Balancing Science and Parenthood (BAWIE)

Life situations of scientists (job, partnership, family). Balancing science and parenthood. Family education processes. Structural framework conditions for scientific careers. Work/life balance and satisfaction with different areas of life.

Job: Name of the university; subject group; duration in years since the start of the current position; fixed-term employment contract; duration in years until the end of the contract (fixed-term contract); prospect of extension or continued employment.

Working hours: contractually agreed and actual weekly working hours; percentage of working hours for various tasks (e.g. teaching, research, etc.).

Working context, integration: feeling of integration in the scientific community; respective number of women and men in the direct working context; sex of the person directly in charge; scientific activities and contacts (e.g. participation in working groups/research projects, membership in professional associations, etc.); number of publications in the last 5 years.

Attractiveness of the university, career prospects, exit to science: attractiveness of employment at the university; personal reasons for the scientific career; assessment of the prospects for the further academic career; further career goals pursued; most important reasons why the realisation of the career goals could fail; thoughts of leaving science; most important reasons for leaving science.

Assessment questions Occupation: personal significance of the occupation; importance of advancement and position as well as content of the activity; satisfaction with various aspects of the occupational situation (current overall occupational situation, career development, work autonomy, working atmosphere in the institution, recognition of performance by superiors, relationship to superiors); frequency of signs of overwork such as exhaustion, nervousness or burnout; strength of the feeling of occupational stress; extent of limitation by the occupation in family obligations.

Partner situation: importance of one´s own partnership or importance of a partnership; partner lives in a different place of residence; professional qualification of the partner; professional activity of the partner; weekly working hours; partner´s professional status; dual career couple; extent of difficulties in reconciling the two careers; extent of support for the partner in his/her career; success in reconciling work and family life for the partner; partner´s support in his/her own professional goals; establishment of a stable partnership more difficult for researchers than in other academic professional fields; overall satisfaction with the partnership; number of marriages; number of other marriage-like partnerships; age at first marriage; role of desire to have children or of existing children for the marriage; duration of partnerlessness; duration of partnership; sex of partner; joint household with partner.

Child situation: age of children; qualification stage at the time of birth of children; number of children in the household; satisfaction with the relationship with children; significance of children for one´s own life.

Those without children were asked: desire to have children; reasons against the realisation of the desire to have children; reasons against the realisation of the desire to have children more in the personal or in the professional sphere; reasons against the realisation of the desire to have children at an early age; reasons at that time against the desire to have children; reasons against the realisation of the desire to have children at the moment more in the personal or in the professional sphere; the subject of children is closed; conscious decision against children vs. has arisen; age at which the decision was made; environment accepts life without own children; advantages of life without children; importance of children in one´s own life.

Parents were asked: desire for further children; optimal number of children; probability of the realisation of a further desire to have children; reasons against the realisation of a further desire to have children; reasons against the realisation of a further desire to have children more in the personal or in the professional sphere; effects of a further child on different areas (partnership, professional career, life satisfaction, personal well-being and social reputation); reasons against further children; reasons against a further desire to have children more in the personal or in the professional sphere; again all: attitude towards children (scale).

Effects of parenthood and working life: extent of dealing with the issue of reconciling work and family life; positive vs. negative effects of parenthood on career development; concrete occupational consequences of parenthood on the situation at the university; frequency of conflicts between the demands of university work and responsibility for the children; support with regard to reconciling work; professional time-out of the respondent or partner due to the birth of the first or further children and duration of the respective time-out; reduced working hours (weekly hours) of the respondent or partner due to the birth of the first or further children and the period of reduced working time; criteria for the decision with regard to professional time off or reduction of working time; pregnancy or birth of children during employment at the university; reaction of the superior to parenthood; counselling interview with the superior on the compatibility of parenthood and academic career; organisation of the re-entry (e.g. resumption of the old position); professional relegation, comparable employment or good career prospects as a result of the re-entry.

Reconcilability at the institution of higher education: being informed about possibilities and offers for reconciling work and family at the institution of higher education; support; type of received support at the institution of higher education; difficulties at the institution of higher education in reconciling work and family life; three most important points for improving the reconcilability of academic work and parenthood at the institution of higher education; preferred reconcilability model for the current professional situation; satisfaction with the possibilities of reconciling family and academic work at the institution of higher education; satisfaction with the balance between work and private life; perceived burden of reconciling academic work and private life.

Professors were asked: Informed about the family situation of young academics at the institute; counselling interview sought from academic staff members or by initiative of the respondent; frequency of male and female scientists withdrawing from science; greater compatibility problems of female junior scientists with children than of male scientists; change in the compatibility of science and family responsibility over time; function as mentor; role model function with regard to one´s own professional career and personal life model; achieved academic position rather through strong pursuit of goals or by chance; renewed decision for academic career.

Home and family work, childcare, organisation: responsibility at home for the organisation of home and family work; regulation of emergency care for the children; satisfaction with the current regulation on child care; care of relatives in need of care and number of hours per week for this care activity; extent of the restriction in the occupation by family obligations; perceived burden by family obligations; regulation for the completion of household work; satisfaction with the regulation of household work; perceived burden by household work; child care regulation up to primary school age and currently; monthly costs for child care; extent of the financial burden by child care.

Areas of life most likely to be neglected; areas of personal abandonment to achieve career goals; agreement with various statements on the interactions of career, parental role and private life; extent of partner support of life goals; ideal partnership model with children under 3 years; satisfaction with personal life model, career development, personal development and work-life balance.

Family of origin: parents´ educational background; parents´ academic activity; extent of parents´ employment during the childhood; significance of academic education and professional development in the parental home; parents´ role model; evaluation of this role model.

Migration background: personal migration background; special influence of the migration background on the compatibility of science and family; country of origin of the respondent or the parents; permanent activity in science in Germany.

Academic career: completion of first academic qualification; year of graduation; degree completed in the old or new federal states or in another country; current doctoral/ postdoctoral qualification; year of doctoral/ postdoctoral qualification; doctoral/ postdoctoral qualification in the old or new federal states or in another country; year of first professorship; type of funding for the doctorate; sponsorship by a mentor during the doctoral period; sex of the mentor; importance of mentor support for career decisions and academic career; obstacles to previous academic careers; length of service in academia; number of universities and non-university research institutions at which the respondent worked; number of academic stays abroad and total duration in months; employment outside academia; agreement on various statements on the situation of women in academia.

Financial situation: personal net income; household net income; satisfaction with financial situation.

Demography: sex; age; marital status; highest academic qualification; academic status; stable partnership; children; number of biological children; number of non-biological children; single parent.

Additionally coded was: respondent ID.