Reconciling family and career is a particular challenge for many parents. Numerous structural and cultural influences, such as the German tax system, parental allowance and the availability of daycare centers, have an impact on this process and the distribution of roles between mother and father. Increasingly precarious working conditions and professional commuting should also not be neglected as stressful factors. However, the role of employment and working conditions for the mental and somatic health of future parents and families has hardly been researched in Germany.
The aim of our study “DREAM” (German Study on Parenthood, Work and Mental Health) is therefore to take a forward-looking look at the relationship between parenthood, work and the health of the entire family and to identify possible correlations. For example, we want to investigate how parental employment and the distribution of roles change over the long term and how they affect health and relationships within the family. We are also increasingly interested in the children's social, motor and cognitive development over the course of the study.
As part of the DREAM sub-studies, we want to take a closer look at and understand the specific interaction of psychological, social and biological aspects of our well-being. In addition to the questionnaire surveys, we also record physical factors in some families using hair samples (“DREAMhair” sub-study) and children's physical factors using saliva samples (“DREAMepi”). In addition, some couples were asked about their family situation and distribution of tasks in personal interviews (“DREAMtalk” sub-study). In addition, two sub-studies (“DREAMcorona” and “DREAMcorona-talk”) were launched in spring 2020 to investigate the experiences and effects of the coronavirus pandemic (e.g. isolation, school and daycare closures) on health and family relationships.
