The panel study “Growing up in Germany: Everyday Worlds” (AID:A) provides important information on the living environments and circumstances of children, adolescents, young adults and their families and how they change over time. It is a central component of the survey research of the German Youth Institute (DJI), Munich. The study aims to describe factors and constellations that shape and influence the life course of individuals and their well-being. The focus is on family, friendships, peer groups and institutions, personal attitudes, experiences, activities and participation. The design as a replicative longitudinal survey allows changing social conditions to be illuminated.
As the implementing institute, infas has accompanied the AID:A study since its beginnings and has now won the public tender for the next follow-up wave of the longitudinal study (field start fall 2026). In addition to mapping the life situations and management of children, adolescents and families in Germany and identifying changes, the aim is to gain insights into the “success” or “failure” of processes of growing up, family coexistence and transitions in the life course. A multi-perspective approach is pursued in which the social environment, the family and other household members, are considered as fully as possible through the design as a household survey of all relevant target and respondents.
The basic population of the study is the resident population in private households in Germany between the ages of 0 and 32. With the aim of enabling nationwide representative projections for the population group mentioned, the sample is made up of a panel sample (people surveyed for the first time in 2019 or 2023 who are willing to participate in the panel) and a refreshment sample from population registers.
Each person between the ages of 5 and 32 answers a questionnaire about themselves. If there are underage children in the household, all parents living in the household also answer questionnaires about these children. For the upcoming survey, it is planned to conduct over 22,000 individual interviews in more than 6,000 households.
The design of AID:A 2027 provides for a “web first” approach. The survey starts with a household questionnaire for the person of legal age who can best provide information about the household. This questionnaire uses a household matrix developed by infas to determine which people live in the household, how old they are and how they relate to each other. This information is used to guide the further interviews in the household. In addition, further socio-demographic information is collected in the household interview. The query of the household matrix was made even more user-friendly compared to previous waves, so that the household interview can now also be answered independently online by the respondents and does not need to be completed by interviewers.
In view of the heterogeneity of the life situations of the population, it is planned to offer all survey modes that are suitable for the interviewees. The survey is therefore planned in mixed mode, in which interviews or parts of interviews can be conducted both self-administered in the CAWI and CASI modes and interviewer-administered CAPI and CAPI-by-phone. This is intended to achieve the highest possible coverage within households and also among particularly mobile groups and other groups that are more difficult to reach, as well as people for whom the self-administered mode appears unsuitable, for example due to low literacy or impairments. Children between the ages of 5 and 11 are only interviewed in person. The mixed-mode approach can also reduce the time burden on households. For a family with three children, the average time required to answer all the questionnaires can easily be three hours.
Results from AID:A are included in the Federal Government’s Family Report, Education Report and Children and Youth Report, among others. AID:A is sponsored and financed by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ). The study is therefore highly relevant for politics and the public. In addition, analyses based on the data from the AID:A study are published by the DJI and made available to the public and professionals.