Collecting Multi-Actor Family Network Data

Abstract

Although ‘the family’ is arguably the most fundamental of all social networks, surprisingly little data are available that enable researchers to study the full web of relationships between family members. Mapping family relationships from multiple – preferably ‘all’ – family members’ perspectives enables understanding relational dependencies, such as how parental divorce reverberates through the network. This article introduces a multi-actor family network survey method aimed at collecting ‘complete’ family network data. It discusses the design and implementation of the Lifelines Family Ties project. In this data collection project, a total of 160 children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and stepfamily members reported on their current and past well-being and their family relationships (contact, support, affection) with 524 family members, resulting in a dataset covering nearly 900 relationships. The article concludes by providing a preview of possible analysis techniques for future users of the Lifelines Family Ties dataset or other future multi-actor family network data.