LifE3G – Lebensverläufe von der Kindheit ins späte Erwachsenenalter im Kontext von drei Generationen. Fortsetzung und Erweiterung der Drei-Generationen-Längsschnittstudie

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Lauterbach
• Subject Area: Education Systems and Educational Institutions
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 506119866

The proposed research project is based upon the longitudinal three-generation study - LifE. The study started in West Germany in 1979 as a 5-wave longitudinal study of 1,830 children and adolescents aged 12-16 years old (Generation 2) and some of their parents (G1, n= 988). In 2002 and 2012 the study continued, becoming one of the longest longitudinal studies in the German-speaking world. In 2012, 1,359 of the original G2 participants were surveyed again, now aged 45. In addition, a sample of G2’s adolescent children participated in the study (G3, n= 570, aged 12-17 years old). Hence data are now available about the life courses of G2 from late childhood to middle adulthood and about intergenerational relationships across three generations. The study covers multiple domains such as the educational and professional careers, family and partner relationships, cultural and political values, as well as health behaviors and the development of personality in the life course. The study’s theoretical framework is based upon a resource-led model of coping with age-specific developmental tasks, which was extended to incorporate the perspective of agency and structure and the concept of individual and intergenerational investments in a life course and across generations.The proposed study LifE3G in 2023 will strengthen both longitudinal and the generational approach of the previous LifE study. The intention is to continue the longitudinal observation of G2 up to the age of 56 and to include all children of G3 including siblings. Hence, the follow-up study will introduce two significant new thematic focal points. Firstly, a new focus will be upon questions and hypotheses on domain-specific developments, transitions, and investments from late childhood into late adulthood at the age of 56. Secondly, the sampling of the complete generation of G3 children will provide an opportunity to deepen research on the intergenerational transmission processes as well as to explore the differential development of G3 siblings within the family context. LifE3G will be one of a few longitudinal three-generation studies worldwide with an observation period of more than four decades. Besides its long-term perspective, the study’s unique selling points consist of its multi-generational, multi-actor and multi-domain approaches. The data structure will permit interdisciplinary 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 intergenerational continuities and discontinuities across three generations.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Austria
• Partner Organisation: Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF)
• Cooperation Partner: Professor Dr. Alfred Berger