This study first identified types of change in the size of the personal network over a period of 12 years following divorce. Second, differences in network change were explained by taking into account divorce characteristics, personal capacities, and structural conditions. Personal interviews were conducted in three waves of a 12-year longitudinal study with 40 men and 64 women who divorced in 1987 or 1988. Most divorcees experienced network losses shortly after the divorce and in half of the cases these losses were not compensated for in the later years after divorce. For some, divorce brought merely network gains, albeit in the longer term. Personal capacities and structural conditions did not differ significantly across participants in different types of network change. Characteristics of the divorce (attitude toward divorce and conflicts with the ex-partner after divorce) partly explained differences in network change after divorce.

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