Although intergenerational relations have been the subject of recent sociol
ogical research, the role and significance of kinship for the young generat
ions has received less attention. This article presents the results of a su
rvey examining the ways in which young adults (18-25 years) are integrated
in the family network. The subjective importance of kin (outside the nuclea
r family) for young adults is assessed from a relational and normative pers
pective. What type of contacts and quality of relationships do they have wi
th the kinship group? How are these exchanges structured? What are the spec
ific functions of the different members of the kinship group? These are the
main lines of inquiry around which the analysis is organized, with particu
lar emphasis on lineage and generation membership as a differentiating fact
or in family relations. A synthesis is made using a hierarchical classifica
tion to produce an empirical typology of the relationships between young ad
ults and their kinship network.