pairfam – The German Family Panel

Data of the survey waves 1 to 14 are now available as scientific use file (Release 14.1).

The 2008-launched German Family Panel pairfam (“Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics”) was 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.  A restocking and refreshment sample in wave 11 has added the birth cohort 2001-03.   
→ Concept and Design

Professionally prepared and documented data of the German Family Panel are provided to the global scientific community.
→ 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 was a cooperative effort linking the University of Bremen, the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, the University of Cologne, and the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. Since 2010, pairfam has been funded as long-term project by the German Research Foundation (DFG). It was advised by an international board and accredited as a research data center by the German Data Forum (RatSWD).
→ Organizational Structure

pairfam was approved by the ethics committee of the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne.
→ Ethic approval

After 14 years, pairfam ended as an independent project funded by the DFG. However, the surveying of the previous participants is not ending, but continuing in the context of the newly-launched family demographic panel FReDA. The pairfam sample will be integrated into the FReDA project, meaning extensive panel data will continue to be available for analyses.
→ More information about FReDA