title: Just like family: fictive kin relationships in the Netherlands.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study examined the extent to which older adults in the Netherlands include a nonrelative as part of their family (create fictive kin), and whether this process is similar in other age groups. It assessed the importance of absence of close family ties and the experience of divorce in the family network for the creation of fictive kin.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, logistic regression models for the different age groups tested the importance of absence of primary family relationships and the experience of divorce in the family among three age groups (18-40, 41-60, 61-79, N = 6,571).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prevalence of fictive kin relationships was higher in older age groups. Both the absence of close family relationships and the experience of divorce within the family were related to having fictive kin, although the latter was only found in the youngest age group. For older adults never having married, being widowed or divorced were important predictors of having fictive kin relationships.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The study provides support for the idea that the creation of fictive kin is a form of substitution for absent family members and shows that older adults in the Netherlands are active agents in the construction of their family network.
authors.affiliation: Correspondence should be addressed to Marieke Voorpostel, Ph.D, FORS, c/o University of Lausanne, Géopolis, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland. marieke.voorpostel@fors.unil.ch
authors.forename: Marieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voorpostel
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D004243:Divorce / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005190:Family; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Diversity in aging; Family sociology; Family structure.; Sociology.