SOEP Research: Subjective Well-Being, Personality, Health

The biological trace of public health policies: how Medicaid improved epigenetic aging in adolescence

Public health insurance for U.S. children has expanded dramatically through Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), yet the biological mechanisms linking these policies to long-run health remain poorly understood. We test whether childhood eligibility for Medicaid/CHIP causally affects epigenetic aging measures. Using longitudinal epigenetic data from the Fragile Families and...

The Unequal Distribution of Bitterness: Tracing Ressentiment in Times of Change

Modern democracies are undergoing multiple, overlapping transformations, driven by globalization, digitalization, migration, inequality, and climate change. While some adapt with openness, others experience what Mau et al. (2023) term Veränderungserschöpfung – change fatigue: the sense that “too much is changing, too fast, and all at once.” This paper examines whether and how such fatigue...

The Rise in Absenteeism in 2022 Is Only Partly Due to Electronic Sick Notes

In Germany, employee absences due to illness rose sharply, particularly in 2022. Various sources argue that the introduction of the electronic certificate of incapacity for work (eAU) caused this. Official data previously did not include absences that were not reported to health insurance providers; since the introduction of the eAU, this is no longer the case. This gap does not exist in Socio-Economic ...

Labor Market Entry Dynamics and Mental Health Outcomes among Young People with and without Disability

Young people with disability face significant barriers to stable employment. Yet, little is known about how early labor market experiences shape their long-term mental health. This study examines associations between early career insecurity and subsequent mental health trajectories, focusing on disability status as a key axis of inequality. We use nationally representative longitudinal data from the ...

How a Mismatch Between Actual and Desired Fertility Relates to Well-Being Across Adulthood

Introduction Most people want two or more children, but many do not realize their fertility desires. At the same time, recent studies suggest that up to 15% of parents regret having children. To investigate how fertility mismatch relates to well-being (i.e., affect balance, life satisfaction, family life satisfaction, and work satisfaction), this preregistered study used nationally representative cross-sectional ...

The Value of Care: Brokering Work Conditions and Wages within a Transnational Care System

This article explains how the triadic brokering system in the European Union affects the conditions of work and pay of mobile care workers. Using original survey data gathered from Polish care workers in Germany, the authors found that workers earn less money the more hours they work. Based on qualitative interviews with care workers and representatives of labor market intermediaries, they argue that ...

Social Media: Population Favors Regulation—but Ban Only for Those up to the Age of 12

Social media usage by children and young people is an increasingly controversial topic. The focus is on risks, opportunities, and possible regulations. Politicians from all relevant parties are now open to a social media ban up to a certain age; the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs has set up a commission of experts. Based on a short survey in the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), conducted in September ...

Majority of the population sees both risks and opportunities in social media

Beyond Overall Income Inequality: Racial Income Gaps and Health Disparities

In this paper, we combine Census data with death records to examine the relationship between income inequality and race-specific mortality across 5,565 municipalities in Brazil. We find that overall income inequality is strongly associated with Non-White mortality but not with White mortality. To understand this disparity, we decompose the Gini coefficient and find that the racial income gap accounts ...

Unintended Consequences of COVID-19 Public Health and Social Measures in Camps and Camp-Like Settings: A Systematic Review and Conceptual Analysis

Objectives: This study examines unintended consequences (UIC) of public health and social measures (PHSM) in camps and camp-like settings and assesses the pathways through which these UIC arise. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and conceptual analysis of UIC from PHSM aimed at preventing SARS-CoV-2 spread in these settings. PHSM were classified using the WHO taxonomy and the CONSEQUENT framework ...