Fribourg Family Dynamics and Affect Regulation Project, 2012

The data of 103 dual-earner couples with pre-school or primary school children. This dataset can be used to examine the romantic relationships of married couples with young children. The study involved a momentary assessment part, with 4 assessments per day, a baseline questionnaire battery in 2 parts, and 6-month and 12-month repeated questionnaire measures. Participants completed a 10-day electronic diary procedure. Eligible families met the following criteria: (a) both spouses are willing to participate in the study, (b) live together, (c) are professionally active for 12 hours or more per week and within a regular work schedule (no night shifts), and (d) have at least one child below the age of eight years. On average, men were 38.1 years old, women were 35.2 years old. Spouses were in a relationship for 12.2 years and 87% of spouses were married for an average of 5.6 years at the start of the diary procedure. Participants had a good educational level, with 59% of men and 55% of women holding a university degree. The average number of children was 1.7 (SD= 0.8), with an average age of 4.5 years. More than 97% of men indicated at least 25 hours of professional work per week, and 76% of women indicated at least 20 hours of employment per week. Participants completed one part of a baseline questionnaire before they were visited in their home by research assistants, and the other part immediately after the visit. During the home visit, they were instructed on how to answer a series of questions implemented on handheld devices for the momentary assessment weeks (originally intended two 5 workday weeks, but most couples completed the surveys on the weekends also). In the following two weeks, couples answered to four momentary assessments each day: (a) before starting the workday in the morning (b) at the end of the workday, that is, during the last hour of work or on the way home (c) during the first 45 minutes after the reunion with the partner (“reunion” report) (d) during the last hour before going to bed at night (“evening” report) There were two follow-up questionnaires, one 6 months after the visit and one 12 months after the visit. All materials were administered in German, and translations of items used in English in prior work were validated via back-translation. Each participant received $50 after delivering the data. On average, spouses provided complete data on 9.77 days, yielding a total of 2,013 days of data. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the canton of Fribourg (October 2008) and the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the department of psychology of the University of Fribourg (April 2009)