Content and Objectives

Explaining family processes, partnership stability and work-life balance, the focus of research at the BiB has so far been primarily on socio-economic and structural framework conditions. The aim of this project is to continue the work begun at BiB in recent years on the influence of cultural factors on decisions regarding the organisation of family life. The main focus here is on family standards, gender and partnership and their stability over time. Gender ideologies and attitudes towards the division of labour in partnerships are also being analysed in terms of (family) policy attitudes and identifications. At the same time, intercultural comparisons are to be carried out in order to compare different immigrant groups both within Germany and to carry out European country comparisons. This focus is to be continued in 2024. The aspect of "intensified parenthood" in particular is gaining in importance (Ninth Family Report). The consequences of high demands on one's own role as a parent are still under-researched in many aspects. With the focus on the tensions between labour market participation and parental norms, it is intended to fill a research gap in this area. To this end, based on the results of the Concepts of Family Survey, the data ofthe Family Demographic Panel (FReDA) and the Partnership and Family Panel (pairfam) are used. Finally, as a further innovative element the interaction of cultural factors and well-being in selected family forms is to be investigated. On the one hand, these are large families, which have rarely been the focus of attention to date, but which are already an established research topic at the BiB. This makes the BiB one of the few locations in Germany that will be dedicated to this topic. In this context, a project on large families and sibling relationships is also planned. The second living arrangement to be focussed on is single-parent families. They are far more common today than they were just a few decades ago, and the trend is rising. At the same time, they are also considered to be particularly vulnerable and a family form which has so far not been under-research. The BiB is particularly interested in normative aspects such as parenthood norms (e.g. "intensified parenthood") and gender ideologies as well as characteristics of the social situation in order to investigate various aspects of well-being (e.g. satisfaction). Furthermore, in future there will be a stronger focus on the connection between family and well-being, including also the aspect of "loneliness". The family demographic panel FReDA opens up various new areas for analyses.e. With the focus on the loneliness of certain family forms such as single-parent families or families with migration background, the research group 1.1 "Family" would like to provide scientific support for the German government's new strategy against loneliness.