Objective: This article investigates single mothers' repartnering by analyzing two distinct transitions: the formation of a partnership with separate households and the subsequent formation of a household with a partner. Background: Previous research found impacts of repartnering on the well-being of single-mother families. However, detailed investigations of single mothers' repartnering have been rare and have mostly failed to differentiate the process of finding a partner from the process of forming a household with him. Method: Using pairfam data (; Waves 1-3, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2010-2011), the study provides event history analyses of a sample of 786 single mothers. It investigates the durations between (a) becoming a single-mother family and finding a new partner and (b) finding a new partner and forming a household or, alternatively, dissolving. Results: Although a large proportion of the women were living alone with their children for several years, many maintained a relationship in separate households. Neither education nor employment status is found to affect the likelihood of repartnering, which suggests that socioeconomically disadvantaged mothers are not able to use repartnering as a strategy for quickly addressing their economic needs. The mother's age, the children's ages, and the partnership context at the time of entry into single motherhood are shown to affect partnership formation and household formation differently. Conclusion: The results illustrate that when investigating repartnering among single mothers, it is necessary to separate the analysis of partnership formation from the analysis of household formation.

This paper examines the reliability of biographical information gathered retrospectively. It draws on data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), which collected information on the partnership status at first birth using two different strategies. The first strategy was to collect partnership and fertility histories separately in an event history calendar. The second strategy was to ask the respondents directly about their partnership status at first childbirth. We find that in almost 20 percent of the cases, the information collected using the two different strategies did not correspond. The dissolution of a partnership and having a complex partnership biography are strong predictors for discrepancies in the information gathered through the two different strategies. We conclude by discussing the factors that lead to the different outcomes produced by each of the two methods, and the implications of these discrepancies for the study of partnership and fertility behavior in general.

This paper examines the reliability of biographical information gathered retrospectively.It draws on data from the German Family Panel (pairfam), which collected information on the partnership status at first birth using two different methods.The first method is based on data on partnership and fertility histories collected retrospectively.The second method uses data gathered through the use of a "landmark question" on the respondents' partnership status when their first children were born.We find that in almost 20 percent of the cases, the information collected using the first method did not correspond with the information collected using the second method.Partnership dissolution and "turbulence" in the partnership biography are strong predictors for discrepancies in the information gathered through the two different survey methods.We conclude by drawing attention to the limitations of the retrospective collection of partnership histories at a time when divorce and separation rates are increasing.