Life Courses of Three Family Generations (LifE3G)
The LifE-study started in West Germany in 1979 as a 5-wave longitudinal study of 2,054 children and adolescents aged 12 years old. 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 participants were surveyed again, aged 45 years. In addition, a sample of 570 adolescent children aged 12 to 17 years participated in the study (G3). The participants were most recently surveyed in 2024 at around 57 years old, marking the eighth wave of data collection. The study's original title, "LifE," stands for "Life Courses into Early and Advanced Adulthood". However, with the 2024 survey, the study's title has been updated to "LifE3G – Life Courses of Three Family Generations".
Study design
Cohort - intergenerational
Number of participants at first data collection
2,054 (participants)
Age at first data collection
12 years (participants)
Participant year of birth
1962 - 1969 (participants)
Participant sex
All
Representative sample at baseline?
No
Sample features
Country
Year of first data collection
1979
Primary Institutions
University of Innsbruck (Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck, LFU)
University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam)
University of Zurich (Universität Zürich)
Profile paper DOI
Funders
Austrian Science Fund (Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, FWF)
German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG)
Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF)
Ongoing?
Yes
Data types collected
- Interview – unspecified
- Self-report questionnaire – unspecified
- None
- None
- None
Engagement
Keywords
