Partner indicators have the purpose of defining couples in SOEP households and thus to make possible analyses on the dyadic level. Persons without spouse and (cohabitating) partner receive a missing code “-2” (=does not apply). Also, the variable PGPARTZ is coded 0, 3, 4, 5 in these cases. In couples, PGPARTNR is the value of the unchanging person ID number (=PID) of the partner. The assignment of the partner ID within households is based on four sources of information: A question in the person-file, that asks (unmarried) respondents to identify their partner in the household (PLK0001_* in PL), the household matrix reported by the head of household at the beginning of the interview (STELL_H in PBRUTTO), the partnership biography in the lifehistory calendar reported by new respondents (see also, biomars), and self-reports on marital status and life events, such as marriage, move in with partner, separation, etc. Since 2021, the relmatrix data set is also used to create partnership links. In unclear cases, due to temporal non-response for instance, we also consider longitudinal information from previous and prospective waves. Moreover, PGPARTNR is self-consistent between two individuals. For analyses of partner relationships, this information can be used to link all persons with their respective partners, and all information on both partners can also be stored in a common dataset.
Partner indicators have the purpose of defining couples in SOEP households and thus to make possible analyses on the dyadic level. Persons without spouse and (cohabitating) partner receive a missing code “-2” (=does not apply). Also, the variable PGPARTZ is coded 0, 3, 4, 5 in these cases. In couples, PGPARTNR is the value of the unchanging person ID number (=PID) of the partner. The assignment of the partner ID within households is based on four sources of information: A question in the person-file, that asks (unmarried) respondents to identify their partner in the household (PLK0001_* in PL), the household matrix reported by the head of household at the beginning of the interview (STELL_H in PBRUTTO), the partnership biography in the lifehistory calendar reported by new respondents (see also, biomars), and self-reports on marital status and life events, such as marriage, move in with partner, separation, etc. Since 2021, the relmatrix data set is also used to create partnership links. In unclear cases, due to temporal non-response for instance, we also consider longitudinal information from previous and prospective waves. Moreover, PGPARTNR is self-consistent between two individuals. For analyses of partner relationships, this information can be used to link all persons with their respective partners, and all information on both partners can also be stored in a common dataset.