Time Use in Couple Relationships – Historical Changes for Germany and Comparisons across Countries

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Johannes Kopp, since 1/2024
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 432222976

In the first funding phase, the German Time Use Survey (GTUS) 2012/13 was made accessible for family sociology. On that basis, we examined the everyday life of couples as well as social differences in this respect. As already envisaged in the initial application, in the second funding phase a comparison of these results is to be made both in historical/temporal and international terms. This will make it possible to document and analyze changes for Germany that are to be expected against the background of social change in labor and gender roles, as well as international differences that are to be assumed due to different welfare state regulations and family norms. For this purpose, the German data from 2012/13, including all indicators on time use of partners that have been constructed so far, will be harmonized with the two previous time use surveys in 2001/02 and 1991/92. Furthermore, these data for Germany are to be combined and harmonized with comparable time use data for other European countries. The latter can build on the fact that Germany and thirteen other European countries have each collected their time use surveys in a very similar way, in particular using time diaries at the household level (and thus from both partners). The analysis of historical changes for Germany is primarily intended to clarify which aspects of partnership arrangement have changed against the background of demographic, socio-economic and cultural changes (e.g., increasing female employment, changed leisure behavior) and which have remained stable over time and what explains changes in each case. With a view to the eastern states, we will also analyze how the fall of the Berlin Wall and the accompanying political and social transformation process have affected the everyday life of partners in Eastern Germany. With the help of the international comparison, it should be clarified which findings on the organization of partnerships are stable results that can be found repeatedly internationally, and which are special cases that only apply to (West and/or East) Germany – and to what extent international differences can be interpreted against the background of national regulations that have an influence on the organization of partnerships. A heterogenous group of countries representing different types of welfare states, levels of prosperity and cultural and political traditions is available for this comparison. On this basis, we will focus on the question of the influence of different socio-political regulations and family norms on the organization of partnerships.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Thomas Klein, until 12/2023