KINMATRIX - Uncovering the Kinship Matrix

The data collected as part of the Horizon 2020-funded KINMATRIX project depicts families as egocentric networks of young adults and includes a wide range of relatives, including biological parents, grandparents, siblings (full and half), aunts, uncles, first cousins, and half- and step-relatives from complex family constellations. The survey thus extends the traditional concept of family to a comprehensive kinship matrix that reflects the diversity of today´s families and enables the analysis of family solidarity, intergenerational transmission and the role of the family as a safety network, social capital and financial support in different societies. The KINMATRIX survey was conducted as a self-administered online survey (CAWI) in 10 countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States). Round 1 was conducted between December 2022 and March 2023 in the nine European countries and the United States. Round 2, which was only conducted in the USA, took place between December 2023 and January 2024. Respondents were selected through a quota sample from a Dynata online access panel. The target population of anchor respondents were Dynata panelists between the ages of 25 and 35 who were raised by at least one biological family member.<br>1. Quota and filter questions: age; age groups and year of birth (recoded); gender; region; highest level of education; respondent’s subjective social status; employment status; raised by whom (e.g. by one or both of my biological parents, etc.).

Additional demographic and personal questions: born in the survey country; country of birth; sexual orientation; partner status; living with a partner; number of children; birth years of children; satisfaction with life; self-assessment of health in general; agreement with the following statements: Parents and children should support each other mutually for a lifetime, you should get married if you permanently live with your partner, women should be more concerned about their family than about their career, men should participate in housework to the same extent as women, a child under 6 will suffer from having a working mother, Children often suffer because their fathers spend too much time at work, marriage is a lifelong union that should not be broken, couples should marry, at the latest, after a child is born; immigrants generally bad or good for the survey country’s economy; immigrants generally undermined or enrich country’s cultural life; immigrants make the country a worse or a better place to live; ethnicity (only in USA); Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; belonging to a religion or denomination; religion or denomination; frequency of attending religious services.

2. Creating the family tree
Name generator implemented in the form of a family tree; biological family: number of brothers; number of sisters; number of paternal uncles; number of paternal aunts; number of maternal uncles; number of maternal aunts; number of cousins from this uncle or aunt; how many brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and cousins from this uncle or aunt are known.

Attributes: age of this person; year of birth of this person, year of death of this person; kin gender; who was not born in the country; who does not live in the country; person lives in urban or rural area; who has completed university; person’s employment status; kin subjective social status; person has any long-term health problems; person who the anchor wants to invite to the survey; anchor wants to invite none of them to the survey.

Relationships: who was important to the anchor; none of them was important; who helps with childcare; none of them helps with childcare; hours per week these persons helped with childcare; frequency of contact; time to get to this person; feeling of closeness to this person; person who gave money; none of them gave money; person who gave good advice; none of them gave good advice; person who comforted; none of the comforted; person the anchor could really count on; anchor could really count on none of them; amount of conflict, tension, or disagreement with this person; paternal grandparents separated, year of separation of paternal grandparents; maternal grandparents separated; year of separation of maternal grandparents.

Separation and additional family members: parents are still together; parents separated before one of them died; anchor’ age when parents separated; anchor’s age guessed when parents separated; household in which the anchor lived after parents separated; number of new partners with whom the father cohabitated; number of new partners with whom the mother cohabitated; anchor’s age when parent repartnered with this partner; parent and this partner are still together; anchor’s age when parent and this partner separated; ever cohabitated with this partner; years of cohabitation between anchor and this partner; number of half-siblings from each of parent’s partner; ever cohabitated with this half-sibling; years of cohabitation between anchor and this half-sibling; number of step-siblings from each of parent’s partner; ever cohabitated with this step-sibling; years of cohabitation between anchor and this step-sibling; number of additional half-siblings from paternal side; number of additional half-siblings from maternal side; ever cohabitated with this additional half-sibling; years of cohabitation of anchor with this additional half-sibling.

Additionally coded: survey country; anchor ID; anchor name status; total number of kin per anchor; total of “don’t knows” on any variable kin number; total of double “don’t knows” on any variable kin number; kin name status; kinship identification type; kinship category; kinship side; complex kinship incl. half-siblings and step-kin; kin living status; all born in the country; in which country was this person born (outside UK/ USA version/ UK/USA version); all live in the country; disrupted biography (early parental death or separation); early father or mother death, early father death; early mother death; total of “don’t knows” on the number of half-siblings; total of “don’t knows” on the number of cousins; total of double “don’t knows” on the number of cousins; total number of siblings per anchor; total of “don’t knows” on the number of siblings; total of double “don’t knows” on the number of siblings; total of “don’t knows” on the number of aunts and uncles; total of double “don’t knows” on the number of aunts and uncles; Interview date; interview duration in minutes; quality of answers; flag variables; mark variables (e.g. % of unknown or invalid names among all recorded kin); design weights; round in which anchor participated.