The German Family Panel (pairfam - http://www.pairfam.de) is a multidisciplinary research project within the field of partnership and family dynamics. It is funded as long-term project by the German Research Foundation (DFG). The multi-actor design of the survey involves separate interviews with anchor respondents, their partners, their (step)parents, and their children allowing for direct insights into the perspectives of different family members. The thematic focus is directed toward processes of shaping intimate relationships, parental decision-making and childbearing behavior, intergenerational exchange, parenting, and child development. Further attention is given to the socioeconomic background and several variables related to other life domains. The panel character of pairfam implies annually conducted interviews with the same anchor respondents and their alteri over a period of 14 years. The first survey wave was completed in 2008/09 with a nationwide random sample of more than 12,000 anchor respondents in three cohorts born between 1991-93, 1981-83, and 1971-73 plus partners when available. The fully prepared and documented data are provided free of charge for the scientific community. In April 2011, the Scientific-Use-File of the second survey wave comprising information from the anchor persons, their partners, their parents and their children will be published. The presentation gives an overview of the German Family Panel, a project that offers a unique database for the analysis of family and living arrangements in Germany. |
