Changing effects of spouse presence in interviews. A secondary analysis based on ALLBUS data from 1980 to 1998

Data collecting interviews in the social sciences often take place in the p resence of the interviewed person's spouse. This situation is sometimes sai d to produce response effects, especially in regard to questions concerning the marital partnership. On the basis of data from the German National Soc ial Survey ALLBUS ( 1980 to 1998) reasons for the presence of a spouse duri ng an interview are examined, as are its consequences for responses to ques tions concerning the role of the one partner in support of the other partne r's career. The findings reveal that there is no continuous stable correlat e over the years to the presence of spouse. Also, there is no clear-cut dev elopment in this regard. On the other hand, the effects of the presence of a spouse as well as the effects of some of the selection variables that can explain the spouse's presence have increased with respect to the career su pport question. The major finding of this article is that traditional gende r roles have lost their substance and that the consequences of the presence of a spouse during an interview can be understood only in the context of t he social environment of partnership. Spouse presence changes its meaning f rom a mere methodological bias to a relevant aspect of research about the d evelopment of marriage and partnership.