Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Family Policies in Germany

This chapter reviews the current state of German family policy with a special focus on rights and obligations. It identifies the peculiarities of family policies in the formerly socialist East and in the conservative-familist West. German unification merged two contrasting models of family policy: the East German dual-earner model and the West German male breadwinner model. While family policy in East ...

No Effect of Birth Order on Adult Risk Taking

Does birth order shape people’s propensity to take risks? Evidence is mixed. We used a three-pronged approach to investigate birth-order effects on risk taking. First, we examined the propensity to take risks as measured by a self-report questionnaire administered in the German Socio-Economic Panel, one of the largest and most comprehensive household surveys. Second, we drew on data from the Basel–Berlin ...

The causal effect of age at migration on youth educational attainment

We investigate the causal effect of age at migration on subsequent educational attainment in the destination country. To identify the causal effect we compare the educational attainment of siblings at age 21, exploiting the fact that they typically migrate at different ages within a given family. We consider several education outcomes conditional on family fixed effects. We take advantage of long running ...

The course of subjective sleep quality in middle and old adulthood and its relation to physical health

Objective: Older adults more often complain about sleep disturbances compared to younger adults. However, it is not clear whether there is still a decline of sleep quality after age 60 and whether changes in sleep quality in old age are mere reflections of impaired physical health or whether they represent a normative age dependent development.Method: Subjective sleep quality and perceived physical ...

Institutional rearing is associated with lower general life satisfaction in adulthood

We analyzed whether individuals reared in institutions differ in their general life satisfaction from people raised in their families. The data comprised of 19,210 German adults (51.5% female) aged from 17 to 101 years and were provided by the SOEP, an ongoing, nationally representative longitudinal study in Germany. Compared to people raised in families, individuals reared in institutions reported ...

Solidarity with EU Countries in Crisis: Results of a 2015 Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) Survey

In response to the European sovereign debt and currency crisis, the EU has begun to implement measures toward fiscal solidarity at least for the euro area. Survey data from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study show that just under half of all adults in Germany generally support providing assistance to EU countries experiencing financial difficulties. Almost one in three respondents also advocate the ...

Occupation, Prestige, and Voluntary Work in Retirement: Empirical Evidence from Germany

The paper examines the extent to which the prestige value of a retiree’s former occupation increases the likelihood that they will make a transition into volunteering after retirement. Following social production function theory, we assume that when a person retires, the prestige value attached to their former occupation fades. The fact that volunteering has the character of a collective good provides ...

The long shadow of occupation: Volunteering in retirement

This article examines the extent to which the former occupation of an employee impacts the likelihood that he or she will decide to volunteer upon retirement. Following social production function theory, we assume that beginning with retirement, the status value attached to their former occupation fades. Because volunteering has the character of a collective good, it provides an opportunity to gain ...

Risk takers follow in parents' footsteps

Health Measurement and Health Inequality Over the Life Course: A Comparison of Self-rated Health, SF-12, and Grip Strength

The cumulative (dis)advantage hypothesis predicts education differences in health to increase with age. All previous tests of this hypothesis were based on self-reported health measures. Recent research has suggested that self-reported health measures may not adequately capture differences in key analytical constructs, including education, age, cohort, and gender. In this study, I tested the cumulative ...