Partner indentifier have the purpose of clearly defining spouse (married) and partner (unmarried) relationships in SOEP-IS households and thus enabling analyses on the couple level. The variable PGPARTZ generated in this context reveals whether a person in a SOEP-IS household has a partner in that household, and if so, the type of relationship existing between the partners. Relationships with persons outside the SOEP household are not covered by this variable.

To explain the codes:

Code 0 is automatically assigned to all persons living in households in which there is clearly no partnership. These include:

(a) one-person households

(b) single-parent households

(c) household head living together with only one parent (or parent-in-law)

Codes 1 to 4 define these relationships. To assign Codes 1 and 2, the partnership has to be clearly definable from the perspective of both partners. This implies agreement between the codes of the variable STELL (= relationship to head of household in PBRUTTO) pointing to a possible partnership (e.g., the combination 0 (=head of household) and 1 (=spouse of household head)), as well as agreement between the codes for family status in that wave (e.g., married couples both have the Code 1 (=married, living together)). In case of ambiguity, the marital history is taken into account as well. If there are inconsistencies between the answers provided by the two persons, or between data on marital status and relationship to head of household, each person is examined individually within his or her household context. If uncertainty remains, the codes 3 or 4 are assigned.