Mönkediek, B., and Bras, H. (2014) Strong and weak family ties revisited: reconsidering European family structures from a network perspective. The History of the Family, 19(2), pp. 235–259. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1081602X.2014.897246
When the above article was published in print, an error in the authors' algorithm which counted the number and the intensity of people's social relationships has led to lower regional average frequencies of contact and lower regional averages of spatial proximity between kin. The authors wish to inform the reader about the resulting changes in the paper after having corrected this mistake and these changes are outlined below:
Most results of the paper and our main conclusions stay valid. We still observe the described dividing lines between European macro regions, while there is important regional variation within countries concerning the different dimensions which constitute the regional family cultures. Correcting the above described error leads to the following important changes:
The European average frequency of contact between kin is 3.377 (frequent), instead of 3.078, and the European average spatial proximity between kin is 2.929 (close), instead of 2.449. The corrected regional values are provided in Table .
Table 2 Average frequency of contact and average spatial proximity between kin per NUTS region
There is now even more regional variation in family cultures in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Poland, supporting our main argument. Particularly in the south-eastern parts of Poland and in the south-western regions of the Czech Republic we find close bonds between kin, with kin in Poland often co-residing and kin in the Czech Republic often living in close proximity. Due to this, Poland and the Czech Republic are much less homogenous than reported in the previous version (p. 252). The average frequency of contact between kin is still lower than in most Mediterranean regions, but is no longer “lower than in many Northern European regions“ (p. 249).
Family bonds are now a bit weaker in the Northern European regions and no longer comparable to some Southern European regions (p. 252), but they are still stronger than in some central European regions.
The Dutch regions of Gelderland and Groningen are still the most family-centered regions in the Netherlands, but no longer comparable to some of the Italian or Spanish ones (p. 27). Furthermore, in the regions of Gelderland and Utrecht, relationships to kin beyond the household are comparatively weak (p. 21).
The corrected version of Table is provided below: