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This study examines the prevalence of marital contracts across marriage cohorts (1990–2019) in Germany. We further investigate the characteristics of spouses who signed a marital contract. Using cross-sectional data from the German Family Panel (pairfam, 2018/19), we employ complementary log–log and multinomial logistic regression models to predict the prevalence and the type of marital contracts. The results show that 5% of all married couples opt out of the default matrimonial property regime by signing a contract in Germany. Differentiating between contract types, most couples either specify a separation of property (40%) or modify the default community of accrued gains (31%). We find an increase in the prevalence of marital contracts across marriage cohorts. The decision to opt out of the default is strongly positively associated with self-employment that often requires the customisation of asset ownership structures within marriage. Married individuals with prior divorce experiences are more likely to opt for the separation of property, indicating that the awareness of the economic consequences of divorce promotes the individualisation of marriage. Our results are in line with the cross-national trend towards customised marriages, although the trend in Germany is less pronounced than in other countries.

Mit der Einführung des Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz (BEEG) im Jahr 2007 wurde der Familienpolitik in Deutschland ein Paradigmenwechsel bescheinigt, da erstmals Individuen an die Stelle von Familien in den Fokus der Unterstützungsmaßnahmen rückten. Aus der Familienforschung liegen bereits einhellige Befunde vor. Zwar kann das BEEG zur Förderung der Geschlechtergleichstellung beitragen, doch seine einkommensabhängige Ausgestaltung verträgt sich eher weniger mit den Voraussetzungen einer sozialen Gerechtigkeit. Die hier vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit zwei zentralen Forschungsfragen. Zum einen soll mithilfe der Multichannel Sequence Analysis (MCSA) untersucht werden, ob sich werdende Mütter in ihren drei Jahre lang beobachteten Erwerbsverläufen mehr, weniger oder gleichermaßen den Erwerbsverläufen ihrer Partner annähern. Zum anderen wird die Hypothese überprüft, ob bei Müttern eine höhere Bildung mit einer privilegierten BEEG-Wirksamkeit einhergeht. Für diesen zweiten Forschungsaspekt der Arbeit wird die Methode der multi-nomialen logistischen Regression herangezogen. Um beide Fragestellungen bearbeiten zu können, werden die Längsschnittdaten des Soziookonomischen Panels (SOEP) genutzt und in zwei Zeitepochen (1990–2006; 2007–2018) unterteilt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen zunehmend heterogene Frauenerwerbsverläufe. Rückläufigen Berufsausstiegs- und Hausfrauenmuster sowie die deutlich vermehrte Übergänge in Teilzeitbeschäftigungen erfahren Frauen nahezu exklusiv. Dabei erhöht ein hohes bis mittleres Bildungsniveau die Wahrscheinlichkeit einer zeitigen und planbaren Erwerbsrückkehr. Damit kann dem BEEG einerseits zugestanden werden, die richtige Richtung in der Geschlechterangleichung vorzugeben. Andererseits gilt es, identifizierte Schwachstellen in der Sozialverträglichkeit des Gesetzes anzuerkennen und zugunsten von Müttern mit geringerer Bildung auszubessern., The introduction of the Federal Parental Allowance and Parental Leave Act (Bundeselterngeld- und Elternzeitgesetz, BEEG) in 2007 marked a paradigm shift in family policy in Germany, as for the first time individuals took the place of families as the focus of support policies. There are already consistent findings from family research. Although the BEEG can contribute to the promotion of gender equality, its income-dependent design is rather less compatible with the requirements of social justice. This paper addresses two central research questions. First, it uses multichannel sequence analysis to investigate whether mothers-to-be converge more, less, or equally to their partners' employment trajectories in their three-year observed employment trajectories. Second, the hypothesis is tested whether mothers with higher education experience a privileged BEEG effectiveness. For this second research aspect of the paper, the method of multinomial logistic regression is used. To address both questions, lon-gitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) are used and divided into two time epochs (1990-2006; 2007-2018). The results show increasingly heterogeneous female employment trajectories. Declining career exit and housewife patterns, as well as significant-ly increased transitions to part-time employment, are experienced almost exclusively by women. At the same time, a high to medium level of education increases the probability of a prompt and predictable return to the labor force. Thus, on the one hand, the BEEG can be credited with setting the right direction in gender equalization. On the other hand, it is important to recognize identified weaknesses in the social compatibility of the law and to remedy them in favor of mothers with lower levels of education.

Prior literature finds stability in personal culture, such as attitudes and values, in individuals’ life courses using short-running panel data. This work has concluded that lasting change in personal culture is rare after formative early years. This conclusion conflicts with a growing body of evidence for changes in personal culture after significant life course transitions, drawing on long-running panel data. To integrate these conflicting findings, the current study develops and applies a life course adaption model of personal culture, accounting for early imprinting and the continued possibility for change. Drawing on rich data from six long-running panel studies from five countries (BHPS, HILDA, PSID, SHP, SOEP, UKHLS) and 428 measures of personal culture, I test the theoretical expectations using mixed-effects modeling and an individual participant data meta-analysis. Results support the life course adaption model. Although lasting, non-transitory, within-individual changes in personal culture are relatively small compared to stable between-individual differences, I find strong support for the proposition that individuals change persistently in their personal culture as they move through the life course. These changes are partly dependent on prior biographical experiences. Finally, personal culture fluctuates substantially from year to year. Change in personal culture is increasingly varied for younger birth cohorts., Support Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (FIS), Peer Reviewed

This study explores how researchers’ analytical choices affect the reliability of scientific findings. Most discussions of reliability problems in science focus on systematic biases. We broaden the lens to emphasize the idiosyncrasy of conscious and unconscious decisions that researchers make during data analysis. We coordinated 161 researchers in 73 research teams and observed their research decisions as they used the same data to independently test the same prominent social science hypothesis: that greater immigration reduces support for social policies among the public. In this typical case of social science research, research teams reported both widely diverging numerical findings and substantive conclusions despite identical start conditions. Researchers’ expertise, prior beliefs, and expectations barely predict the wide variation in research outcomes. More than 95 % of the total variance in numerical results remains unexplained even after qualitative coding of all identifiable decisions in each team’s workflow. This reveals a universe of uncertainty that remains hidden when considering a single study in isolation. The idiosyncratic nature of how researchers’ results and conclusions varied is a previously underappreciated explanation for why many scientific hypotheses remain contested. These results call for greater epistemic humility and clarity in reporting scientific findings.

In this study, we argue that parents’ class position may influence the type and timing of their offspring's investments in financial assets. These investments may facilitate net worth accumulation beyond direct transfers, contributing to the intergenerational reproduction of social positions. We test these expectations using retrospective life history and prospective panel data for 14 countries from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. We apply discrete-time event history analyses to examine the first financial investments’ timing over the life course and conduct a mediation analysis of net worth. We find that individuals from advantaged parental classes are more likely to invest in stocks and mutual funds. When considering horizontal differentiation, managerial classes with relatively more economic capital than cultural capital are more likely to invest in financial assets. However, we do not find robust evidence for distinct timings of financial investments by parental class. Advantaged parental class is positively associated with net worth in later life. However, this association cannot be explained by the specific investments of individuals from advantaged parental classes., Support Network for Interdisciplinary Social Policy Research (FIS) of the German Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschafthttps://doi.org/10.13039/501100001659, Peer Reviewed