Reliability of Retrospective Event Histories within the German Generations and Gender Survey

Collecting retrospective data generally is accompanied by questions concerning the quality and reliability of such data. The aim of this article is to contribute to this body of research by analysing the fertility and partnership histories within the German Generations and Gender Survey (GGS). Although landmark events such as the birth of children or marriage are commonly regarded as reliable memories and therefore are assumed to be applicable retrospectively without much decrement in data quality, we find severe distortions in the retrospective data on fertility and relationship in the German GGS by comparison to the Microcensus. In fertility histories there is a major overestimation of childless women in older cohorts as well as an underestimation of this group in middleaged cohorts. Regarding partnership history we have too many women never married in the older cohorts and too many married in the younger cohorts. We find that these distortions are mainly attributed to problems caused by survey organisation. The random route sampling procedure of the German GGS has led to problems, as has the instrument, which lacked control mechanisms while simultaneously being very complex. We also find indications of problematic interviewers, but we cannot delete the deviations in the data to our satisfaction as they are bound to be multicausal. We therefore conclude that there are combined effects of the sampling procedure, the complexity, and the length of the instrument that all contribute to interviewer effects

Kinderzahl und Migrationshintergrund - ein Vergleich zwischen Frauen türkischer Herkunft mit oder ohne eigene Wanderungserfahrung sowie Frauen ohne Migrationshintergrund in Westdeutschland

"Die Fertilität von Frauen mit türkischer Herkunft und deutschen Frauen unterscheidet sich deutlich voneinander. Die grundlegende Frage lautet dabei, welche Faktoren dazu führen, dass sich das Fertilitätsverhalten an das der Frauen ohne Migrationshintergrund annähert. Hierzu werden in diesem Beitrag Ergebnisse einer vergleichenden Analyse des Mikrozensus 2012 zur Kinderzahl von Frauen mit türkischem Migrationshintergrund und Frauen gleicher Jahrgänge (1963 bis 1977) ohne Migrationshintergrund präsentiert. Die Analysen berücksichtigen die eigene Wanderungserfahrung, Aufenthaltsdauer, den Bildungsstand, Erwerbstätigkeit und die Partnerschaft. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine Differenzierung nach eigener Migrationserfahrung sowie Aufenthaltsdauer im Zusammenspiel mit dem Bildungsstand wesentlich sind. Wenn in Deutschland geborene Frauen mit türkischen Wurzeln einen hohen Bildungsstand aufweisen, sind die Paritäten vergleichbar mit denen von gleich hoch gebildeten Frauen ohne Migrationshintergrund. Bei Betrachtung niedrigerer Bildungsabschlüsse bleiben die Unterschiede bestehen." (Autorenreferat)"The fertility of women of Turkish origin significantly differs from German women’s fertility. Thus, the basic question is which factors may lead to the fact that the former’s fertility behavior starts to converge to that of women without migration background. Based on comparative analyses of the German Microcensus 2012, this article presents findings with regard to the number of children born to a) women with a Turkish migration background and b) women without migration background, both belonging to the same age group that was born between 1963 and 1977. The analyses take into account: a) having migration experience of one’s own, b) duration of living in Germany, c) educational attainment, d) employment status, and e) partnership status. The results indicate that a differentiation with regard to both migration experience and duration of living in Germany, interacting with the level of education, is essential. Highly educated women with Turkish roots born in Germany display a parity that is similar to the parity of equally highly educated women not having a migration background. When comparing women of the subgroups who have lower levels of education in common, the differences in fertility do persist." (author's abstract

Unter welchen Bedingungen bekommen Eltern weitere Kinder? Ein Vergleich zwischen Deutschen und Türken unter besonderer Berücksichtigung ökonomischer Abwägungen

"Im Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, wie sich die selbsteingeschätzte persönliche finanzielle Situation auf die tatsächliche Geburt weiterer Kinder, unter Berücksichtigung generationaler Unterstützungspotenziale und dem Migrationshintergrund, auswirkt. Die zu überprüfenden Hypothesen basieren auf der ökonomischen Theorie und dem Forschungsstand zur Bedeutung ökonomischer Unsicherheiten für Fertilität. Mittels multivariater Analysen der zwei Wellen des deutschen Generations and Gender Survey, können weder Effekte der individuellen finanziellen Lage, noch der Generationenbeziehungen auf die Familienerweiterung nachgewiesen werden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen hingegen, dass sich türkische Staatsbürger mit eigener Migrationserfahrung von denen, die im Kindesalter immigriert sind bzw. in Deutschland geboren wurden, bezüglich der Erklärungsfaktoren unterscheiden. In allen drei Gruppen sind Faktoren wie das Alter der Frau, die Kinderzahl und das Alter der Kinder für die Familienerweiterung zentral." (Autorenreferat)"The article examines the question of how the selfreported financial situation has an effect on the actual birth of additional children in regard to generational support and migration background. The hypotheses to be tested are based on economic theories and research on the importance of economic uncertainty for fertility. Based on multivariate analyses of the two waves of the German Generations and Gender Survey, neither the individual financial situation, nor the relations between generations can be detected as effects on family expansion. The results show, however, that Turkish citizens differ in their migration experience in comparison to those who have immigrated in childhood or were born in Germany in terms of the explanatory factors. Factors like age of the woman, number and age of children are crucial in all groups under study." (author's abstract

Advertising and Pseudo-Culture: An Analysis of the Changing Portrayal of Women in Print Advertisements

This study investigates the use of mass media, specifically advertising, in cultural transformation projects to weaken cultures and replace them with a crafted pseudo-culture. We rely on Adorno’s theory of pseudo-culture to examine how political ideologies shape cultural transformation using mass-mediated ad images. Following a content analysis and a semiotic analysis of print advertisements over a period of 48 years, we identify five major themes underlying pseudo-culture formation and the advertising strategies implemented to support these themes. This work also identifies four major tools used in pseudo-culture formation and demonstrates how pseudo-cultures may be formed, promoted, and abolished

Stability of Bilocal Relationships – Conditions and Development Paths An Analysis of the First and Second Wave of Pairfam

Bilokale Paarbeziehungen haben ihren Status als exklusive Lebensform verloren, kommen fast so häufig vor wie nichteheliche Lebensgemeinschaften und sind in nahezu allen sozialen Gruppierungen anzutreffen. Dennoch sind sie durch eine Reihe ganz besonderer Merkmale gekennzeichnet. Ihre Entstehungsursachen sind einerseits im Kontext von Individualisierungstendenzen, hier dem Bedürfnis nach einer höheren individuellen Autonomie, und andererseits in steigenden Anforderungen an die berufsbedingte Mobilität zu sehen, denen oftmals nur durch das Leben in getrennten Haushalten entsprochen werden kann.Als eines der prägenden Merkmale der bilokalen Paarbeziehungen wird ihre vergleichsweise geringe Dauerhaftigkeit vermutet, sie werden häufig als Übergangslebensform oder Notlösung gesehen. Ziel des Beitrages ist es, anhand der ersten und zweiten Welle des Surveys pairfam die Rahmenbedingungen bestehender bilokaler Paarbeziehungen und deren Einfluss auf ihre zukünftige Stabilität zu untersuchen. Gefragt wird, welche Bedingungen zum Fortbestehen bzw. zur Auflösung einer bilokalen Paarbeziehung oder zum Zusammenzug führen.Im Vergleich von der ersten zur zweiten Welle (also innerhalb von einem Jahr) haben sich hinsichtlich der Stabilität bzw. Auflösung bereits gravierende Veränderungen eingestellt. Von den in der ersten Welle gefundenen bilokalen Paarbeziehungen bestanden in der zweiten Welle in den untersuchten Jahrgängen noch mehr als die Hälfte in dieser Form. Der kleinere Teil der Befragten hat die Bilokalität durch Trennung beendet (knapp über 10 %). Die übrigen bilokalen Paarbeziehungen haben ihren Institutionalisierungsgrad erhöht und sind zu einer nichtehelichen Lebensgemeinschaft oder zu einem Ehepaar geworden. Ergebnisse der multivariaten Analyse zeigen, dass die Rahmenbedingungen für ältere Befragte anders zu beurteilen sind als für jüngere, was die Entwicklung von Welle 1 zu Welle 2 betrifft. Die Erwerbskonstellation zwischen beiden Partnern, räumliche Nähe, Bildungshomogamie, vorhergehende Kohabitationserfahrung und Absichten bezüglich Trennung und Zusammenzug sind erklärende Faktoren für die Fortführung einer bilokalen Beziehung, den Zusammenzug oder die Trennung.Bilocal relationships have lost their status as an exclusive living arrangement. They occur almost as frequently as unmarried cohabiting couples and can be found in virtually all social groups. Nevertheless, they are characterised by a set of very specific traits. The causes behind the increasing number of bilocal relationships can on the one hand be seen in a tendency towards greater individualisation, i.e. the desire for greater individual autonomy, and on the other hand in increasing demands for work-related mobility, which can only be met by separate households. It is generally assumed that one defining characteristic of bilocal relationships is that they are rather short-lived and often merely seen as a temporary or stopgap solution. On the basis of the first and second wave of the pairfam survey, the aim of this paper is to investigate the general circumstances of bilocal relationships and its implications for their future stability. The central question is which conditions lead to the continuation or the breakup of a bilocal relationship or to an eventual shared household. When looking at wave one and wave two in comparison (i.e. a time period of one year), profound changes have already occurred regarding continuation or breakup. From those bilocal relationships found in wave one, more than half of the age-group questioned had not changed their chosen relationship type. The smaller portion of respondents had separated and thus ended bilocality (just over 10 %). The remaining bilocal relationships had increased their level of institutionalisation by becoming spouses or cohabitants. As regarding the development from wave one to wave two, it becomes apparent through the results of a multivariate analysis that the general circumstances of older respondents should be judged differently than those of younger ones. The work-related constellation between the two partners, spatial proximity, educational homogamy, previous experience in cohabitating and intentions in regard to separation or moving in together are explaining factors for the continuation of a bilocal relationship, the set-up of a shared household or a breakup

Sozialwissenschaftliche Daten zur Erforschung von Kinderlosigkeit und Kinderreichtum

Thema dieses Papers ist, wie sich die aktuelle sozialwissenschaftliche Datenlage für die Erforschung von Kinderlosigkeit und Kinderreichtum darstellt und welche Einschränkungen in dieser Hinsicht existieren. Es wird eine Auswahl von sozialwissenschaftlichen Datenquellen vorgestellt, die als vergleichsweise relevant eingestuft werden, darunter die Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (PAIRFAM), die Studie Job Mobilities and Family Lives in Europe (JobMob), das Sozio-oekonomische Panel (SOEP) und das Eurobarometer. Diese und andere Studien werden mithilfe von Kriterien wie der erfassten Altersgruppen, der Fallzahlen und der verfügbaren Variablen analysiert. Im Mittelpunkt steht die Frage, inwieweit sie für die Forschungsfragen des K&K-Projekts und allgemein zur genaueren Betrachtung von kinderlosen bzw. kinderreichen Paaren nutzbar sein können. Die Analyse ergibt, dass die untersuchten Erhebungen zwar für einzelne Aspekte und Fragestellungen des Projekts geeignet sind, allerdings gibt es keinen Datensatz, der alle gewünschten Kriterien erfüllen kann.Above all the project "childlessness and large families" aims to investigate significant factors to explain the (not occurring) transition to the first and the third child. This question is supposed to be answered predominantly by analyzing quantitative data, especially using surveys and panels. Therefore this paper presents a range of social sciences data-sources and investigates whether these sources are relevant for the project. We focus on nine data-sources that are in our opinion principally usable for the research questions of our project. The following datasets are described briefly: Panel Analysis of Intimate Relationships and Family Dynamics (PAIRFAM), Job Mobilities and Family lives in Europe (JobMob), Working and Learning in a Changing World (ALWA), National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), Familien in Deutschland (Familys in Germany) (FiD), Generations and Gender Survey (GGS), Eurobarometer (2006 und 2011), Aufwachsen in Deutschland: Alltagswelten (Growing up in Germany: Everydays Life World) (AID:A). For each data-source the percentages of childless respondents with large families are described. These are reflected also in the context of the number of available cases. The main result of the investigation is that all described datasets can be used for the one or the other aspect of analysing childlessness or large families. But there is no secondary source which meets all criteria that are principally desirable

Familienleitbilder 2012 and 2016 - Methodology Report on the Panel Study

The overriding question of the FLB project is: "in what way do Leitbilder (principles) influence reproductive behaviour?" To answer this question it is necessary to identify and describe family-related Leitbilder. The driving factor behind this project is that research in this area has neglected to focus on normative-cultural conditioning proportional to structural and socio-economic variables. Therefore, the primary aim of this research project his to close this gap and enable use of the findings in particular to explain the persistently low birth rate in Germany. In the first phase in 2010, the possibilities of theoretical grounding, the current state of research, methodical preliminary considerations and potentials for analysis of existing data sources, were examined in order to derive specific questions from them. Since then, we have also designed a questionnaire on the basis of further preliminary theoretical and empirical work (qualitative preliminary studies) in order to research the family-related Leitbilder of young people in Germany more precisely. We commissioned the opinion research institute TNS Infratest to conduct the survey for our FLB study. From August to November 2012 the interviewers from TNS Infratest interviewed 5,001 randomly selected people aged between 20 and 39 in a nationwide representative telephone study. The second wave was finally conducted in 2016. It becomes apparent that the distinction between individual expectations and perceived concepts of family in society as a whole generates interesting findings, differences are clearly evident. Furthermore, the newly designed questions - for example those regarding role models for mothers and fathers as well as acceptance of differing couple and family configurations – will generate valuable knowledge. The data set also contains great potential for analysis, especially with regard to possible explanations for differences in fertility between eastern and western Germany

The discovery of an in situ Neanderthal remain in the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, West-Central Zagros Mountains, Kermanshah.

Neanderthal extinction has been a matter of debate for many years. New discoveries, better chronologies and genomic evidence have done much to clarify some of the issues. This evidence suggests that Neanderthals became extinct around 40,000-37,000 years before present (BP), after a period of coexistence with Homo sapiens of several millennia, involving biological and cultural interactions between the two groups. However, the bulk of this evidence relates to Western Eurasia, and recent work in Central Asia and Siberia has shown that there is considerable local variation. Southwestern Asia, despite having a number of significant Neanderthal remains, has not played a major part in the debate over extinction. Here we report a Neanderthal deciduous canine from the site of Bawa Yawan in the West-Central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The tooth is associated with Zagros Mousterian lithics, and its context is preliminary dated to between ~43,600 and ~41,500 years ago

A new data infrastructure for family research and demographic analysis: the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA)

This data brief introduces the German Family Demography Panel Study (FReDA; https://www.freda-panel.de/), a longitudinal, multi-actor database for family research. Major substantive fields addressed in the questionnaire include fertility-related attitudes and behaviours, reproductive health, work-family conflict, couples' division of labour, gender roles, intimate relationships, separation and divorce, parenting and intergenerational relations, and well-being. FReDA is based on two initially independent samples: the newly drawn FReDA-GGS sample (n_recruitment = 37,777 respondents, aged 18-49 years), constituting the German contribution to the Generations and Gender Surveys (GGS-II), and the FReDA-pairfam sample (n = 6,216 respondents who originally participated in the German Family Panel [pairfam]). Both samples are fully integrated, using one survey instrument consisting of the harmonized GGS-II and pairfam questionnaires. Mainly web-based interviews, complemented by paper-based interviews, are conducted biannually, with one wave being split across two subwaves. We provide a short description of FReDA's forerunners - the GGS and pairfam - and give an overview of FReDA's design and content, its baseline wave (collected in 2021) and data releases, as well as a brief outlook on FReDA's road ahead