Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Until death do us part: The codevelopment of life satisfaction in couples preceding the death of one partner

This work aims to integrate previous research perspectives on terminal well-being decline and partner bereavement by investigating the codevelopment of life satisfaction in the years preceding the death of one partner. We analyzed longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (N = 1,450 couples) and applied dyadic multilevel models to estimate both partners’ trajectories of life satisfaction ...

Single mothers' contact frequency with family and non-family members

Soziale Kontakte alleinerziehender Mütter wurden empirisch bisher überwiegend anhand kleiner selektiver Stichproben und im Querschnitt betrachtet. Die Möglichkeit, die Zusammenhänge zu generalisieren, ist nicht zuletzt durch begrenzte Verfügbarkeit geeigneter Längsschnittdaten eingeschränkt. Dieser Artikel greift auf eine der verfügbaren Datenquellen zurück um zu untersuchen, inwiefern Übergänge ins ...

A Matter of Combination? The Influence of Work-family Life Courses on Life Satisfaction at Higher Ages among German Women

This study analyzed the association between work-family life courses and life satisfaction among 2,542 women aged 60–65 years (born between 1920 and 1957) using German SOEP data and ANOVA models. The results are embedded in a description of the specific role of mothers in Germany (as primary caregivers), different theoretical assumptions (from role theories and theories on cumulative advantages and ...

Refugees' religious affiliation, religious practice and social integration

Educational Reproduction in Germany: A Prospective Study Based on Retrospective Data

This study examines educational reproduction of East and West German men and women born between 1930 and 1950. In a prospective design, we study the importance of mobility and fertility pathways of reproduction, considering not only the social reproduction of education as an attribute but also the demographic reproduction of individuals who carry this attribute. Using data from NEPS and SOEP, we introduce ...

Trends in self-rated health among the elderly population in Germany from 1995 to 2015 – the influence of temporal change in leisure time physical activity

Background: Against the backdrop of rising statutory retirement age in Germany, we analyzed time trends in self-rated health (SRH) among the elderly population between 50 and 70 years of age and explored the mediating role of leisure time physical activity (LTPA) on the relationship between time period and self-rated health (SRH). Methods: We used longitudinal survey data (n = 23,161) from a national ...

Opportunities and Constraints of the Partner Market and Educational Assortative Mating

This study aims to determine to what extent the opportunities and restrictions of the partner market influence educational assortative mating. It also analyzes the interplay between the opportunity structure and preferences. Matching district-based partner market indicators to heterosexual couples when they move in together based on the German Socio-Economic Panel, we find strong effects of the opportunity ...

Taking social policy personally: How does neuroticism affect welfare state attitudes?

Abstract The role of the “Big Five” personality traits in driving welfare state attitudes has received scant attention in social policy research. Yet neuroticism in particular—a disposition to stress, worry, and get nervous easily—is theoretically likely to be an important driver of welfare attitudes precisely because welfare states deliver social “security” and “safety” nets. Using cross-sectional ...

My Gain or Your Loss? Changes in within-Couple Relative Wealth and Partners’ Life Satisfaction

This article studies the relationship between partner’s wealth share and their life satisfaction in different-sex couples using the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (2002, 2007, 2012, and 2017). Resource-based theories and gender ideology are two prominent approaches to explain the effects of within-couple relative resources on various outcomes. Recently, scholars have argued that not relative but ...

Life Satisfaction and Noncognitive Skills: Effects on the Likelihood of Unemployment

Psychological measures are gaining recognition as important determinants of labor performance. This paper demonstrates that people reporting greater subjective well-being (SWB) are causally less likely to be unemployed in the future. The relation exhibits a meaningful magnitude relative to the mean unemployment rate and other determinants. The analysis is based on a longitudinal survey of German households ...