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Family & households

Investigating changing family life, childcare, parenting styles, child developmment, family networks and caring for family members.

Family life in the UK is changing. One in four children under 15 no longer live with both biological parents, cohabitation is growing and children are leaving the parental home later. Families also contribute to the growing number of informal carers in the UK and there is increasing evidence of a 'sandwich generation' looking after both their children and their parents.

Professor Brienna Perelli-Harris

Champion for Family

What data do Understanding Society collect?

Understanding Society is a study based on households. We interview all members of the household over the age of ten, and we ask parents a variety of questions for younger children. The Study is longitudinal, so follows the same people over time. In this way we create a holistic, dynamic picture of family life in the 21st century; how families are changing, how different family members interact with each other and how things that one family member does affects the rest of the family.

We also ask about how families interact with their wider family outside the household whether that is with grandparents caring for children or separated families taking care of their children together.The longitudinal design of the surveys allows research on family circumstances, relations, transitions and changes over time both within households and as people move out, for all kinds of reasons, and form households of their own. Further, a sub-set of the Understanding Society sample can be traced back to 1991 using the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS).

To find out about the specific questions asked in the Study use the index terms where you can search for family and household variables including family life, children, caring and parenting styles. The questionnaire modules show the areas covered in each wave of the Study and allow you to see the actual questions asked in the survey.

Family formation

Professor Brienna Perelli-Harris talks about her research on partnership formation and cohabiting.

How do housework inequalities perpetuate across the generations?

Professor Lucinda Platt shares her research on whether gender attitudes and behaviours transfer down generations.

Blog: Mental health trajectory around conception is different for IVF parents

Couples who conceive ‘naturally’ have the opposite pattern to those who have fertility treatment

The mental load in seperated families

Dr Renee Luthra on the division of cognitive labour in seperated families with high levels of post-seperation contact.

Our Impact

Charitable foundation the Barrow Cadbury Trust has used Understanding Society for a financial inclusion report which shows a widening household finance gap, and falling financial wellbeing.

Research comparing the experiences of informal care givers in the UK and the Netherlands has found that providing care can lead to poorer mental health.

Find out more about the impact Understanding Society has on policy, and about how you can work with us to provide evidence for decision-makers.

Find out more Work with us

Contact User Support Forum if you need help using the data or have a question for the Study team


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