International Social Survey Programme: Social Networks and Support Systems - ISSP 1986

The International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) is a continuous programme of cross-national collaboration running annual surveys on topics important for the social sciences. The programme started in 1984 with four founding members - Australia, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States – and has now grown to almost 50 member countries from all over the world. As the surveys are designed for replication, they can be used for both, cross-national and cross-time comparisons. Each ISSP module focuses on a specific topic, which is repeated in regular time intervals. Please, consult the documentation for details on how the national ISSP surveys are fielded. The present study focuses on questions about social relations and social network.<br>The following questions were asked in regard to all immediate
relatives of the respondent: frequency of mutual visits; commuting
time; frequency of non-personal contacts (telephone and letter);
married or living together with a steady partner; number of close
friends among colleagues at work and in the neighborhood; best friend´s
sex; frequency of mutual visits and commuting time; frequency of
non-personal contacts with this friend; specification of persons who
are available or could be asked for help of various sorts; contact
person for partnership problems and depression; sources of advice in
crucial decisions; frequency of occurrence of problem situations.

Demography: age (classified); sex; marital status; religious
denomination; frequency of church attendance; number of years of
school; school education; occupation; occupation of father; employment;
employment in public or private sector; weekly working hours; area of
business of company; leadership responsibility; household income;
monthly net income of respondent; size of household; respondent is head
of household; residential status; party preference (Sunday question);
behavior at the polls in the last election (party); behavior at the
polls in the last election (left-right continuum); self-assessment on a
left-right continuum; self-assessment of social class; local residency;
length of residence in residence; degree of urbanization; state and
region; union membership.