FReDA – The German Family Demography Panel Study

The study programme “FReDA – The German Family Demography Panel” is a cooperative project of the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB), GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences, and – as representatives of the pairfam consortium – the University of Cologne and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. FReDA is a longitudinal study on family and demography with an international perspective and a dyadic multi-actor design. As part of the international Generations and Gender Programme (GGP), the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS) sample (FReDA-GGS) allows for comparisons with around 14 other European countries as well as five countries or territories in Asia and South America. From FReDA wave 2 onwards, the pairfam sample – which had existed in large part since 2008 – was integrated into the FReDA panel as the FReDA-pairfam sample and will be followed with a joint FReDA survey instrument.

Regular FReDA waves comprise two subwaves, which are collected biannually: subwave A (e.g., W1A) and subwave B (e.g., W1B). Every four years, an additional recruitment/refreshment wave is conducted, which is marked with the letter R (e.g., W1R). The main survey is conducted with the anchor persons. In addition, the anchors´ partners are also surveyed – once in wave 1, bi-annually from wave 2 onwards. In addition, from wave 2 onwards, anchors´ ex-partners are also surveyed. Although the survey programme for (ex-)partners is based on the main survey, it differs in scope and content, and it is designed cross-sectionally – that is, anchors are asked in each subwave for their consent to their (ex-)partners being contacted with a request to participate in the FReDA partner survey.

For the recruitment of the FReDA-GGS sample, a probability-based sample of 108,256 anchor persons aged between 18 and 49 years resident in Germany was drawn from the population registers of municipalities in Germany in 2020. In wave 1, the Interviews were conducted in a self-administered mode – either web-based (CAWI) or paper-based (PAPI) – by the infas Institute for Applied Social Sciences. From wave 2 onwards, the interviews are conducted in a self-administered mode (CAWI or PAPI) by GESIS – Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences. Also with effect from wave 2, the probability-based pairfam sample was integrated into FReDA as the FReDA-pairfam sample if anchors consented to participate in the FReDA study. Consent could be given either during the pairfam wave 14 interview or by telephone or postal mail (postcard). Hence, pairfam anchors who did not take part in pairfam wave 14 could also be integrated into FReDA if they gave their consent. The FReDA-pairfam sample includes randomly selected individuals from the birth cohorts 1971–73, 1981–83, and 1991–93. In addition, it includes a younger cohort (2001–03), which was recruited in pairfam wave 11. Furthermore, "step-up respondents" – that is, former participants in the pairfam children´s survey who transitioned to the main pairfam anchor survey on reaching the age of 15 years – also became part of the FReDA-pairfam sample if they consented to be re-interviewed.

FReDA focuses thematically on family life and intimate relationships. The FReDA questionnaires have a modular design and comprise the following main topics:
• Family planning and fertility
• Couples’ relationships and partnerships
• Parent–child and intergenerational relationships
• Sociodemographics
• Health, well-being, and personality
• Work and income
• Attitudes and values
• Aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic

A comprehensive overview of the methodological and conceptual principles of the FReDA study is provided in the FReDA reference paper ( <a href=https://doi.org/10.12765/CPoS-2021-06 target=´_blank´>Schneider et al. (2021) </a>) and in a recent data brief by <a href=https://doi.org/10.1093/esr/jcae019 target=´_blank´>Hank et al. (2024) </a>.

A comprehensive overview of the methodological and conceptual principles of the pairfam study can be found in the pairfam reference paper ( <a href=https://doi.org/10.20377/jfr-235 target=´_blank´>Huinink et al. (2021) </a>) and in the <a href=https://search.gesis.org/research_data/ZA5678 target=´_blank´>pairfam Studiendokumentation </a>.<br>Recruitment subwave W1R:

Value orientation and attitudes: traditional marriage concept (Unmarried cohabitation is permissible, marriage for life, divorce is permissible); traditional family (women need children to be fulfilled, men need children to be fulfilled, homosexual couple rights); gender role (pre-school child suffers if mother works, working mother can establish warm and secure relationship with child, women should care for family and less for career); intergenerational care values (parents provide financial help, children should care for parents, children should provide financial help for parents); gender values (better political leaders, for whom is a university education most important, for whom is having a job more important, for whom is housework and looking after children more important, better at caring for children).

Corona: experience during the COVID-19 pandemic (personally heavily burdened, fear of falling ill, can also see the positive side, financial losses, difficulty restricting personal contact); assessment of political measures to fight the Corona virus (too much, just enough, too little).

Demography: sex; sex according to register data; age; date of birth (month, year); current marital status; respondent has a partner; respondent has a partner for at least three months, living with partner; place first met current partner; satisfaction with the current romantic relationship; no children; number of biological children with current partner and with former partner; number of adopted children and of stepchildren; household size; highest school-leaving certificate; highest vocational qualification; years of education; education (ISCED-11); current situation; satisfaction with the actual employment situation; date school-leaving certificate reached (month, year); type of academic institution; date vocational education reached (month, year); degree of urbanization; currently living in eastern Germany; place of birth (federal state); country of birth; citizenships; language spoken at home; migration background: born in Germany; German citizenship; additional citizenship; date of immigration (month, year); financial situation of household (subjective); total household net income (last month, categories); internet connection; frequency of internet use; satisfaction with life as a whole.

Additionally coded: respondent ID (anchor); subwave; sample (FReDA-GGS); interview date (day, month, year); mode; device used by respondent; total duration of web interview in seconds; contact strategy; number of mailings; interview assessment (the questionnaire was interesting, varied, important for research, long, difficult, too personal); panel consent; Flag variables: inconsistency with register data; partial interviews; unusually short interview duration; weight: design weight; design weight scaled to net sample size; start of survey field period; end of survey field period.

Paradata: respondent ID (anchor); subwave; time and date of first access to questionnaire (absolute cumulated duration); time and date of last access to questionnaire (absolute cumulated duration); viewport width first page (in pixels); viewport height first page (in pixels); viewport width last page (in pixels); viewport height last page (in pixels); last page processed in questionnaire; number of interruptions; absolute cumulated duration for pages (milliseconds); soft prompt for page consent.

Wave W1A:

Employment: employment status; paid employment in the last week, full-time/part-time employment; hours worked per week, commuting between home and work (duration in hours and minutes); perceived stress during the last three months (too tired to do housework, difficulty meeting family obligations, too tired at work, difficulty concentrating because of family obligations, private conflicts affect performance); current situation; continuing education measures in the last twelve months.

Information on children, ex-partners, and household members of the anchor in repeat loops. For respondents in paper-based mode, the number of loop variables is limited to four children, four ex-partners, and four household members. For respondents in web-based mode, the maximum number of blocks of loop variables is higher.

Partner and partnership information: partner´s education: highest general education degree, highest vocational education degree, years of education; ISCED 2011; type of college/institution; current situation; paid job in the last week; hours worked per week; health restrictions in the last six months; country of birth; citizenships; country of birth Germany; German citizenship; other citizenship; federal state at birth; moved to Germany (month and year); duration of current partnership/ marriage in months; date of beginning relationship with current partner (month, year); married to current partner; date of marriage (month, year); registered civil partnership with current partner; date of registration of civil partnership (month, year); ever married to current partner(s); date of divorce from current partner (month, year); date of moving in with current partner (month, year), choice or circumstances of living apart; reason for living apart (anchor and partner; circumstances of living apart; distance from current partner´s home (duration in hours and minutes); number of days of face-to-face meetings and contacts with current partner(s) per week, month, or year; Intention to move in together in the next three years; intention to marry; intention to move in together and marry; frequency of disagreements about housework, money, leisure activities, relationship with friends, with parents, family planning, and child rearing issues; behavior in case of serious disagreements; serious thoughts about separation or divorce.

Information on previous partnerships: Previous partnerships of at least three months duration; number of previous partnerships; number of cohabitations or marriages in previous partnerships; sex and age (date of birth month, year) of ex-partner; way of getting to know ex-partner; date of beginning of relationship (month, year); date of moving in together (month, year); married to ex-partner; date of marriage (month, year); type of end partnership (separation/death of partner); divorce from ex-partner), date of divorce (month, year); partner who filed for divorce.

Information on children: child living, status of child; other natural parent of child; sex of child; date of birth (month year); date of death (month, year); child lives in same household; place of residence of child if not in same household; number of days per week, month, or year with care of child; number of overnights of child per week in respondent´s household; current situation; health limitations; general health; child has ever lived in the same household for more than three months; number of days per week, month, or year with face-to-face meetings with child; number of days per week, month, or year with other contact with child; distance to child´s other residence (duration in hours and minutes); satisfaction with relationship with child.

Natural children with ex-partner; number of natural children with respective former partner; stepchildren with ex-partner; number of stepchildren with respective former partner; natural children of ex-partner; number of natural children with respective former partner; children with someone else; number of children with someone else.

Pregnancies and family planning: current pregnancy of respondent or partner; other woman pregnant by respondent; expected date of birth (month, year); pregnancy with youngest child was planned; timing of pregnancy earlier/later than planned or just right; previous pregnancy was planned; timing of previous pregnancy earlier/later than planned or just right; problems getting pregnant for at least twelve months; purely physically able to have a child or to to conceive (anchor and partner); unable to have a child due to sterilization or surgery; diagnosis for infertility or not seen a doctor; time of attempt to become pregnant (month and year); type of fertility treatment; type of contraceptive methods used; sexual intercourse in the last four weeks; desire to have children in the next three years; general desire to have children; intended number of children; ideal number of children for respondent and in general; desired sex of first or next child; age at first menstruation or age at voice change; age at first sexual intercourse.

Housing situation: number of rooms in the apartment or house; living space (in square meters); date of moving in (month and year); owner or tenant of the apartment or house; monthly cold rent (in euros); monthly incidental rental costs (in euros); satisfaction with the apartment or house; place of residence three years ago; reason for moving; intended move within Germany; intended move to another country.

Household composition: other household members; number of other persons in the household; for the other household members was asked: relationship to this household member; sex; date of birth (month and year); current situation; satisfaction with the relationship to this person; health restrictions of this person in the last six months.

Division of household chores between partners; satisfaction with division of chores; assessment of fairness of division of household chores; division of childcare chores; satisfaction with division of childcare chores; household decision-maker about routine household purchases, major household purchases, amount of time spent in own employment, and amount of time spent in partner´s employment; Organization of household income and expenses; length of time receiving Parental Benefit or Parental BenefitPlus for youngest child (in months, anchor, and partner); received regular child care assistance from acquaintances, friends, or relatives in the last 12 months; person providing child care assistance; number of days of child care assistance; payment of one of these persons; regular child care assistance from paid providers (e.g. B. child day care providers); type of child care services used; number of days per week, month, or year; monthly cost of child care; chore assistance from public or private providers; number of days per week, month, or year chore assistance is used; cost per week, month, or year of chore assistance; life satisfaction; self-assessment of health status; frequency of depression tendencies in the last week; net household income (in euros and categorized); assessment of the household´s financial situation; receipt of alimony in the last twelve months from a former partner; payment of alimony in the last twelve months to a former partner.

Demography: sex; sex according to registry data; age; date of birth (month, year); age according to registry data; currently residing in East Germany; degree of urbanization; current marital status; current partnership status: same-sex partnership; current partnership status: relationship present; partnership for at least three months; living with partner; how did you meet current partner; satisfaction with current relationship; age and sex of partner; date of birth (month and year) of partner; number of all children, number of biological children, adopted children, and stepchildren born before the interview; number of all children still living, number of all children in the anchor´s household; age of youngest child, number of biological children, and number of adopted children with current partner; children of current partner with someone else and number of these children.

Additionally coded were: ID anchor; wave data collection; identifier for sample membership; interview date (day, month, year); participation mode; terminal device; total duration of web interview in seconds; contact strategy; number of mailings; net equivalent income (GCEE); interview rating; consent to panel participation current partner; flag variables: Deviations from registry data, incomplete interviews, strikingly short interview duration, deviations from previous wave, missing information on children with (ex)partners, missing information on children (child loop); weighting factors; field start, field end.

Wave W1B:

Parents, origin, and childhood: birth mother still living, birth mother living in same household; birth father still living; birth father living in same household; distance to mother´s/father´s residence in hours and minutes; number of days of face-to-face meetings and contacts with mother and father per week, month, or year; satisfaction with relationship with birth mother/father; attachment to birth mother/father; asked for both parents: Age; country of birth; date of birth (month, year); date of death (month, year); country of birth Germany; federal state at birth; birth parents living in a common household; living with birth mother/father in a common household; ever lived apart from birth parents for at least 3 months; date of first separation from parents (month and year); intended change in living situation due to separation from parents in the next three years; parents were married; date of marriage (month and year); separation of parents; date of separation (month and year); siblings: Number of brothers and sisters; number of older siblings; year of birth of first child of birth mother and birth father; childhood in Germany; childhood abroad; federal state during childhood; lived with birth parents during childhood; lived with whom during childhood; quality of relationship between birth parents during childhood; ever lived abroad for more than three months during childhood; occupation (ISCO88) and occupational status of birth mother or of birth father at age 15; years of education of birth parents; highest general education degree (ISCED-11), highest vocational education degree; number of grandparents still living; number of birth children, adopted children, stepchildren, and foster children; grandchildren; number of grandchildren; date of birth of oldest grandchild (month and year).

General well-being and health status: life satisfaction; regular need for care; type of health impairments or no diagnosis of health impairments; degree of limitations in activities of daily living in the last six months; limitations since when; infection with Corona virus since the beginning of the pandemic; body weight in kilograms; height in centimeters; happiness scale; loneliness (can rely on people for help with problems, feel general emptiness, miss people around me, can rely on many people, often feel rejected, feel close to people); contacts for important personal matters.

Employment situation: current situation; satisfaction with employment status; date of beginning of current situation (month and year); paid employment in the last week; date of beginning of paid employment (month and year); employment full-time or part-time; hours worked per week; commuting between home and work (duration in hours and minutes); arrangement of work hours; flexibility in arrangement of work hours; frequency of working from home per week; frequency of working evenings or nights for at least two hours; workplace evenings or nights at home or elsewhere); frequency of working weekends; workplace weekends at home or elsewhere; probability of job loss; type of organization of current business (private or public); type of current employment contract; flexible work arrangements by employer; additional employment or business; hours worked per week for the additional employment; possible to return to work after maternity or parental leave; intention to return to work after end of maternity or parental leave; intention to take a job or start a business within the next three years; job or business immediately before current situation; previous job situation; previous job position; previous number of supervised employees; reason for leaving previous job; current or most recent occupation (ISCO-08); current or most recent occupational position.

Partnership: steady relationship; date of birth of partner; relationship existed at the time of last interview; satisfaction with partner relationship; information on partner´s current employment and daily activities: Current situation; paid job in the last week; reason for leaving previous job; current job (ISCO-88); job position; number of supervised employees; hours worked per week; work schedule arrangement; frequency of working from home per week; frequency of working in the evening or at night for at least two hours; workplace at home or elsewhere in the evening or at night); frequency of working on weekends; working weekends at home or elsewhere; likelihood of job loss; organizational form of current business (private or public); type of current employment contract; flexible work arrangements by employer; additional employment or business; hours worked per week for the additional employment.

Financial situation of the household: estimated current market value of owned real estate and land; real estate loan; outstanding amount for this loan; amount of the household´s monthly payments for real estate loans; subjective assessment of the household´s financial situation; ever received money, valuables or possessions worth more than 5. 000 euros; received these financial transfers from whom; year of last gift or inheritance; household financially in arrears in the last twelve months; types of household income in the last month; household net income (in euros and categories); expected development of financial situation in the next three years.

Attitudes and values: general trust in people; planning for the future; value orientation and attitudes: Traditional concept of marriage (unmarried cohabitation is okay, marriage is lifelong union, divorce is okay); traditional family (women need children for fulfilling life, men need children for fulfilling life, equal rights for homosexual couples); gender role (preschool child suffers when mother works, loving and stable mother-child relationship when mother works, women should care about family and less about career); intergenerational values (parents should financially support adult children, children should take responsibility for their parents´ care, children should financially support their parents), gender roles (better political leadership, for whom is university education more important, for whom is a job more important, for whom is household and child care more important, better care for young children); experiment on ideal employment status and ideal weekly work hours of mother and father by age of child; religious community; frequency of participation in religious events per week, month, or year; religiosity; experience of Corona pandemic (personally heavily burdened, fear of contracting COVID-19, time also had good sides, financial losses, difficulty limiting personal contacts).

Demography: sex; sex according to registry data; age; date of birth (month, year); age according to registry data; migration background; currently residing in eastern Germany; degree of urbanization; current partnership status: relationship present; satisfaction with current relationship; age of partner; number of all children, number of biological children, number of adopted children, and stepchildren born before interview.

Additionally coded: ID anchor; wave data collection; identifier for sample membership; interview date (day, month, year); mode of participation; terminal device; total duration of Web interview in seconds; contact strategy; incentive experiment; experimental groups work by age of child; number of mailings; net equivalent income (GCEE); interview rating; flag variables: Deviations from registry data, incomplete interviews, strikingly short interview duration, deviations from pre-wave, weighting factors; field start, field end.

Wave W2A:

Employment: employment status; current situation; full-time/part-time employment; paid employment in the last week, update of paid employment; hours worked per week.

Information on the partner and the partnership: Partner´s education (ISCED 2011): Highest general school qualification, highest vocational training qualification, years of education; type of school qualification obtained since last interview or no school qualification obtained since then; type of vocational qualification obtained since last interview or no vocational qualification obtained since then; type of higher education institution; employment status; current situation; paid employment in the last week; update of paid employment; hours worked per week; who earns more in the partnership (in an average month); country of birth; Citizenships; country of birth Germany; German citizenship; other citizenships; federal state at birth; move to Germany (month and year); duration of current partnership/marriage in months; update of partnership from last interview; update of date of separation from partner from last interview (month, year); update of type of relationship end from last interview (separation, death); initiative for separation from anchor or partner; situation in the last year until separation: Alcohol, tablet or other drug problems; self or ex-partner has cheated; violent arguments; jealousy or mistrust; feeling restricted; feelings today with the separation; update: Living together with current partner already at the time of the last interview; living together with separated partner from last interview, date of end of partnership with separated partner (month, year); date of moving in with current partner (month, year); married to current partner; Married to separated partner from last survey; date of divorce from current partner (month, year); date of marriage to current partner (month, year); marriage to ex-partner; type of end of marriage (divorce, separation); date of divorce from partner from last survey (month, year), current partnership status: Relationship present; satisfaction with situation as a single person; agreement with statements about single life: many things easier as a single person because you don´t have to be constantly considerate and adapt to the other person, would like to have a partner; actively looking for a partner; person is interested in anchor or anchor is interested in a person; partner search via the Internet; options used on the Internet for partner search (chat forums, social networks, online dating sites, mobile dating apps, other); sex of partner; date of birth (month, year) of partner; date of start of relationship with current partner (month, year); previous partnership with current partner; living together with current partner; date of moving in with current partner (month, year); married to current partner; date of marriage to current partner (month/year); way of getting to know current partner; distance to current partner´s place of residence (duration in hours and minutes); number of days of personal meetings with current partner per month; personal meetings less than once a month or never.

Details of children: Update Children: none; age of child; sex of child; date of birth (month year); status of child; other biological parent of child; child lives in same household; place of residence of child if not in same household; number of days per month caring for child; caring for child less than once a month or never; number of days per month contact with child; contact with child less than once a month or never.

Quality of the partnership: division of labor: Division of household chores between partners; assessment of fairness of division of household chores; satisfaction with division of childcare tasks; frequency of the following in the partnership (telling partner what is bothering you, appreciation from partner, angry or annoyed with each other, partner showing appreciation, differing opinions and arguing, sharing secrets and innermost feelings); Satisfaction with relationship with partner; settling disagreements (giving in, talking calmly, making concerns understood, arguing or getting loud, insulting or abusing partner, refusing to talk about it); serious thoughts about separation or divorce.

Pregnancies and family planning: current pregnancy of respondent or partner; pregnancy was planned; physically able to have a child (anchor and partner); trying to get pregnant or conceive a child; time of trying to get pregnant (month and year); type of fertility treatment; type of contraceptive methods used; sexual intercourse in the last four weeks; desire to have children in the next three years; intended number of children; ideal number of children.

Parental role: Feelings in the parental role (raising children determines life, caught up in parental duties, meeting children´s needs very well, implementing resolutions in child-raising); frequency of problems in child-raising with the partner (disagreements, discussions end in arguments, one stabs the other in the back); Child has another biological parent with whom there is no longer a partnership and contact with the other biological parent; disagreements Discussions end in arguments, one backs the other); cooperation with the other biological parent (good team, we make important parenting decisions together).

Household and housing situation: Household composition: other household members; number of other people in the household; for the other household members, the following was asked: relationship to this household member; sex; date of birth (month and year); housing situation: updating of apartment/house or municipality; number of rooms in the apartment or house; home ownership/rent; reason for moving; household size; number of people in the household under 14 years of age; receipt of parental allowance or parental allowance plus for the youngest child (in months, anchor and partner); childcare: received regular childcare support from acquaintances, friends or relatives in the last twelve months; person providing childcare support; number of days for childcare support; payment of one of these persons; childcare support from paid providers (e.g. day care centers); type of childcare used, number of days per month with childcare support from paid providers; childcare from paid providers less than once a month; monthly cost of childcare.

Corona: Infection with the COVID-19 virus since the beginning of the corona pandemic; severity of symptoms of COVID-19 disease; health impairments due to COVID-19 disease; attitude towards COVID-19 vaccination (safe, unnecessary, thoroughly tested, severe side effects, not necessary, helps to contain the pandemic, vaccines are also safe for children); vaccination status: Vaccinated at least once against COVID-19; date of first COVID-19 vaccination (month, year); type of most recent COVID-19 vaccination received; date of last COVID-19 vaccination (month, year); all children aged 12 to 17 years or from 5 to 11 years of age have been vaccinated against COVID-19 at least once; planned vaccination of unvaccinated children from 12 to 17 years of age or from 5 to 11 years of age.

Demography: sex; sex according to register data; age; age according to register data; date of birth (month, year); birth cohort; currently living in eastern Germany; degree of urbanization; current marital status; current relationship status: Same-sex partnership; indicator current relationship; separation from partner since last participation; age and sex of partner; number of all children born before the interview; number of biological children, adopted children, stepchildren and foster children born before the interview; Number of all living children, number of all children in the anchor´s household; childless; age of youngest child, number of biological children, adopted children, stepchildren and foster children with the current partner; education (ISCED 2011): highest school-leaving qualification; years of education; highest vocational qualification; type of school-leaving qualification obtained since last interview or no school-leaving qualification obtained since then; type of vocational qualification obtained since last interview or no vocational qualification obtained since then; type of university; migration background: mother´s country of birth, father´s country of birth; general life satisfaction; household financial situation; types of household income in the last month; net household income (in euros and categories).

Additionally coded were: ID anchor; wave of data collection; identifier for sample affiliation; interview date (day, month, year); participation mode; end device; total duration of the web interview in seconds; contact strategy; number of postal mailings; type of access to the survey; provision of e-mail address; incentivization experiment; net equivalent income (GCEE, OECD); questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, important for science, long, difficult, too personal); probability of participation in future surveys via an online questionnaire or a written questionnaire by post; consent to panel participation of current partner; consent to panel participation of ex-partner; flag variables: consent to panel participation of current partner; consent to panel participation of ex-partner. via a written questionnaire by post; consent to panel participation of current partner; consent to panel participation of ex-partner; flag variables: Deviations from register data, incomplete interviews, conspicuously short interview duration, deviations from previous wave, missing information on children (child loop); weighting factors; field start, field end.

Wave W2B:

Employment: Employment status; current situation; paid job in the last week, paid job update; job position; number of supervised employees; number of employees; organizational form of company of current job; type of employment contract; flexible working arrangements; employment full-time/part-time; hours worked per week; length of commute between home and work (in hours and minutes); flexibility of working hours; frequency of working from home per week; frequency of workload (too tired for housework, difficult to fulfill family obligations, too tired at work due to housework, difficulty concentrating due to family obligations, private conflicts affect performance).

Information on the partner and the partnership: Education: Highest general school leaving certificate, highest vocational training qualification, years of education; ISCED 2011; update of school leaving certificate; type of university/institution; ISCO-08; employment status; current situation; paid employment in the last week; update of paid employment; professional position; number of supervised employees; number of employees; organizational form of the company of current work; type of employment contract; working hours per week; who earns more in the partnership (in an average month); country of birth; citizenships; Country of birth Germany; German citizenship; other citizenship; federal state at birth; move to Germany (month and year); duration of current partnership in months; duration of current marriage in months; update of partnership from last interview; update of date of separation from partner from last interview (month, year; update of type of end of partnership from last interview (separation, death); initiative for separation coming from anchor or partner; situation in the last year until separation: Alcohol, tablet or other drug problems; cheated on yourself or your ex-partner cheated; violent fights; jealousy or mistrust; felt restricted; feelings about separation today; update on living with current partner; country of residence of partner; update on living with separated partner from last interview; update on date of end of living with separated partner (month, year); update on date of moving in with current partner (month, year); Update married to current partner; update married to separated partner from last interview; update date of divorce from current partner (month, year); update date of marriage of current partner (month, year); update marriage with ex-partner; update type of end of marriage (divorce/separation, death); update date of divorce from partner from last interview (month, year); current partnership status: Relationship present; satisfaction with the situation as a single person; agreement with statements about single life: many things are easier as a single person because you don´t have to be constantly considerate and adapt to others, would like to have a partner; active partner search; person is interested in anchor or anchor is interested in a person; partner search via the Internet; options used on the Internet for partner search (chat forums, social networks, online dating sites, mobile dating apps, other); sex of the partner; date of birth (month, year) of the partner; date of the start of the relationship with the current partner (month, year); previous relationship with current partner; how they met their current partner; distance from current partner´s home (in hours and minutes); number of days of face-to-face meetings with current partner per month; Face-to-face meetings less than once a month or never; satisfaction with relationship with partner.

Details of children: Update children: none; age of child; sex of child; date of birth (month year); status of child; other natural parent of child; child lives in same household; country of residence; place of residence of child if not in same household; number of days per month caring for child; caring for child less than once a month or never; number of days per month contact with child; contact with child less than once a month or never.

Update apartment or house; update of city or municipality; number of rooms in the apartment or house; ownership of apartment or house; reason for moving to the current address; number of persons in the household; number of persons under 14 in the household; biological mother still lives; biological father still lives; biological father still lives House; reason for moving to current address; number of persons in household; number of persons under 14 in household; biological mother still living; biological mother living in household; biological father still living; biological father living in household; biological parents living together in a joint household; distance to biological parents´ place of residence (duration in hours and minutes); country of residence of biological mother; number of days per month with personal meetings with biological mother; meeting the biological mother in person less than once a month or never; number of days per month with contact with the biological mother by phone, mail, e-mail or other electronic means; contact with the biological mother by phone, mail, e-mail or other electronic means less than once a month or never; emotional attachment to the biological mother; distance to the biological mother´s place of residence (duration in hours and minutes); country of residence of the biological father; number of days per month with face-to-face meetings with the biological father; face-to-face meetings with the biological father less than once a month or never; number of days per month with contact with the biological father by telephone, mail, e-mail or other electronic means; contact with the biological father by telephone, mail, e-mail or other electronic means less than once a month or never; emotional attachment to the biological father; distance to the biological father´s place of residence (duration in hours and minutes).

Infection with the COVID-19 virus since the beginning of the corona pandemic; frequency of touching the partner in the last week (kissing, putting arm around shoulder, intimate hug); desire for touching the partner in the last week (kissing, putting arm around shoulder, intimate hug); sexual orientation; estimated probability of pregnancy in women aged 30 to 35 years, 40 to 45 years and 40 to 45 years after up to three in vitro fertilization cycles.

Other family members abroad; close relationship with one or more family members abroad; no support from family members abroad in the last 12 months; type of support from family members abroad (financial, material, organizational, emotional, other types of support); which family members abroad were supported financially, materially, emotionally or in other ways; anchor has not been supported by family members abroad in the last 12 months; type of support experienced by family members abroad (financial, material, organizational, emotional, other types of support); which family members abroad have provided financial, material, emotional or other types of support.

Personality and values: Personal perception (worthless, likes me, content, alone); personal characteristics (quiet, empathetic, warm, messy, often worry, enthusiastic about art, music, literature, tends to take the lead, rude, brusque, put off tasks, depressed, depressed, not interested in abstract thinking, full of energy and drive, trust others easily, reliable, balanced, original, develop new ideas); general life satisfaction; self-assessment of general health; weight in kilograms; depression tendencies during the last week (thought my life had failed, was depressed, was sad); values: Views on family and family life (child under 6 suffers if his mother works, his father works resp. both parents work, warm and secure mother-child relationship if mother works; warm and secure father-child relationship if father works); intergenerational values (children should organize their working life in such a way that they can take care of their sick parents, grandparents should contribute to the economic security of their grandchildren and their parents); ideal employment status of the mother in a family with a 2-year-old child; ideal working hours of this mother (hours per week); ideal employment status of the father in this family; ideal working hours of this father (hours per week); importance of God in one´s own life.

Demography: Sex; gender according to register data; age; age according to register data; date of birth (month, year); birth cohort; currently residing in eastern Germany; degree of urbanization; current marital status; current relationship status; same-sex partnership; indicator current relationship; separation from partner since last participation; age and sex of partner; Number of all children born before the interview; number of biological children, adopted children, stepchildren and foster children born before the interview; number of all living children, number of all children in the anchor´s household; childless; age of youngest child, number of biological children, adopted children, stepchildren and foster children with the current partner; education (ISCED 2011): highest school-leaving qualification; years of education; highest vocational qualification; type of school-leaving qualification obtained since last interview or no school-leaving qualification obtained since then; type of vocational qualification obtained since last interview or no vocational qualification obtained since then; type of university; ISCO-08; country of birth; household financial situation; net household income (in euros and categories).

Additionally coded were: ID anchor; wave of data collection; identifier for sample affiliation; interview date (day, month, year); participation mode; end device; total duration of the web interview in seconds; contact strategy; number of postal mailings; survey access type; provision of e-mail address; Incentivization experiment; net equivalent income (GCEE, OECD); questionnaire evaluation (interesting, varied, important for science, long, difficult, too personal); consent to panel participation of current partner; consent to panel participation of ex-partner; flag variables: Deviations from register data, incomplete interviews, remarkably short interview duration, deviations from previous wave, missing information on children (child loop); weighting factors; field start, field end.