The 2008-launched German Family Panel pairfam (“Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics”) is a multi-disciplinary, longitudinal study for researching partnership and family dynamics in Germany. The annually collected survey data from a nationwide random sample of more than 12,000 persons of the three birth cohorts 1971-73, 1981-83, 1991-93 and their partners, parents and children offers unique opportunities for the analysis of partner and generational relationships as they develop over the course of multiple life phases.    
→ Concept and Design

Professionally prepared and documented data of the German Family Panel are provided to the global scientific community. The scientific use file currently available includes the first three pairfam survey waves. The package is supplemented by data of an additional sample of eastern Germans (DemoDiff) and a wide variety of small-scale regional indicators (Macrodata).   
→ Data

The focus of pairfam is on the complex processes of partnership formation and development, starting and expanding a family, parenting and child development, and intergenerational relationships. Particular attention is paid to the social embeddedness of these processes. In addition, the comprehensive survey also touches on various issues from other life domains.
→ Study Themes

The German Family Panel is a cooperative effort linking Chemnitz University of Technology, the University of Bremen, and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Since 2010, pairfam has been funded as long-term project by the German Research Foundation (DFG). It is advised by an international board and accredited as a research data center by the German Data Forum (RatSWD). A close collaboration exists with the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and TNS Infratest Sozialforschung.
→ Organizational Structure

Between 2004 and 2008 several projects have been undertaken in the framework of the DFG Priority Program 1161 “Partnership and Family Dynamics” for preparing the German Family Panel. These have refined the theoretical and methodological foundations of basic concepts and have validated new instruments for gathering longitudinal information on partnership and family dynamics.  
→ Preliminary Projects