Content and Objectives

The first two volumes focus on marriage. On the one hand, they explore homogamy in the choice of partners with regard to socio-structural characteristics. Marriage table calculations are also used to examine historical changes in marriage behaviour.

The analysis of divorces deals with the question of whether important theoretical findings on divorces, which are frequently derived in the literature from the results of surveys or smaller studies, can also be demonstrated with the large data sets of official statistics. In detail, factors influencing the divorce risk, such as age effects, are examined. At the same time, it is pointed out that the quality of the statements made, especially in the case of divorce, depends strongly on the available data basis and the calculation methods used (absolute numbers or figures).

The Working Paper on the Change in Living Arrangements in Germany assumes that for decades there have been many different arrangements in the private lives of people living together. Marriage has always held a special status. With the shift of marriage and family formation to ever-higher ages in recent decades and the removal of taboos for non-marital living arrangements, there have been significant changes in the distribution among living arrangements.