Abstract:

The paper presents the design and experience so far of a project aimed at the development of methods to estimate simultaneously changes in objective resources, the effect of these changes on the individual's or household's subjective perception of these changes. Throughout the project a differentiation is made between objective resources and the individual's subjective perception - or subjective resources. Young couples expecting their first child are selected to represent individuals subjected to change. The objective and subjective resource situation of the couples, as a couple and individually, are estimated before the arrival of the child and at two stages after its birth. A combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal measurements of 100 couples are employed. Overtime measurement methods have changed from personal unstructured interviews to mailed questionnaires and respondents' own registration of both hard and soft data.