Panel Study of Family Dynamics (ICPSR 35628)

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The Panel Study of Family Dynamics (PSFD) project originates from the belief that the types, structures, and patterns of interaction of families in Chinese societies are more complicated than those in Western societies. Correspondingly, the theoretical models embodied in the values and practices of Chinese families should be more complicated than those built up from Western ones. The PSFD project aims to develop a research agenda which is both consistent with the local observations and endorsed by the mainstream of social scientists. It is intended to examine whether existing theories of the family can be applied to Chinese society. In the other hand, based on the findings from PSFD, new theoretical frameworks different from Western ones are expected to be discovered and abstracted. The main targeted respondents of the PSFD are the adult population in Chinese families, covering different birth cohorts. The data collection started from Taiwan, then extended to the southeast coastal region of China. In the Taiwan survey, children of the main respondents were added into the sample. Since the project initiated in the year of 1999, fourteen years of survey data have been accumulated. From these panel data, economic, social, psychological, and institutional factors of Chinese families can be researched, either in comparative context or from a longitudinal perspective.

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