Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Personality development in adulthood and old age

This chapter provides an overview on changes in the Big Five personality traits in young adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age. It includes information on mean-level changes in personality trait levels, rank-order consistencies of individuals on personality traits as well as changes in personality type membership. Findings from meta-analyses, large and national representative panel studies, and ...

Personality development in reaction to major life events

Major life events are abrupt changes in the status of individuals that may impact thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. This chapter provides a review of studies that examined the impact of major life events on the development of the Big Five personality traits. First, theoretical perspectives are introduced on why personality may (or may not) change in reaction to major life events. Second, methodological ...

The Benefits of Believing in Chance or Fate: External Locus of Control as a Protective Factor for Coping with the Death of a Spouse

The death of a spouse is an extremely stressful life event that consequently causes a large drop in life satisfaction. Reactivity to the loss, however, varies markedly, a phenomenon that is currently not well understood. Because lack of controllability essentially contributes to the stressful nature of this incident, we analyzed whether individual differences in the belief in external control influence ...

Stability and Change of Personality Across the Life Course: The Impact of Age and Major Life Events on Mean-Level and Rank-Order Stability of the Big Five

Does personality change across the entire life course, and are those changes due to intrinsic maturation or major life experiences? This longitudinal study investigated changes in the mean levels and rank order of the Big Five personality traits in a heterogeneous sample of 14,718 Germans across all of adulthood. Latent change and latent moderated regression models provided four main findings: First, ...

Everything Under Control? The Effects of Age, Gender, and Education on Trajectories of Perceived Control in a Nationally Representative German Sample

Perceived control is an important variable for various demands involved in successful aging. However, perceived control is not set in stone, but rather changes throughout the life course. The aim of this study was to identify cross-sectional age differences and longitudinal mean-level changes as well as rank-order changes in perceived control with respect to sex and education. Furthermore, changes ...

Examining Mechanisms of Personality Maturation: The Impact of Life Satisfaction on the Development of the Big Five Personality Traits.

Individuals are expected to mature with increasing age, but it is not yet fully understood which factors contribute to this maturation process. Using data of a representative sample of Germans (N = 14,718) who gave information about their Big Five personality traits twice over a period of 4 years, the authors identified satisfaction with life, which was reported yearly, as an important variable for ...

On the consistency of personality types across adulthood: Latent profile analyses in two large-scale panel studies

Consistency and change in personality were analyzed by examining personality types across adulthood and old age using data from 2 nationally representative panel studies from Germany (N = 14,718; 16-82 years) and Australia (N = 8,315; 15-79 years). In both samples, the Big Five personality traits were measured twice across a period of 4 years. Latent profile analyses and latent profile transition analyses ...

Some Aspects of the Social Transition Processes in Hungary and East Germany - Income Inequality and Poverty

Religion and work: Micro evidence from contemporary Germany

Few theories in the social sciences have gained more widespread acceptance than Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism—despite a lack of conclusive empirical evidence. At the core of Weber’s theory lies a connection between Protestantism and attitudes toward work. Using micro-data from contemporary Germany, this paper investigates the impact of Protestantism on economic outcomes ...

Sector Surcharges for Temporary Agency Workers in Germany: A Way Out of the Low-Wage Sector?

Sector-specific surcharge collective labor agreements between the bargaining partner in the staffing industry allow for a reduction of wage gaps between agency workers and permanent staff in case of long-term job assignments to user companies. Stepwise surcharges up to 50% after a surcharge-free period between four and six weeks gradually close the wage gap for temporary agency workers in nine industries. ...