LifE3G - Life Courses in the Context of Three Generations

The core of the planned LifE3G study is a long-term survey of the life course and psychological as well as social development of 1.830 children born in West Germany between 1965 and 1967. The first five waves of the study were initially conducted from 1979 to 1983 in annual intervals, when children were in late childhood and adolescence. In 2002 and 2012, two follow-up studies were conducted, when the original participants were aged 35 and 45. In addition, the participants parents were interviewed in 1980 and 1982 and a sample of their own children (aged 12 to 17 years) was surveyed in 2012. Each survey, adapted for age and family generation, covered the domains of "educational and professional careers," "family and partnership relations," "cultural, religious and political values," and "health behaviors and personality." In addition, retrospective information was collected in order to map life events (e.g., events of family formation) in between the different waves of data collection. The new wave of data collection in 2024 will strengthen both longitudinal and generational approaches of the previous study. The intention is to continue the longitudinal observation of the original participants up to the age of 57 and to include all their children including siblings. Hence, the LifE3G follow-up study will introduce two significant new thematic focal points. Firstly, a new focus will be upon questions on domain-specific developments and transitions into late adulthood (e.g., development of health and transition into the empty nest period when children leave the parental home). Secondly, the sampling of the complete generation of children will provide the opportunity to deepen research on the intergenerational transmission of values and behaviors as well as to explore the differential development of the participants children within the family context. Data collection for LifE3G will be conducted in form of paper-and-pencil and online surveys based upon established methodological patterns of the previous surveys. To ensure high response rates, significant investments in trust building will be made, carefully conducted follow-up campaigns administered, and a prepaid unconditional monetary incentive given. LifE3G will have multiple unique selling points due to its long observation period of the original participants, the broad survey of different domains, and the investigation of three intra-family generations. It will be the only longitudinal study in the German-speaking world with an observation period of over four decades and independent information from three generations of the same family available. The data structure will permit processing of questions concerning individual development over several stages of life in the context of family relations and in different domains, as well as the investigation of continuities and discontinuities across three generations. LifE3G is a joint venture of the Universities of Innsbruck, Potsdam and Zurich.