German Ageing Survey (DEAS): User Manual SUF DEAS 2017, Version 2.1 (March 2021)

Abstract

The German Ageing Survey (DEAS), funded by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ), is a nationwide representative cross-sectional and longitudinal survey of the German middle-aged and older population. The German Centre of Gerontology in Berlin (DZA) is responsible for the conduct and ongoing development of the study. The primary goal of the DEAS survey program is to provide a representative national database containing information describing the living conditions and to study the diversity within the older section of the population, the process of ageing as it affects individuals and processes of social change as they relate to old age and ageing. The DEAS covers a wide range of topics. The data obtained provide information on socioeconomic and demographic attributes as well as household composition, housing, family structure, social networks, psychological resources, attitudes as well as and physical and mental health. The comprehensive examination of people over 40 provides microdata for use both in social and behavioral scientific research and in reporting on social developments. The data thus provides a source of information for decision-makers, the general public and for scientific research. The DEAS applies a cohort-sequential design, which allows the users to analyze societal trends and individual trajectories (embedded inside societal trends) and to disentangle age effects from cohort effects. The first DEAS survey wave took place in 1996, further waves followed in 2002, 2008, 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020. The 6th wave in 2017 considered a cross-sectional sample as well as a panel sample of study participants who had entered the DEAS earlier. Sampling and fieldwork for all waves (1996-2017) have been carried out by the Bonn-based Institute for Applied Social Sciences (infas), scanning and coding of the additional questionnaires by the DB Profi-Kontor GMBH in Butzbach.