This project provided approximately half of the fieldwork costs for the Swedish Generations and Gender Survey that constitutes an important part of an international data infrastructure, the Generations and Gender Programme (GGP). The Swedish data collection was co-financed by a complementary grant from Vetenskapsrådet. The GGP is organized by the Population Activities Unit of the Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE/PAU) based on a design developed by an international group of scholars. At the time of submitting the application for support, 17 countries had conducted at least the first-wave survey; the total now stands at 20 countries, including Sweden. An extensive organizational infrastructure for data harmonization and distribution continues to serve GGS producers and users, supported in part by an infrastructure grant from the European Commission. The GGP consortium continues to submit applications to European agencies for more extensive infrastructure support to improve GGP products, dissemination and use.

The overarching goal of the GGP infrastructure is to generate improved understanding of the causes and consequences of dramatic declines in fertility and changes in partnership behavior in Europe and other wealthy countries, including Sweden. Specific research issues that can be addressed include: (1) decision processes and constraints on life course choices that can explain change and variation in fertility, family and work patterns; (2) the role of values in life course choices, especially with regard to the relationship context of childbearing, resolution of work/family conflicts, and the nature of intergenerational relationships; (3) persistence and change in the gendered character of the life course, with reference to gender ideologies and institutions that underlie life course decisions, constraints and outcomes; (4) intra- and inter-generational processes that link earlier and later life-course transitions and link the life courses of parents and children; and (5) by enabling comparative research with other GGP countries, effects of welfare policy in general and policies focused on aging or gender on the life courses of women and men.

The survey was conducted during 2012-2013 with a combination of telephone interviews and mailed questionnaires. Further information about demographic and socioeconomic experiences were matched from Swedish population registers. A sample of 18000 persons living in Sweden was drawn from the population register, stratified by sex, age and size of community. Except for a few questions that are not applicable in Sweden, all of the questions in the international GGS template were matched by questions in the telephone interview and mailed questionnaires, or register data. Because of the independent financing provided by Vetenskapsrådet and Riksbankens Jubileumfond, the Swedish GGS is the most comparable among western European countries to the original template and thus affords the best possibilities for comparisons with a large number of countries.

The core research team consisted of Professors Elizabeth Thomson and Gunnar Andersson, Dr. Gerda Neyer, and two research assistants. During the project, the research team worked continually with international representatives of the GGP and with Statistics Sweden. During fall 2011, Statistics Sweden carried out a pilot survey, demonstrating the feasibility of the overall design and the quality of the survey instruments. Small changes were made based on responses to the pilot survey and interviewers' experiences. The full survey was initiated in spring 2012 and continued for about one year. In accordance with data law and practice, and in collaboration with Statistics Sweden, a number of variables were aggregated before the data were sent to the GGP for distribution. A few variables with information on the respondent's partner's health were removed from the international version of the Swedish GGS. To ensure secure use of the more sensitive variables, SCB's remote desktop MONA system is used for access to data with all original variables.

The overall response rate was lower than projected, 54 percent, in line with recent response rates to surveys conducted by Statistics Sweden. As is usual for family surveys, response rates were higher for women, those with more education, persons born in Sweden, and older persons (except for those under 25). The total number of respondents is 9,688.

At the end of 2013, Statistics Sweden provided through the MONA system data files including interview responses, matched register information for the year prior to the interview (2011), and responses to postal questionnaires. The research team then worked on cleaning and documenting the data. A data file and documentation was provided to the Generations and Gender Programme by the end of 2014, with data available to international scholars as soon as possible thereafter. All of the work conducted in-house at Stockholm University is part of the Linnaeus Center for Social Policy and Family Dynamics in Europe (SPaDE), also funded by Vetenskapsrådet. As specified in the original proposal and 2013 progress report, SPaDE continued to provide information and support to GGS users in Sweden and elsewhere until the end of the Linneaus Center grant period in 2018.