Veronika Salzburger, Bernhard Nauck (Authors): Does the transition to parenthood and grandparenthood change intergenerational relationships? An exemplary analysis with the German Family Panel (pairfam)

Existing cross-sectional analyses on grandparental involvement in parenting face the problem that they are unable to disentangle selection and adaptation processes. It may well be that intergenerational relationships may have been differed already between individuals with and without a transition to parenthood before the event of the birth of a child (selection effect). But it may also well be that the birth of a child may change the intergenerational relationships because of changed demands and opportunities (adaptation effect). Adaptation may operate in opposing directions: In case, the demand for intergenerational solidarity meets supply from the grandparental side, this may enhance the existing intergenerational relationship; in case of incongruency, the event may result in increased intergenerational conflict or detachment.
The German Family Panel (pairfam) is chosen as the appropriate data-set to empirically answer several of the related research questions. The chosen example of changes in intergenerational relationships will demonstrate the necessity of data-sets, which combine a multi-actor with a panel-design, as an important tool in the realm of demographic and family research. This design of pairfam allows for disentangling selection- and adaptation effects.