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• Alone together? Shared space, time, and solidarity in commuter relationships

  72-87

  Orsolya Kolozsvári

  Views:

  49

  Long-distance relationships have always existed, however, as a result of globalization, modern
  communication technology, as well as widespread travel opportunities, their number has
  increased. This study focuses on commuter relationships, that is, those couples that only see
  each other during the weekend or in every few weeks due to working far from their home. 24
  interviews were conducted with commuter couples in small towns and villages. A key research
  question involved satisfaction levels among interviewees. Dissatisfaction with their relationship
  was relatively rare, except some women complained about increased household tasks. Daily
  communication and modern communication technology had an immense role in boosting
  satisfaction levels. Technology has also contributed to the creation of shared space and time
  among commuter couples. Regular communication, special dates, and shared plans for the
  future also raised relationship solidarity. To survive time apart and make time spent together
  more special timework was used, which was done together for the purpose of influencing the
  subconscious and subjective sense of time.

• In the thick of relationships? Personal and distance relationships with relatives and friends in Hungary in 2015

  65-101

  Anikó Gregor

  Zsuzsa Kukucska

  Eszter Oláh

  Views:

  75

  The study presents the structure and intensity of the relationships of the Hungarian population over 16 years of age through a descriptive analysis of four variables measuring the frequency of personal and distance contact with relatives and friends from the EU-SILC 2015 survey. Ac­cording to the data, the relationship structure is on average balanced, half of the relationships are related to relatives or friends, and the relative proportions of personal and long-distance relationships are similar. According to our results, in addition to age, the financial situation of the household has a significant correlation with the characteristics of the relationship structu­re. One of the lessons of multivariate regression models is that the effect of other background variables on the relationship structure intensifies in parallel with aging, leading to a deepening of relationship inequalities among the elderly. Another lesson of the models is that the inclu­sion of household characteristics (financial situation, number of household members, material transfer relationship with other households) has a significant effect on the mechanism of indi­vidual background variables, thus confirming that a deeper study of relationship intensity and relationship structure within the household is essential. At the end of our analysis, we compiled clusters based on the intensity of relationships, the direction of relationships, and the channel of contacting, with a relative majority of more than one-third of the respondents with extremely weak relationship embeddedness.