Familienmodelle in Deutschland (FAMOD)

Objective: The project “Family Models in Germany” (FAMOD) investigates the diversity of existing family models after separation or divorce in Germany. The main objective is to study the well-being of family members in post-separation families with a special focus on families practicing joint physical custody.

Method: The FAMOD study was conducted in 2019/20 among a quota sample of 1,554 nuclear, sole custody, and joint physical custody families in Germany. The data was collected by Kantar Public, Munich. Interviews with parents, children, and stepparents were conducted using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI), and paper-and-pencil interviewing (PAPI).

Questionnaire Content: The study focuses on a wide range of issues, e.g.: well-being of parents and children; socio-demographic characteristics; household structure; current partnership; separation and partnership with the other biological parent of the target child; physical custody arrangement; relations between family members; time usage and division of labor; life satisfaction.<br>I. The following thematic complexes were the content of the anchor questionnaire:

1. Attitudes, values: attitudes towards family and family life (e.g. one should marry if one lives with a partner permanently, women should care more about the family than about their career, etc.).

2. Education, employment: highest general school-leaving qualification; vocational training qualification; employment status; working hours per week; working time arrangements.

3. Partnerships: current partnership; recorded for partner: Name of partner mentioned, month and year of birth; start of relationship with partner (year); living with partner; start of living with partner (year); married to partner; year of marriage; marital status.

4. Children: number of children; for up to seven children each was recorded: Name of child named; sex; relationship status; other biological parent; name of other biological parent named; relationship with child´s other parent; age; child´s place of residence (nuclear families, separation families); contact with other parent; respondent´s contact with child; care model (nuclear family, residence model, alternating model); care model focus child.

5. Housing situation and household: size of dwelling in sqm; number of living rooms; other persons in the household; place of residence: federal state; city size; type of BIK municipality.

6. Current partnership: for the partner was asked: highest general education degree; vocational training degree; employment status; partner´s children from previous relationships; number of partner´s children from previous relationships; characterisation of the partnership (telling the partner what is bothering, partner showing appreciation, looking after the partner, angry or upset with each other, etc.). ); respondents in nuclear families: characterisation of the partnership in relation to the focus child (partner is the father/mother the respondent wants for his/her child, trust that partner will take good care of the child, partner takes into account the plans and rules made for the child; support in raising the child, can talk about problems in raising the child, can count on the partner when care is needed for the child for a few hours); division of labour: respondent or partner takes over certain tasks more often (e.g. doctor´s visits and taking care of the child). (e.g. visiting the doctor and looking after the sick child, being the contact person for teachers or nursery staff, going to parents´ evenings, organising birthdays, play afternoons, preparing food for the child, etc.); frequency of the following behaviours in the partnership (tensions or disagreements, heated discussions, strongly reproached each other, did not want to talk to each other for a while, disputes got out of control); conflict behaviour: Frequency of the following behaviours in disagreements - partner and self (insulting or berating the other, falling into silence, shouting at the other, listening and asking questions to understand the other better, refusing to talk about it further, making an effort to make the other really understand one´s own concerns); frequency that focus child witnesses arguments; satisfaction with partner relationship;

Respondents without a partner: satisfaction with the situation as a single person; many things are easier as a single person because one does not have to be considerate and adapt to the other person all the time; desire for a partner.

7. Information on the other biological parent: Respondents with residence or alternating model: Year of birth of the other parent; highest general education degree of the other parent; vocational education degree; employment status of the other parent; start of relationship with the other parent (year); living with the other parent; start of living with the other parent (year); married to the other parent; marriage to the other parent (year); end of relationship with other parent (year); age of focus child at end of relationship; end of cohabitation with other parent; year of divorce; number of children of other parent from other relationships; current relationship of other parent; cohabitation of other parent with current partner; other parent married to current partner.

8. Separation, former partnership: to what extent did the separation originate from the respondent or the other parent; time division of work in the following areas: Housework (washing, cooking, cleaning), shopping, repairs to the house, flat and car, as well as financial matters, visits to authorities; division of labour: assumption of certain tasks before the separation more often by the respondent or the partner (e.g. visits to the doctor and looking after the sick child, being the contact person for teachers or day-care staff, going to parents´ evenings, organising birthdays, play afternoons, preparing food for the child, etc.); frequency of the following behaviours during the relationship (tensions or disagreements, heated discussions, made strong accusations against each other, did not want to talk to each other for a while, arguments got out of control); child witnessed arguments before separation (frequency); reasons for contacting youth welfare office, lawyer or mediator (child maintenance, custody, residence and contact with the child, partner maintenance, division of property, other - open); turned to court for one or more of the above reasons; proceedings on child maintenance, custody, residence and contact with the child, partner maintenance and/or the proceedings on property division or other nomination have been concluded; custody of the child; parent with whom the child is registered.

9. Contact with the other biological parent: still in contact with the other parent today; frequency of contact with the other parent in person, by phone or by email or social media; current relationship with the other parent; frequency of the following behaviours in contact with the other biological parent (tensions or disagreements, heated discussions, strong accusations against each other, did not want to talk to each other for a while, disputes getting out of control); conflict behaviour: Frequency of the following behaviours during disagreements - other biological parent and self (insulting or berating the other, falling into silence, shouting at the other, listening and asking questions to understand the other better, refusing to talk about it further, making an effort to make the other really understand one´s own concerns); focus child witnesses arguments (frequency); division of labour: assumption of certain tasks more often by the respondent or the other biological parent (e.g. visits to the doctor and looking after the sick child, being the contact person for teachers or nursery staff, going to parents´ evenings, organising birthdays, play afternoons, preparing food for the child, etc.); involvement of the other parent in the child´s life; fairness of the financial arrangement in relation to the child; characterisation of the current situation with the other biological parent in relation to the child (other biological parent is the father/mother the respondent wants for their child, trust that other biological parent will take good care of the child, other biological parent takes into account the plans and rules made for the child; support in raising the child, can talk about problems in raising the child, can count on the other biological parent when care is needed for the child for a few hours).

10. Information on the focus child: assessment of the child´s health status; height in centimetres; body weight in kilograms; health impairment; general characterisation of the child (usually happy and content, easily agitated and cries frequently, difficult to comfort, curious and active, rather reserved); detailed characterisation and (noticeable) behaviours of the child (considerate, restless, overactive, cannot sit still for long, often complains of headaches, stomach aches or nausea. likes to share with other children, often has tantrums, is quick-tempered, etc.); relationship with other children or young people (child prefers to be alone rather than with others, has many friends, child finds it easy to make new friends); own parenting style (show affection to the child with words and gestures, criticise the child, soften or remove punishment early, comfort the child when sad, consistency in child rearing is difficult, etc.); relationship between the respondent and the child and between the partner and the child or between the other biological parent and the child in general; child attends a day care centre and/or childminder or school; number of hours per week that the child is cared for by a childminder and/or in a day care centre; time distance from the place of residence to the childminder or day care centre; time distance from the place of residence of the other biological parent to the childminder or day care centre; type of school attended by the child; type of school attended by the child. Type of school of the child; school branch if attending a comprehensive school; school grades on the last school report in the subjects arithmetic or mathematics, German and first foreign language; time distance from the place of residence to the school; time distance from the place of residence of the other biological parent to the school; time distance from the place of residence of the other biological parent; reduction in working hours because of the child; self or other biological parent has taken parental leave.

11. Care model: detailed information on the care of the child by mother and father in the first two weeks of a typical month without holidays, taking into account both days and nights, by filling in a calendar; distribution in the first two weeks the same as in the last two weeks of the typical month; respondents for whom the first calendar does not depict the typical care pattern entered the corresponding information for the last two weeks in the calendar; the completed calendar reflects the child´s typical care pattern beyond one month; reasons why the calendar does not reflect the typical care pattern; own satisfaction with the current care pattern; satisfaction of the other biological parent with the current care pattern; reasons for the choice of care pattern (e.g. own wishes, wishes of the other biological parent, wishes of the child, suggestions of the youth welfare office, lawyer, mediator, judge, etc.); frequency of contact with the child during the stay with the other parent; frequency of contact of the other parent with the child during the stay with the respondent; arrangement on special days e.g. Christmas; start of current care pattern (year); number of previous care patterns.

12. Physical well-being: self-assessment of general health in the last four weeks; smoking status; tobacco consumption per day; frequency of alcohol consumption; amount of alcoholic beverages consumed; pay attention to health-conscious diet; health impairment; body height in centimetres; body weight in kilograms.

13. Mental well-being: general mental state (melancholy mood, happy, depressed, sad, despairing, depressed mood, feel good, feel safe, am calm and composed, I enjoy life); time pressure (I can sleep restfully, I am under time pressure, I wish I had more time for myself, I feel that others put me under time pressure, I cannot concentrate on important things because I do not have enough time, I cannot recover sufficiently from illness because I do not have enough time, I am under so much time pressure that my health suffers); self-characterisation (if I have plans, I follow them, I usually manage to do everything somehow, I don´t get thrown off track so easily, I like myself, I can manage several things at once, I am determined, I take things as they come, etc.).

14. Social well-being in the last four weeks (I feel generally empty, there are enough people I can rely on when I have problems, there are enough people I trust completely or feel close to, I miss having people around me, I often feel that other people reject me).

15. Personality (rather reserved, reserved, trust others easily, believe in the good in people, am comfortable and tend to be lazy, am relaxed, do not let stress upset me, have little artistic interest, come out of myself, am sociable, tend to criticise others, do tasks thoroughly, get nervous and insecure easily, have an active imagination, am imaginative).

16. Own childhood: evaluation of own childhood.

17. Time use: current time use for the following areas or persons: Job or training or school, housework, personal leisure time, partner, children and friends;

18. Income, maintenance: net personal income in the last month; categorised net personal income; net household income; categorised net household income; assessment of the financial situation of the household; overall life satisfaction.

Demography: sex; age (month of birth, year of birth).

Additionally coded: ID anchor person; record matching; generated variables: Focus child selection (number).

Interview rating: interview conducted with interviewee alone; presence of other persons during the interview; person present intervened in the interview.

In addition to the anchor persons, current partners, the other biological parent and children were also interviewed.

II. The questionnaire for children includes the following topics: Information on education and school; Parents´ interest and support regarding school and school performance; Family relations: Living together or frequency of contact with the biological mother/father; parenting style of the mother/father; relationship with the mother/father; relationship with the mother´s/ father´s new partner; the child´s torn relationship between the parents; distribution of tasks between the parents; divorce/separation of the parents: Age at separation; opinion of parents´ separation; time division; satisfaction with time division; information on siblings; relationship with siblings; financial situation and pocket money; social integration; well-being and health; psychological well-being; risk behaviour (alcohol and tobacco use); parental conflict and conflict behaviour; housework; leisure activities; career aspirations.

Demography: ID child.

Additionally coded: record matching.

Interviewer rating: alone with the child on the topic of family relationships; presence of other persons during the interview; person present intervened in the interview; on which questions was intervention; influence of the child´s response behaviour by the intervention in the interview.