Poster #25 - Options for Family Research with Scientific Use Data: The German Family Panel pairfam

• In Event: 3-001 - Poster Session 2 during Breakfast

Abstract

Aiming to provide a rich and solid data base for family research, the German Family Panel pairfam (“Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics”) was launched in 2008 as a multi-disciplinary, longitudinal study on partner relationships and family dynamics in Germany. Since then, annual interviews with a large, nationwide representative sample of three birth cohorts offer multifaceted data on partnership trajectories, family formation, child rearing, children’s and youth development, as well as intergenerational relationships across a broad age range. This poster informs about the content and structure of the data and illustrates the unique opportunities they offer for analyzing partner and family relationships as they develop over the life course up to middle adulthood.
The nationwide sample has been drawn from register data and comprises more than 12,000 so-called anchor persons of three birth cohorts (born 1971-73, 1981-83, or 1991-93). The anchor persons started to participate in the pairfam panel either in adolescence (age 15-17 years), young adulthood (age 25-27), or in middle adulthood (35-37 years). To address the interdependence of “linked lives” among family members, the interviews also comprise the anchor persons’ partner, parents, and children (if existing). This multi-actor-design is not restricted to household members, but also reaches out to partners in “living-apart-together” arrangements and biological as well as stepparents beyond the anchor person’s household. Information about non-resident children as well as children’s perspectives on non-resident parents are obtained.
The pairfam panel has its focus on four domains: (1) partnership formation and development, (2) family planning and child bearing, (3) parenting and child development, and (4) intergenerational relationships with one’s family of origin. Addressing respective predictors and outcomes, particular attention is paid to the role of social context (e.g. social networks, regional factors) and personal resources and dispositions (e.g. education, health, attitudes). The design allows for dyadic analyses not only in the domain of partner relationships, but also e.g. in sibling relationships.
The German Family Panel is a cooperative effort of sociologists, demographers, psychologists and educational scientists. It is advised by an international board and accredited as a research data center by the German Data Forum (RatSWD). Considerable care is taken to professionally prepare and document the pairfam data and provide them within short time to the global scientific community. Regular user conferences and bi-annual international conferences allow for exchange among users of the pairfam data.

Authors

• Sabine Walper, German Youth Institute Munich
  Presenting Author

• Barbara Wilhelm, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich

• Carolin Thoennissen, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich