Der Neunte Familienbericht widmet sich dem Thema "Eltern sein in Deutschland“ und bietet einen Überblick über die wichtigsten gesellschaftlichen Trends, die das Familienleben und die Situation von Eltern in Deutschland bestimmen. Im Mittelpunkt stehen Eltern als Weichensteller für das Leben ihrer Kinder. Ansprüche, Anforderungen und Angebote, denen sich Eltern bei wachsender Vielfalt gegenübersehen, werden Wünschen und Zielen gegenübergestellt, um daraus Empfehlungen für eine wirksame Politik für Familien abzuleiten. In ihrer Stellungnahme zum Sachverständigenbericht legt die Bundesregierung dar, welche Schwerpunkte sie in der politischen Umsetzung der Ergebnisse und Empfehlungen des Berichts zukünftig setzt, damit Familien ihr Familienleben entsprechend ihren Vorstellungen und mit mehr Zeitsouveränität gestalten können.
The intensification of parenting in Germany: The role of socioeconomic background and family form
(2022)
Drawing on the international discourse on the intensification of parenting and new data from Germany, this paper aims to contribute to a better understanding of the unique challenges that parents face in the 21st century. We used data from the survey “Parenthood Today”, which was conducted in 2019 to examine parents’ views on parenting in Germany. The data comprised standardized interviews with 1652 mothers and fathers. We focused on three dimensions of parental pressures: namely, time pressure, financial pressure, and pressure that emanates from the educational system. Time pressure referred to the pressure currently felt, whereas financial pressure and pressure from the educational system referred to changes across time. In each of these domains, more than 60% of the parents experienced high (time) or increasing (education and financial) pressure. Binary logistic regressions showed that while parental education was a strong predictor of experiencing an increase in financial pressure, parental education did not matter for other realms of parenting. However, employment and family form were strongly related to parental time pressure. Full-time employed lone mothers, but also non-resident fathers, reported experiencing heavy pressure when trying to balance their roles as a worker and as a carer. Our results draw attention to the importance of better integrating the needs of post-separation families, including of non-resident fathers, in the debate on the “intensification of parenting”.
Gemeinsam getrennt erziehen“ ist das Thema des heute veröffentlichten Gutachtens des Wissenschaftlichen Beirats für Familienfragen beim BMFSFJ. Das Gutachten gibt einen umfassenden Überblick über Trennungsfamilien in Deutschland. Immer mehr Eltern wünschen sich vor, aber auch nach einer Trennung ihre Kinder gemeinsam zu betreuen. Deshalb legt das Gutachten den Fokus auf Familien, die eine geteilte (asymmetrische wie symmetrische) Betreuung leben. Internationale Vergleiche zeigen, wie geteilte Betreuung anderswo gelebt wird und wo es Reformbedarf gibt.
Purpose
For the past three years, the German longitudinal COPSY (COVID-19 and PSYchological Health) study has monitored changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and the mental health of children and adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
A nationwide, population-based survey was conducted in May–June 2020 (W1), December 2020–January 2021 (W2), September–October 2021 (W3), February 2022 (W4), and September–October 2022 (W5). In total, n = 2,471 children and adolescents aged 7–17 years (n = 1,673 aged 11–17 years with self-reports) were assessed using internationally established and validated measures of HRQoL (KIDSCREEN-10), mental health problems (SDQ), anxiety (SCARED), depressive symptoms (CES-DC, PHQ-2), psychosomatic complaints (HBSC-SCL), and fear about the future (DFS-K). Findings were compared to prepandemic population-based data.
Results
While the prevalence of low HRQoL increased from 15% prepandemic to 48% at W2, it improved to 27% at W5. Similarly, overall mental health problems rose from 18% prepandemic to W1 through W2 (30–31%), and since then slowly declined (W3: 27%, W4: 29%, W5: 23%). Anxiety doubled from 15% prepandemic to 30% in W2 and declined to 25% (W5) since then. Depressive symptoms increased from 15%/10% (CES-DC/PHQ-2) prepandemic to 24%/15% in W2, and slowly decreased to 14%/9% in W5. Psychosomatic complaints are across all waves still on the rise. 32–44% of the youth expressed fears related to other current crises.
Conclusion
Mental health of the youth improved in year 3 of the pandemic, but is still lower than before the pandemic.