The configurational studies of this special issue trace complex patterns of interdependencies existing among family members and beyond households. They focus on the functional connections among spouses, children, siblings, and other relatives living in a variety of households. The main goal of this special issue is to reveal how some key decisions and exchanges occurring in family dyads, such as the marital and parent–child dyads, are embedded within a larger set of family and interpersonal exchanges that constitute configurations of their own in a variety of contexts.

This study aims to determine the role played by the personal networks of mothers aged 25–40 in Bamako (Mali) in their recourse to prenatal care. Although education and household's economic situation remain important, our research shows that personal network matters in two ways. Prenatal follow-up is more adequate in small, dense, less centralized networks, a structure known to generating a higher level of bonding social capital and mutual support. Yet, the composition of networks is also important: those comprising the husband and neighbors/friends—without other family members—are associated with better prenatal care. In these more open networks, women are probably less subject to traditional social control. An unexpected outcome is that material support does not play a significative role; this may indicate that more specific measures are needed to identify the type of support useful, or that, in this context, normative aspects are more important.