The Role of Children in Building Parents’ Social Networks
This paper analyzes the effect of children on the parent's social networks using Israeli Social Survey data for 2002-2006. Additional demographic attributes of the household, such as the age gap between the oldest and youngest child and the age of the youngest child are also examined. We found that the first child decreases social networking of both males and females. The number of children has a U-shaped effect on parents' involvement in social networks, with substantial differences between fathers and mothers. The negative effect is dominant on the mothers’ involvement in social networks, while the positive effect is dominant on the father's involvement in social networks. The age gap between children has a positive effect on both parents’ involvement in social networks, while the age of the youngest child has a positive effect only on the father's involvement in social networks.