar or different and why those similarities or differences matter. Thus, if you use the subject-by-subject form, you will probably want to have a very strong, analytical thesis and at least one body paragraph that ties all of your different points together.

A subject-by-subject structure can be a logical choice if you are writing what is sometimes called a “lens” comparison, in which you use one subject or item (which isn’t really your main topic) to better understand another item (which is). For example, you might be asked to compare a poem you’ve already covered thoroughly in class with one you are reading on your own. It might make sense to give a brief summary of your main ideas about the first poem (this would be your first subject, the “lens”), and then spend most of your paper discussing how those points are similar to or different from your ideas about the second.

Point-by-point

Rather than addressing things one subject at a time, you may wish to talk about one point of comparison at a time. There are two main ways this might play out, depending on how much you have to say about each of the things you are comparing. If you have just a little, you might, in a single paragraph, discuss how a certain point of comparison/contrast relates to all the items you are discussing. For example, I might describe, in one paragraph, what the prices are like at both Pepper’s and Amante; in the next paragraph, I might compare the ingredients available; in a third, I might contrast the atmospheres of the two restaurants.

If I had a bit more to say about the items I was comparing/contrasting, I might devote a whole paragraph to how each point relates to each item. For example, I might have a whole paragraph about the clientele at Pepper’s, followed by a whole paragraph about the clientele at Amante; then I would move on and do two more paragraphs discussing my next point of comparison/contrast—like the ingredients available at each restaurant.

There are no hard and fast rules about organizing a comparison/contrast paper, of course. Just be sure that your reader can easily tell what’s going on! Be aware, too, of the placement of your different points. If you are writing a comparison/contrast in service of an argument, keep in mind that the last point you make is the one you are leaving your reader with. For example, if I am trying to argue that Amante is better than Pepper’s, I should end with a contrast that leaves Amante sounding good, rather than with a point of comparison that I have to admit makes Pepper’s look better. If you’ve decided that the differences between the items you’re comparing/contrasting are most important, you’ll want to end with the differences—and vice versa, if the similarities seem most important to you.

Our handout on organization can help you write good topic sentences and transitions and make sure that you have a good overall structure in place for your paper.

Cue words and other tips

To help your reader keep track of where you are in the comparison/contrast, you’ll want to be sure that your transitions and topic sentences are especially strong. Your thesis should already have given the reader an idea of the points you’ll be making and the organization you’ll be using, but you can help them out with some extra cues. The following words may be helpful to you in signaling your intentions:

• like, similar to, also, unlike, similarly, in the same way, likewise, again, compared to, in contrast, in like manner, contrasted with, on the contrary, however, although, yet, even though, still, but, nevertheless, conversely, at the same time, regardless, despite, while, on the one hand … on the other hand.

For example, you might have a topic sentence like one of these:

• Compared to Pepper’s, Amante is quiet.
• Like Amante, Pepper’s offers fresh garlic as a topping.
• Despite their different locations (downtown Chapel Hill and downtown Carrboro), Pepper’s and Amante are both fairly easy to get to.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Family and Friends: Which Types of Personal Relationships Go Together in a Network?

Jesper rözer.

Department of Sociology/ICS, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, 3584 CH Utrecht, The Netherlands

Gerald Mollenhorst

Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Department of Sociology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Anne-Rigt Poortman

We examine the link between family and personal networks. Using arguments about meeting opportunities, competition and social influence, we hypothesise how the presence of specific types of family members (i.e., a partner, children, parents and siblings) and non-family members (i.e., friends, neighbours and colleagues) in the network mutually affect one another. In addition, we propose that—beyond their mere presence—the active role of family members in the network strongly affects the presence of non-family members in the network. Data from the third wave of the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch, collected in 2012 and 2013, show that active involvement is of key importance; more than merely having family members present in one’s personal network, the active involvement of specific types of family members in the personal network is associated with having disproportionally more other family members and having somewhat fewer non-family members in the network.

Introduction

Because almost everyone has a need for personal contacts, it is fortunate that most people in Western societies have one or more (close) personal contacts. Depending on the measurement method used and the examined country, the number of people with one or more close personal contacts ranges from 76 to 98 % of the population (see, e.g., McPherson et al. 2006 ; Mollenhorst et al. 2008 ; Schmeets and Te Riele 2014 ; Wöhler and Hinz 2007 ). The activities people undertake with these personal contacts, the roles the contacts fulfil in their lives and the support they provide, however, differ among the various types of people in one’s personal network. For example, family members are more likely than friends to provide unconditional support, while friends and other non-family members are more likely to share activities and interests and to also bring people into contact with new ideas (Pahl and Pevalin 2005 ; Roberts and Dunbar 2011 ). Consequently, people with a varied personal network may generally have more success with fulfilling their needs for sociability, companionship and support compared with people with a homogenous personal network, who may be more likely to experience feelings of social isolation or a lack of social support or companionship from time to time (Walen and Lachman 2000 ; Weiss 1974 ). For these reasons, it is important to gain knowledge about the social composition of personal networks and how different types of relationships may or may not coexist in personal networks.

Existing knowledge about the association between family members and friends in the social network largely stems from research on how family status relates to the size and composition of personal networks (e.g., Bost et al. 2002 ; Kalmijn 2003 , 2012 ; Munch et al. 1997 ; Rözer et al. 2014 ; Song 2012 ). This research shows, for example, that being married is associated with having more contact with family members and less with friends (Johnson and Leslie 1982 ; Kalmijn 2003 , 2012 ; Rözer et al. 2014 ; Song 2012 ) and that having children is associated with having more contacts with family members and neighbours and less with friends (Kalmijn 2012 ; Moore 1990 ; Munch et al. 1997 ). However, these investigations rarely went beyond people’s family status; consequently, we know far more about how merely having a partner and children relates to the size and composition of people’s personal network than about how the active involvement of specific types of family members and non-family members in the network relates to the involvement of other types of family members and non-family members in the network. In particular, the role of friends and their function in the network compared with that of family members is understudied. One exception is the study of Wrzus et al. ( 2012 ); in a study on the well-being of middle-aged and older adults, they found that people with more and closer family relationships reported having fewer friends and vice versa. This supports the idea that the number of friends in the network is associated with the number of family members in the network; as Wrzus and colleagues wrote, they are “linked”.

In this study, we investigate the associations between a broad range of types of family members and non-family members in personal networks. By addressing the presence of various types of family members, we expand upon the family status research tradition. In addition, and more importantly, above and beyond examining how the presence of (specific) personal contacts depends on whether a person merely has specific family members, such as a partner and child, we examine how the presence of specific personal contacts in the network depends on the active involvement of these family members in a person’s life. We do so by looking at the influence of family members and non-family members who fulfil an active role in one’s personal network. We regard such personal contacts as actively involved in a person’s life because they are the primary contacts with whom an individual undertakes activities and with whom they feel close and intimate. Because of the active involvement of these personal contacts, they may have a great influence on the presence of other close and intimate relationships. Furthermore, we examine how the presence and active involvement of specific types of family members and non-family members are mutually associated. To this end, we distinguish between a partner, children, parents and siblings as family members and friends, neighbours and colleagues as non-family members. Together, these groups form the largest part of people’s personal networks (McPherson et al. 2006 ; Mollenhorst et al. 2014 ).

Thus, we examine how the presence and active role of specific types of family members affect the inclusion of other types of family members and of non-family members in personal networks and vice versa. More precisely, we ask the following question: How does the number and presence of (specific types of) personal contacts depend on (a) having (specific types of) family members and (b) the active involvement of (specific types of) family members and non-family members in the personal network?

To answer these questions empirically, we use recently collected data on personal networks of 947 respondents between 20 and 94 years old and living in the Netherlands. The Netherlands, like other North-western European countries, has reached a high standard of living in the last decades. Although welfare expenditures are declining (or at least are intended to do so), the Netherlands has still one of the most generous welfare states in the world. With public expenditures of 24.3 % of GDP, the Netherlands ranked 12th among the OECD countries in 2013 (OECD 2014 ). Consequently, citizens generally do not have to rely for support on their social network, and are vice versa less often asked to give extensive help. This creates opportunities to build large social networks based on choice (Van Oorschot and Arts 2005 ), and might be one of the reasons why the Dutch are less family oriented than citizens of, for instance, Southern European countries (Fokkema et al. 2008 ). Although the public and political climate regarding ethnic minorities has changed drastically and became increasingly negative towards immigration, immigration levels are still limited in the Netherlands (Van Doorn et al. 2013 ). About 11.7 of the Dutch Population is immigrant, which is comparable to other European countries such as France (11.6 %), Germany (11.9 %), and England (12.4 %), but somewhat lower than the US (14.3 %) (United Nations 2013 ). Despite increasing antagonism, compared to citizens in other western countries, citizens in the Netherlands are known to have high levels of (informal) social capital and social trust (c.f. Gesthuizen et al. 2009 ; Pichler and Wallace 2007 ). The size of personal networks remained stable over the past decade and is comparable to that in other western countries such as Germany and the United States (Mollenhorst et al. 2014 ).

Theoretical Framework and Hypotheses

Meeting opportunities, competition, and social influence.

The presence and active involvement of specific types of family members and non-family members in personal networks may be associated with each other for at least three reasons: meeting opportunities, competition and social influence. First, the presence and active involvement of family members and friends and of other non-family members in the network may be associated because contact with both types of social contacts is the result of the same meeting opportunity (Feld 1981 ; Mollenhorst et al. 2008 ). For example, neighbourhood relationships can emerge among parents whose children play together in their neighbourhood. As a result, having children is positively associated with regarding neighbours as personal contacts.

Second, people may (tacitly) choose to have contact with either family or friends (Homans 1958 ; Johnson and Leslie 1982 ). Social contacts are not only capable of fulfilling several needs, such as love, comfort, companionship and information, but also cost several resources, such as time, energy, and cognitive and emotional investments (Saramäki et al. 2014 ). Therefore, people have to make discriminating choices about whom they consider their personal contacts. For example, people who spend a great deal of time with family members may have less time for friends. Hence, family and friends may be negatively associated. Furthermore, people may prefer to have contact with either family or friends, depending on their life cycle stage. For example, family bonds may be enhanced after the birth of a child, as people choose to embed their child within the family.

Third, from a social influence perspective, important network members may compel one to establish or maintain contact with specific others. For example, one friend might want you to befriend his or her other friends (Heider 1958 ), or parents may encourage their children to stay close.

Associations Among Specific Types of Family Members

These three theoretical arguments lead to several general hypotheses about the association between the presence and active involvement of family members and non-family members in personal networks (see Table  1 ). First, we expect that people who include one family member in their personal network will also include other family members. In other words, family members foster contact with one another. According to the meeting opportunities argument, this may be because when one visits a family member, other family members are often met as well. For example, a person who has a child will often wish to celebrate their child’s birthday with a party to which they invite various family members. Having a large family, and especially having a partner, children and parents who are still alive, increases these meeting opportunities. From this perspective, the mere presence of these family members may often be enough, but the active involvement of family members in one’s personal network (meaning that the individual participates in more activities with family members) increases these meeting opportunities and consequently the likelihood that other family members are or will become part of the personal network.

Table 1

Overview of the expected linkage among and between family members and non-family members

a Effects of family are expected to be stronger when they are actively involved in people’s personal network instead of when people have them and they may be merely be passively present

Second, according to the competition argument, people need to make discriminating choices about the relationships in which they invest. People who have one family member in their personal network may include other family members as personal contacts because they may be more directed towards their family. For example, people with children may be directed towards their family because they are eager to have their family members involved with their child (and their family members may be eager to see the child) (Moore 1990 ; Munch et al. 1997 ).

Third, according to the social influence argument, family members compel each other to remain in contact with other family members, especially those family members with whom they are close themselves. For example, parents may feel at ease when their children have a positive relationship with each other. As a consequence, people who still have a living parent, especially one they regard as a personal contact, are likely to regard any siblings as personal contacts. Likewise, because of their closeness, a partner and children may strongly foster contact with one another.

Associations Between Specific Types of Family Members and Non-family Members

Whereas relationships with family members in general may foster contact with other family members, they may restrict contact with non-family members. Although, for instance, children may create meeting opportunities in the neighbourhood if they play outside and spouses may introduce their friends to one another, family members and friends are far less likely to provide meeting opportunities for each other compared with family members. According to this theoretical argument, relationships with family members and non-family members are less likely to foster contact with one another.

However, there are many opportunities for competition among relationships with family members and non-family members. Specifically, children and a partner on the one hand and friends on the other hand may compete. Children, a partner, and friends all cost substantial amounts of energy and time but fulfil the same needs for social and emotional support (Laurijssen and Glorieux 2013 ; Pahl and Pevalin 2005 ). For example, people may seek intimacy either with their partner or their friends, or they may ask their child or a friend for support (Munch et al. 1997 ). In addition, the presence of a partner and child encourages people to centre their lives around their family while pushing other relationships towards other circles of intimacy (Ketovski 2012 ). As a consequence, people who have a partner and/or children, especially when both are considered active personal contacts, may have fewer friends in their personal network. Furthermore, family may claim people’s exclusive intimacy to strengthen intimate family bonds (Ketovski 2012 ). For example, parents may compel their children to visit their siblings or uncles and aunts instead of visiting ‘just’ some friends. As a side effect, an individual may cut back on their non-familial relations. In addition, partners can become jealous about their spouse’s opposite sex friends, regarding opposite sex friendships as inappropriate and a threat to the romantic relationship (Kalmijn 2002 ).

Within the non-family part of the network, we do not expect specific effects because of the wide variety of types of non-family social contacts. Friends, neighbours and colleagues all seem to be relatively independent groups. They are often met at different places, seem to fulfil different network functions, and are therefore relatively unlikely to know one another, indeed in particular when neighbours and colleagues are not also considered friends. Hence, it is likely that friends, neighbours and colleagues do not restrict or foster contact with one another.

Data and Operationalisation

The survey on the social networks of the dutch.

We use data from the third wave of the Survey on the Social Networks of the Dutch (SSND) (Völker et al. 2013 ). The third wave covers the most extensive information about respondents’ family situations and the active involvement of family members in their personal networks; therefore, it is suitable for our analyses. Each new wave of the SSND panel dataset is complemented with new respondents to avoid a drain of respondents caused by elusiveness and non-response. In the first wave, conducted in 1999 and 2000, 1007 respondents were interviewed; the respondents represented the Dutch population between 18 and 65 years old. Men were somewhat overrepresented (58 %). In the second wave, conducted in 2007, 998 respondents (604 initial and 394 new) participated, who were between 26 and 72 years old, and 47 % of them was male. In the third wave, collected in 2012 and 2013, 947 respondents participated. Among them were 577 former respondents, of whom 356 respondents had participated in wave 1. In the third wave, respondents where between 20 and 94 years old, of which 50 % was male. Because the original sample has aged and because of sample attrition, compared with basic national socio-demographic characteristics, married, older and more highly educated people are somewhat overrepresented. We controlled for these individual characteristics in the multivariate analyses.

Measurements

Dependent variable: inclusion and number of personal network members.

In the third wave of the SSND, 14 ‘name-generating questions’ were used to delineate personal networks. Questions that referred to prescribed relationships at work or in the neighbourhood and questions that refer to soured relationships and online relationships are excluded. As Table  2 shows, this exclusion resulted in five questions that refer to exchange relationships of help and support within the private circle. When answering each of these questions, respondents were allowed to mention network members they had already mentioned in response to previous questions. Additionally, they were allowed to list a maximum number of five names each time.

Table 2

Name generating questions to delineate people’s personal network

After collecting the (nick-)names or initials of personal contacts, name-interpreting questions were asked to gain additional information about the network members. To determine the specific relationship of the network member with the respondent, the questionnaire asked how both were connected. The respondents could choose from 24 categories. These included six types of family members, who could be either be part of the household or not: a partner, parent, child, parent-in-law, sibling and other family member. Non-family members were divided into 12 categories: a friend, boss, immediate colleague, other colleague, former colleague, employee, someone from the neighbourhood, next-door neighbour, former neighbour, co-member of a club or association, acquaintance, and ‘other’. We used these categories to create the dependent variables. First, a distinction was made between the number of family members named as personal contacts and the number of non - family members among the personal contacts. Thereafter, these categories were specified by whether people named at least one partner, child, parent, sibling, and other family member and a friend, neighbour, colleague , and other non - family member . Table  3 presents descriptive statistics of these and our other variables.

Table 3

Descriptive statistics

Source : SSND3; author’s calculations; n  = 910

Questions have arisen regarding the reliability of these name-generating and name-interpreting questions. In some other studies, much of the variety in network size and the number of persons who named no contact (social isolates) could be explained by interview effects (Païk and Sanchagrin 2013 ). Within the third wave of the SSND, however, only 7 out of 910 respondents did not name any person on any of the 5 name-generating questions. As a consequence, only 2.33 % of the variation in the number of isolates could be found at the interview level. A similar figure was found for the number of isolates on the core discussion network; that figure was considerably lower than those found in other surveys, such as over 25 % for some waves of the American General Social Survey (Païk and Sanchagrin 2013 ) and 40 % for the second wave of the German Pairfam data (Brüderl et al. 2013 ). Exact binominal probability tests (Païk and Sanchagrin 2013 ) also showed no notable interviewers. Thus, in an international perspective, the third wave of the SSND may be considered remarkably reliable with respect to interview effects. An explanation for this could be that interviewers were paid per hour instead of per interview and that respondents had become used to the name-generating questions earlier in the interview, making it unlikely for interviewers to skip these questions.

Independent Variables: Availability and Inclusion of Family Members and Non-family Members in the Network

As the main independent variable, we distinguished between whether people had access to family members (i.e., whether family members were present in their lives) and whether these family members played an active role in their personal network. We only had information about non-family members if they were actively involved in the personal network. To measure access to specific family members, the respondents were first asked for the number of people with whom they shared a household. Next, they were asked for their relationship to each of these household members, their age, their sex, and some other socio-demographic characteristics. Furthermore, the respondents were asked whether one or both of their parents was still alive and about the number of children, brothers and sisters they had outside their household. Based on all this information, we created binominal variables measuring whether people have a partner; a child below the age of 12; a child below the age of 18; a child above the age of 18; a child living outside the household who does not mainly live with the respondent’s ex - partner (empty nest); parents (alive); and siblings . For the inclusion of family members and non - family members in the personal network, we employed the network measures described in the previous subsection.

Control Variables

In the multivariate analyses, we first controlled for people’s sex because women are generally more directed towards family than men (Moore 1990 ). Second, we controlled for individuals’ education (8-point scale ranging from not having completed primary education to having a university diploma) and income, because the affluent and more highly educated are known to have larger social networks and to be less directed towards family (McPherson et al. 2006 ). Income was measured in 17 categories. The first 16 categories increased by 250 euros per category, starting with 1 less than 250 euros a month, to 16 less than 4000 euros a month. The last category is earning more than 4000 euros a month. Furthermore, we controlled for having a paid job, being retired or having another main daily activity to rule out a bias towards groups that have smaller networks or are more directed towards certain types of network members. We controlled for religious denomination (categories: not religious, Protestant, Roman Catholic and other religion) because religious people are known to value family ties more and to have larger networks (Lim and Putnam 2010 ). To control for the ethnic background of respondents, we include a dummy-coded variable that indicated whether respondents were born in a foreign country (0) or in the Netherlands (1). Almost 10 % of the respondents was not born in the Netherlands. Note that Statistic Netherlands (2014) include the country of origin of people’s parents in their definition of non-natives as well, such that 21.4 % of Dutch society can be counted as immigrants. However, because not all respondents were asked about the country of origin of their parents in the SSND, we rely on information about respondents’ country of origin. Finally, we controlled for age and health status (binomial variable, with (1) indicating good or very good health) because older people and those with poorer mental or physical health are known to have smaller networks and to rely more on family (Carstensen et al. 1999 ).

Analytic Strategy

Missing values on all independent variables were imputed with the Mice multiple imputation program for R (Van Buuren and Groothuis-Oudshoorn 2011 ). There were 17.6 % missing values for income, while the other variables contained less than 5 % missing values. To impute missing data, all relevant information was used. For instance, to impute income, answers to the income questions from previous waves were used. Finally, 50 datasets were created and a maximum of 100 iterations were used.

To test our hypotheses, we first examined the effects of only having certain family members, and second, we examined the effects of including specific types of family members and non-family members in the personal network. We ran negative binominal regression to predict the number of family members and non-family members in the personal network, while logistic regression was used to assess whether specific types of family members (i.e., a partner, children, parents, siblings and others) and non-family members (i.e., friends, neighbours, colleagues, acquaintances and others) were included in the personal network. Binominal variables were created for the specific categories because of the very small number of people who mentioned more than one person in some of these categories (e.g., naming two neighbours or two colleagues). For consistency, we used binominal variables for all of the separate categories. 1 For each of the models, we only selected respondents who could vary on each dependent variable. For instance, only respondents with at least one child were selected for the models predicting whether people named a child as a personal contact.

Descriptive Statistics of the Personal Network

Before testing our hypotheses, we provide the descriptive statistics in Table  4 on the composition of personal networks by presenting the average number of each type of network contact. Almost all of the respondents (99 %) named at least one contact on at least one of the name-generating questions. Respondents named on average 6.67 different personal contacts on the selected five name-generating questions. The largest contribution to these networks came from people they visited (3.61 people on average), while relatively few people were listed who helped with odd jobs around the house (1.95 people).

Table 4

Number of personal contacts, by network question and type of contact

The average personal network consisted of 58.8 % non-family members (3.92 people) and 41.2 % family members (2.75 people). Thus, family members played a distinct role in the personal network. Friends play a more important role in having a good time and leisure (visiting, going out), while family members are relatively important for more serious and vital activities (providing help in case of illness, discussing important matters). A partner was named as a personal network member by 56 % of the respondents, but we note that a partner was named by 80 % of those who mentioned having a partner, which is in line with the findings of other studies (McPherson et al. 2006 ; Wöhler and Hinz 2007 ). After partners, other family members who were frequently included in the network were children (47 % of the respondents named at least one child), followed by siblings (35 % named at least one sibling). The low figure for parents (only 17 % named at least one parent as a network member) was related to the relatively advanced age of our sample, such that many respondents had no living parent. Of those with at least one living parent, 45 % named at least one parent as a personal network member. Of the non-family members, friends and neighbours were most often included in the personal network (70 % named at least one friend, and 67 named at least one neighbour). Colleagues and acquaintances had a much less prominent position in this part of the personal network (cf. McPherson et al. 2006 ).

Multivariate Results

Table  5 shows how the number of family members and non-family members (columns 1 and 7) and the presence of various types of personal contacts (all other columns) in the personal network depend on merely having specific types of family members, such as a partner and children. First of all, we expected that family members fostered contact with one another. This hypothesis was tested in the first six columns. The first column shows that having specific family members, such as a partner, children or siblings, is indeed positively associated with the total number of family members in the network. However, this is primarily because these family members themselves can be included in the personal network. As the second through sixth columns show, little support is found for the hypothesis that merely having specific family members in the network relates to whether more other types of family members will also be in the network. On the contrary, having an adult child is actually related to naming fewer siblings as personal contacts. This relationship could arise because a sibling substitutes for the support a child may otherwise provide. Furthermore, people with older children and more siblings are more likely to consider a child or sibling as a personal contact. This can be explained by the greater support adult children can offer and the greater opportunities to be in good standing with at least one sibling when an individual has multiple siblings.

Table 5

Effects of having specific types of family members on the number of family members and non-family members (negative binomial regression, results in columns 1 and 7), and on the inclusion of specific types of family members and non-family members (logistic regression, results in columns 2 till 5, and 8 till 10) in the personal network

Source : SSND3

Control variables not shown

*  P  < 0.05, ** P  < 0.01 (two tailed)

In columns seven through eleven, we tested whether merely having specific types of family members restricts contact with non-family members. Little support is found for this hypothesis. Having a partner is borderline significantly associated with naming fewer friends and also borderline significantly associated with naming fewer ‘other’ non-family members (i.e., non-family members who are not mentioned as a friend, neighbour or colleague). Additionally, those who have more than two siblings are less likely to report a friend as a personal contact. However, in contrast with our hypothesis, we see that people with a partner are more likely to consider their neighbours personal contacts, while those with only one parent alive are more likely to consider a colleague a personal contact.

Results with regard to our control variables (not presented) are generally in line with previous research. Older people are relatively more likely to mention their children and neighbours, and less likely to mention their parents and friends as personal contacts. People who were not born in the Netherlands tend to have smaller networks. This applies to both their family and non-family network. Only minor differences are found with respect to people’s religious denomination, sex, and income.

Table  6 shows how the number of family members and non-family members (columns 1, 2, 8 and 9) and the presence of specific types of personal contacts (all other columns) in the personal network depend on the active involvement of specific types of family members and non-family members in the personal network. Starting with the hypothesis that family members who are mentioned as personal contacts have a larger impact on the inclusion of other network members compared with family members who are not considered personal contacts, we can see more significant and substantially larger effects in Table  6 compared with Table  5 . Of course, all models in this table are controlled for the mere passive presence of (specific types of) family members. Hence, as we expected, beyond merely having access to family contacts, the active involvement of family members and non-family members in the personal network is associated with naming other types of personal contacts.

Table 6

Effects of naming (specific types of) family members and non - family members as personal contacts on the number of family members and non-family members (negative binomial regression, results in columns 1,2, 8 and 9), and on the inclusion of specific other types of family members and non-family members (logistic regression, results in columns 3 till 7, and 10 till 13) in the personal network

*  P  < 0.05, **  P  < 0.01 (two tailed)

Specifically, we expected the inclusion of specific types of family members to be associated, especially a partner and children (as people from the nuclear family) and parents and siblings (as people from the former nuclear family/parental home). The results shown in Table  6 support these expectations. Naming a partner as a personal contact is positively associated with the inclusion of a child in the personal network (column 4) and vice versa (column 3). Likewise, naming a parent as a personal contact is positively associated with the inclusion of a sibling in the personal network (column 6) and vice versa (column 5). We also show that naming a parent as a personal contact strongly affects the inclusion of one’s partner in the network (column 3), but we found no significant effect the other way around (column 5). Furthermore, naming ‘other’ family members is associated with naming a child, a parent, and a sibling as a personal contact (column 7). Thus, people whose close family members play an active role in their personal network are also more involved with their broader family.

We did not expect to see any clear pattern regarding the effects of including specific types of non-family members on whether other types of non-family members would be included in the personal network. Our results seem to corroborate this expectation. While having a friend as a personal contact is associated with also having a neighbour as a personal contact (column 11), naming a friend as a personal contact is negatively associated with naming at least one ‘other non-family network member’ (column 13) and vice versa (column 10). Furthermore, naming one ‘other non-family network member’ is associated with naming at least one neighbour (column 11) and colleague (column 12) and vice versa (column 13).

Next, we expected that contact with family members would restrict contact with non-family network members and vice versa. The first column of Table  6 shows that as more non-family members are named as personal contacts, fewer family members are included in the personal network. The reverse effect can be observed in column 8. People with one family member as a personal contact have on average .97 times (i.e., exp(−.024)) as many non-family members as personal contacts than people who have no family members in their personal network. This implies that for the average person, each additional family member in the network is associated with naming approximately .10 fewer non-family members and vice versa. 2 Furthermore, we see that in particular, the inclusion of neighbours in the network is associated with a smaller number of family members in the network (column 2). Specifically, the inclusion of neighbours in the network is negatively associated with naming a child as a personal contact (column 4) and vice versa (column 11). This suggests that children and neighbours are substitutes for one another in personal networks. However, naming a neighbour as a personal contact is positively associated with naming a sibling as a personal contact (column 6) and vice versa (column 11). Additional analyses showed that this is partially because people with siblings in their network simply have a larger network. The inclusion of colleagues in the personal network is negatively associated with naming the romantic partner as a personal contact and vice versa (columns 3 and 12), but it is positively associated with naming a parent as a personal contact and vice versa (columns 5 and 12).

Over and above the inclusion of specific network members, we found few significant effects of merely having specific family members (not presented). In addition, with regard to our other control variables, we found that (a) the elderly are less likely to name their parents and friends as personal contacts, while they are more likely to include their children and friends in the network; (b) women name more friends than men; (c) higher educated respondents name fewer family members and more non-family members; (d) respondents who were born in the Netherlands and those with a better self-rated health reported more social contacts in general; and (e) few significant effects were found for income and denomination.

Conclusion and Discussion

We investigated the link between the inclusion of family members and non-family members in personal networks. To improve upon previous research, we not only examined the impact of family members who are passively present (e.g., parents who have children) but also looked at the effects of family members and non-family members who play an active role in the respondent’s personal network. More specifically, we studied the link between a broad range of social contacts, including close family, extended family, friends, colleagues and neighbours, while distinguishing between whether people merely have specific types of family members and whether they also name them as personal contacts.

Our findings showed that indeed, beyond the mere presence of family, family members taking an active role in the personal network does have a substantial impact on the inclusion of other personal contacts in the network. This supports our claim that the composition of one’s personal network is not merely determined by family status, life course transitions and family members being around but is more substantially determined by what role or function various types of family members have in the personal network. Therefore, previous research that focused only on the mere presence of certain family members may have underestimated the family’s impact on the composition of an individual’s personal network.

Only when we examined the active involvement of various types of social contacts did we observe clear linkage patterns among and between the inclusion of specific types of family members and non-family members in personal networks. Most of our expectations about these patterns were corroborated. As expected, family members and non-family members—especially a partner and children on the one hand and neighbours and colleagues on the other hand—restrict contact with each other. The more family members that are named, the fewer non-family members that are named as personal contacts and vice versa. This confirmed earlier studies on the linkage between family and non-family (Wrzus et al. 2012 ). Interestingly, this link was not a zero-sum competition; for an ‘average/model’ person, each additional family member in the personal network is (only) associated with a decrease of approximately .10 Non-family members in the personal network. As a consequence, because the family member is included in the personal network, the network grows to approximately .90 contacts. Similar figures were found for the impact of non-family members on the family part of the network.

Altogether, these findings have several implications. One is that investments in relationships with family members and non-family members can translate into a larger overall network and thus into more options for social support. In particular, children can be seen as investments: when they are young, their presence is likely to decrease the network size, but in later life, they are more likely to expand the network, particularly when they are part of one’s (support) network. Furthermore, we found support for the idea that the inclusion of specific types of family members in the network fosters contact with other family members. Specifically, the inclusion of partners is strongly associated with the inclusion of children in the network and vice versa, while the inclusion of parents is strongly associated with the inclusion of a partner, siblings, and other family members in the network. This indicates that family networks are often dense, which may create feelings of safety and increase the availability of social support. However, those who are primarily focused on their family have slightly less contact with non-family, which reduces the variety in their network and makes them somewhat vulnerable to the dissolution of family bonds (Ketovski 2012 ).

Future research should investigate more carefully for whom the role of particular types of social contacts is more important and who are more likely to be pulled into their families and to withdraw from other relationships. For instance, the personality, sex, socio-economic status and age of the respondents may play an important role; previous research suggested that the importance of personal network members differs according to these factors (Kahn et al. 2011 ; Kalmijn 2012 ; Ketovski 2012 ; Song 2012 ; Wrzus et al. 2013 ). Unfortunately, we were not able to test interactions with these variables because of a lack of power.

Furthermore, given that people can simply forget to mention some personal contacts, even their romantic partner (Mollenhorst et al. 2014 ), it can be argued that the distinction between the mere passive presence of specific types of family members and their active involvement in the personal network is somewhat arbitrary. However, previous research shows that people are generally more likely to ‘forget’ their weaker and less helpful contacts (Brewer 2000 ). Moreover, previous research indicated that specific types of associates fulfil specific types of support (Litwak and Szelenyi 1969 ). Indeed, additional analyses showed that some effects changed where specific questions were concerned. For instance, neighbours were most likely to compete with parents for whom people would ask for help from when they get sick. However, based on the argument that focusing on a specific type of support reduces the reliability of the results, and leads to disregarding the consequences for the larger personal network (Van der Poel 1993 ), we chose to use the questions simultaneously.

Strictly speaking, we observed cross-sectional relationships between different types of network members, which made it impossible to examine causality and actual influence of existing relationships with specific types of contacts on the emergence of new personal relationships. Fortunately, findings in one of the first large scale longitudinal studies on the influence of existing social contacts on the emergence of new contacts (Kalmijn 2012 ) were in line with results from cross-sectional data. Nevertheless, more longitudinal studies are necessary to strengthen our confidence in issues of causality.

To conclude, our research clearly indicates that to understand the mutual effects of family status, personal relationships with family members and personal relationships with non-family members, we should not only focus on merely having specific types of family members and non-family members but should also take into account their function in the personal network. Personal networks in modern Western societies are generally composed of both family members and non-family members; family members foster contact with other types of family members, but relationships with family members and non-family members compete only minimally.

1 Additional analyses in which we treated the specific categories (e.g., a partner, children) as continuous variables did not alter our conclusions. Furthermore, using (zero-inflated) Poisson models to predict the number of family members and non-family members in the personal network did not alter the outcomes either. Marginal differences were observed between men and women and between people of different ages. In all models, the control variables are included but not presented to facilitate comparison between the models.

2 Calculated by subtracting the predicted values for an average person with 1 family/non-family personal contact from the predicted value for an average person without family/non-family personal contacts.

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Families and Friends as the Most Essential People in an Individuals Life - Essay Example

• Subject: Sociology
• Type: Essay
• Level: Undergraduate
• Pages: 4 (1000 words)
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• Author: antoniettaluett

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Compare culture's different, an overview of teen pregnancy, personal values development paper, providing support to families of individuals with severe mental health diagnoses, how would a mental health illness affect a family, the relative importance of love and friendship in marriage, deathography: the end-of-life studies, the social network and its influence on intimacy and friendship.

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4.1: Introduction to Comparison and Contrast Essay

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The key to a good compare-and-contrast essay is to choose two or more subjects that connect in a meaningful way. Comparison and contrast is simply telling how two things are alike or different. The compare-and-contrast essay starts with a thesis that clearly states the two subjects that are to be compared, contrasted, or both. The thesis should focus on comparing, contrasting, or both.

Key Elements of the Compare and Contrast:

• A compare-and-contrast essay analyzes two subjects by either comparing them, contrasting them, or both.
• The purpose of writing a comparison or contrast essay is not to state the obvious but rather to illuminate subtle differences or unexpected similarities between two subjects.
• The thesis should clearly state the subjects that are to be compared, contrasted, or both, and it should state what is to be learned from doing so.
• Organize by the subjects themselves, one then the other.
• Organize by individual points, in which you discuss each subject in relation to each point.
• Use phrases of comparison or phrases of contrast to signal to readers how exactly the two subjects are being analyzed.

Objectives: By the end of this unit, you will be able to

• Identify compare & contrast relationships in model essays
• Construct clearly formulated thesis statements that show compare & contrast relationships
• Use pre-writing techniques to brainstorm and organize ideas showing a comparison and/or contrast
• Construct an outline for a five-paragraph compare & contrast essay
• Write a five-paragraph compare & contrast essay
• Use a variety of vocabulary and language structures that express compare & contrast essay relationships

Example Thesis: Organic vegetables may cost more than those that are conventionally grown, but when put to the test, they are definitely worth every extra penny.

Sample Paragraph:

Organic grown tomatoes purchased at the farmers’ market are very different from tomatoes that are grown conventionally. To begin with, although tomatoes from both sources will mostly be red, the tomatoes at the farmers’ market are a brighter red than those at a grocery store. That doesn’t mean they are shinier—in fact, grocery store tomatoes are often shinier since they have been waxed. You are likely to see great size variation in tomatoes at the farmers’ market, with tomatoes ranging from only a couple of inches across to eight inches across. By contrast, the tomatoes in a grocery store will be fairly uniform in size. All the visual differences are interesting, but the most important difference is the taste. The farmers’ market tomatoes will be bursting with flavor from ripening on the vine in their own time. However, the grocery store tomatoes are often close to being flavorless. In conclusion, the differences in organic and conventionally grown tomatoes are obvious in color, size and taste.

Essay to Compare and Contrast Two members of Your Family

Queenie31 1 / 1   Apr 13, 2009   #1 I need help with finishing up this essay. The instructions are to compare and contrast two members of your family . I've gotten the basics down so far, I just need help continuing. It has to be at least 750 words, so far I have 349. Please Help Me! This is the Essay Below: My mom and dad are both great parents, but I prefer my mom more than my dad. Seeing my parents together you would think that they were the worst combination of people to be married. But after knowing them for a long time you would see that they have many things in common as well as many things that were different about them. My mom is easy going, very considerate, and is a very understanding person. My dad is the total opposite of all of that. He is mean, inconsiderate, and very selfish. My mom is very supportive in anything that I choose to do within my life. She is always the person that I can rely on to help me financially, emotionally, and mentally. I never have a problem with approaching my mother about anything. When I decided to go away to college, my mom backed me up 100% and even offered to accompany me on my visit to the school. On the other hand my dad was against it. He felt as if I just wanted to get away from my responsibilities at home and go away to party and get wild. I have never been able to speak to my dad about anything, because he either shows no care at all, or he never tries to view anything from any other point of view. It's always about what he thinks or how he feels about a situation. He is also very stingy when it comes to his money. If I asked my dad for money to buy books he would tell to borrow them. But if I asked my mom for money to buy books she would give it to me, and if she didn't have it, she would work the extra hours just to make sure that she got it for me. My mom is someone that has all of her priorities straight. My dad on the other hand doesn't. He would give his friends his last meal before he gave it to his starving family. Although my parents have many differences between them they are still very similar in certain things that they do. When it comes to finances both of my parents have the same mind set. They both have the same goals in life and they both want the same future for me. I can honestly say that they can both agree with my choice of studies in college. Another thing that is ironically the same about them is the fact that they both have similar jobs; which also points out the fact that they have the same interests. Both my mom and dad work in the same hospital in similar positions. In conclusion, both my mom and dad are good but each person has different characteristics. Because my dad is impatient and less mature than my mom, and my mom is easier going, it complicates the way people view them individually. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just shows how different people are. The way situations turn out between the two greatly depends on how well each person decides to handle it.

teelyons 2 / 8   Apr 13, 2009   #2 Melissa, good start to your paper. You might want to interview other people and get their view about your parents. Also, you may want to interview them together as well as separately about a specific topic. Other things to compare maybe as follows: The type of car they drive, the food the like or dislike. Also, do they share the same values and morals. Good luck.

OP Queenie31 1 / 1   Apr 13, 2009   #3 Thank you so much. I wrote a little bit more while i was waiting for your feedback.

newsha31 19 / 75   Apr 13, 2009   #4 i'm not that great with grammer but i think u might want to change some stuff, like: "but I prefer my mom over my dad" and if i were you i would change this sentece this way: "you would see that they have many things in common as well as many oppositions." this sentence here is a nice one and i like it, but i would delete the three last words: " It's always about what he thinks or how he feels about a situation." and for my last suggestion i think give the ending a shake. i like the idea of ppl being different, mybe u should point out how this makes ur life different or challenging or nice. overall i thought it was a good essay, keep up the good work. good luck :)

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"Compare and contrast friends and family" Essays and Research Papers

Friend Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast : A Friend His name is ______. If you ever met this individual you would certainly have a good or bad impression of him. I’ve basically grown up with him. We attended the same school all from elementary through high school‚ grew up in the same neighborhood. You could say that we both had a common thing. I’m not sure if meeting this person was a way to teach me a few things or not. I always wanted to think that him and I would get along and be good friends . Maybe that’s the reason

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Mercedes Villegas Eng.101.105 Everyone has friends ‚ and usually they are people from all walks of life. Sometimes these friends are so alike that they seem to walk alike‚ talk alike‚ and have similar personalities. But others are so very different that it is an absolute wonder that they can even stand each other‚ let alone be friends . My two best friends are Raeann and Mike. They share some similar traits such as compassion‚ loyalty‚ and a great sense of humor. I love them for their similarities

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Compare/Contrast two friends

8‚ 2014 Compare And Contrast Between Two Friends In this world we need to know and to make a difference between a good friend and a bad friend . In this world we see the friends are useful‚ helpful‚ and happiness. Per person point of view; for example‚ people are like to make friends ‚ and some their do not like to make a friend who are solitary of the people. First‚ friends are teaching us in this world‚ and we need who trusts their in our life. We have to talked to our friends who are

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Family & Friends

Families look forward to vacation time it is always exciting. The family has to choose where they will vacation. There are things to consider when picking the right vacation location that everyone in the family will enjoy. Two common-places families choose for vacation is Disney‚ and a cruise. Both places have a variety of activities‚ which are fun. The cruise offers activities that Disney cannot offer and Disney offers activities the cruise cannot offer. Disney‚ and the cruise are totally different

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Friends or Family

I believe that friends and family are the true cause of happiness. When you have friends and family ‚ you have those who care for you. When you have them‚ you don’t really need anything else. When you have a family and some really good friends ‚ you know that they will always be there for you. You know that you can always count on them‚ and you definitely know that you can trust them with a secret or anything personal. When you are surrounded by them‚ you realize that nothing in the world can ever

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Family Compare And Contrast Essay

Families are an integral part of every society in the world. Every race and ethnicity wants to believe they are the best at raising children‚ and forming a functioning family ; however‚ they all have different forms of parenting. Three countries whose values are comparatively different are China‚ Turkey‚ and the United States. The biggest difference in the way the values are expressed through these families and their differing parenting styles. Traditional values often produce strict parents; but

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Compare and Contrast Traditional Families with Modern Families

Compare and contrast traditional families with modern families Family patterns are changing dramatically because of the demand of modern life. This essay will examine the similarities and differences between traditional families with modern families . The main similarity is that traditional and modern families are the same as in terms of constitutional concept. Both are a “unit structure” or “basic organism” of which society is composed. Traditional and modern families similarly have to complete

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For Family and Friends

are thankful for having in life. I am so thankful for family ‚ friends ‚ and nature. These things are all I need. I am thankful to have what everybody has‚ needs‚ or wants. Life wouldn’t be the same without it. My life is perfect right now thanks to my family ‚ friends ‚ and nature. The first thing I am thankful for is having my family . They are always here for me. Where every I am‚ whatever I do‚ and whatever things I get myself into. My family is the number one thing in my life. They come before anything

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Friends and Family

Friends are biggest value in people’s lives. I have many friends . Most of them are my neighbors‚ but also I have schoolmates. I can go out somewhere with them and feel comfortable. I know that friends of mine will help me anytime and anywhere. I can trust them. I have one best friend . I may pin his faith. Friendship between a friend of mine and me is firm and intense. He always helps me solve problems and treats me with respect. A friend of mine has never lied to me. It is better to say home truth

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My family . Where to start? I don’t really know where to start so I guess I’ll start my telling you about my parents. My dad’s name is Dwayne Locklear. He is married to Selena Locklear. He has two biological children and one step-daughter. My little sister Ariel Locklear and I are his biological kids. Arlena Locklear is his step-daughter. He works at Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel‚ North Carolina. He has worked there for the past 22 years and counting. My mom’s name is Vickie Simmons. She is married

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Compare and Contrast Essay: My Best Friend

My best friend is called Kelvin. I’ve always considered him my best friend since I met him because he had a certain aura about him. In this essay, I will compare and contrast some of the main aspects of his character with those of my second best friend Amber to craft a clear argument as to why I consider him my best friend.

To start with, Kelvin has an open mind. He’s unlike Amber because she will only tolerate certain views. If Kelvin doesn’t like something he will be completely honest about it, but he won’t show it in a negative fashion. Amber, on the other hand, will do so and won’t be able to hide her boredom. I admire someone who can be as open minded as Kelvin.

Kelvin is also not afraid of showing off his opinions in the right way. In the event he disagrees with something I’ve done, he will make it clear that he disagrees. Amber also does this, and this is why I also value her presence in my life. I don’t like the proverbial yes men. I want real opinions, and that’s why we all get along so well.

One aspect where Kelvin contrasts with Amber is in the way he’ll happily try out new things. Amber is set in her ways and prefers to stick with what she knows. I’m similar to Amber, but I prefer Kelvin’s way of looking at things because he’s brought me out of my shell. Through my friendship with him, I’ve managed to experience things I would have never discovered without him.

Both Kelvin and Amber genuinely care about me and my affairs, though. They’re always interested in what I’m doing and how I am. They aren’t simply using me for their own ends. This is what I value in a best friend the most. On one occasion, I was having a hard time with the death of a loved one and I wanted to hide it. They were convinced something was wrong and they encouraged me to talk about it. Being able to talk about such matters with them helped me to get through the worst of it.

Another area where Kelvin stands out for me is the fact we have so much in common. Even if he wasn’t so open-minded, we would always get along because of our shared interests. We like the same type of music and can appreciate the same type of literature. This influences our conversations. It means we never get tired of speaking with each other.

On the other hand, Amber does have a lot of interests that I don’t share in. At times, this can mean we have little to talk about. Sometimes, we go through periods where we rarely speak. I’ve yet to run into this scenario with Kelvin.

Overall, Kelvin is my best friend because we have so many similarities. This is a relationship of mutual convenience. It’s not one-sided and we’re both equal partners. Whilst I value Amber in my life, we do have differences, and these differences can divide us on occasion.

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Comparison Essay: My Family, And Family Differences

Show More Family similarities Many families, although diverse in each other can share common things, but do they share communication, the encouragement of individuals, and the commitment to family? Plenty of families who live together or do not can have similarities but, also many families have differences. My family , who love each other very much have 5 members including me, have a strong connection between us. My dad Jamal and my mom Farhana got married in India. My two older brothers, both twins named Faizan and Zeeshan age twenty-six years old. I, born the youngest, eleven years later after them two. Me being the youngest can still help me be extremely close with both of my brothers, but I am closer to my brother Faizan. Even though I was born …show more content… They got married, but later on divorced. Calvin has 3 sisters, Jamie, Amanda, and Tiffany. He also has one brother named Thomas. Calvin became extremely close with his family members. He and Tiffany disagree on everything and Thomas who cannot become close due to his career. My family and Calvin’s family have many roles that have become set such as communication , encouragement of individuals, and the commitment to family. Showing a sign of communication between families can strengthen the bond between each other. Having this trait or characteristic in a family will always acquire a must-have. Since my family and Calvin’s family both have the trait of communication; consequently, generally close to our family members. My family has always tried spending as much as time as we can together, maintaining a good communication line between us while juggling work and school. My parents who are good listeners always want to know what I am up to, if I am doing good or bad things. My parents and I always have little discussions about things that are important to us such as how school or work is. If we do not communicate at the day time, will always make sure we do at the end of the day and ask about how our days were. Sometimes we debate who had the most fun in day or who had the worst day. …show more content… Many families just like mine and Calvin’s have to be strong and have the commitment to family, to survive and have a strong bond within the family. My family tries to express this trait or characteristic as best as we can. We make sure we eat dinner together every day if we are not busy. We sometimes go out to eat. My family, if there are any events that are going on we always go together. We go to weddings together and sometimes dinner parties depending on who all in the family is invited. But, most importantly we make sure no one is left out. We share the technology in our house and always share food if someone wants it. Calvin’s family also expresses this trait from what I have seen and what I have been told. They always go out to eat together. They go to restaurants to eat after church sometimes and they have cookouts with their friends. Calvin’s family also makes sure they go to church together. They never leave anyone on Sunday to go alone. Finally, Calvin’s family never leaves anyone out of anything. They always share among themselves and most importantly have a strong commitment for each other. Having this trait in my and Calvin’s family has brought us a lot more closely to our family members and strengthen the bond between us. The commitment to family strengthens the bond between families and show what little things you can do to brighten up each other’s

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