Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

Younger adults’nuclear and extended family relationships in Europe: A latent class analysis

The present study identifies and compares typical classes of relationship qualities in the nuclear and extended family ties of younger adults across nine European countries (Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, as well as the Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden). We used KINMATRIX data that were collected online in 2022-23 from an ego-centric perspective of ...

Persistent breeze from the winds of change: Partisan alignments of protest participants after democratic transition

By the early 1990s, millions across Central and Eastern Europe mobilized against socialist regimes. Despite their pivotal role in democratization, little is known about the long-term political trajectories of those who participated in these movements. Using three decades of intergenerational panel data from the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), I trace the partisan alignments of 1989 protest ...

Intergenerational persistence of subjective well-being: Evidence from the Japanese Household Panel Survey on parents and children

Do parents pass on their subjective well-being (SWB) to their children? This study uses long-term panel data from two generations in the Japan Household Panel Survey to examine intergenerational persistence of SWB. We find that rank–rank slopes for intergenerational persistence of happiness, self-reported general health, and mental health are 0.25, 0.22, and 0.13, respectively, which are intermediate ...

Immigrants’ recruitment chances in the German labor market: Evidence from large-scale survey experiments

Child penalties in labour market skills

This paper estimates child penalties in labour-market-relevant cognitive skills, such as numeracy but also literacy and problem-solving competencies. We use international PIAAC data and adapt a pseudo-panel approach to a single cross-section covering 29 countries. Numeracy scores, which are associated with the largest returns to skills and pronounced gender differences, decline by 0.11 standard deviations ...

Personality differences and investment decision-making

We survey thousands of affluent American investors to examine the relationship between personalities and investment decisions. The Big Five personality traits correlate with investors' beliefs about the stock market and economy, risk preferences, and social interaction tendencies. Two personality traits, Neuroticism and Openness, stand out in their explanatory power for equity investments. Investors ...

The persuasiveness of different sources of information on the decision to vaccinate. A cross-sectional study in Germany during the pandemic at the turn of the year 2021/2022

Health information about vaccinations is communicated via various sources of information and is crucial for vaccination decisions. Information sources such as interpersonal sources, traditional print and digital media as well as social media offer information about the risks and benefits of vaccination. During health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic was, some information sources provide hanging ...

Improving Contact Tracing by Prioritizing Influential Spreaders Identified Through Socio-Demographic Characteristics

To mitigate the spread of contagious diseases, there is an ongoing discussion surrounding interventions that strategically target individuals who, due to their social network position, are responsible for more infections than others. However, the practical identification of these individuals using conventional network metrics is considerably challenging due to the lack of required data. A potential ...

Working-Time flexibility and Union Dissolutions: Evidence for couples in Germany

Objective: This study examines the relationship between men's and women's working-time flexibility and relationship dissolutions (cohabitating and married couples) in Germany. Background: Globalisation and technological advancements have popularised flexible working hours, necessitating a deeper understanding of their implications on family dynamics and relationship stability. Employee-oriented ...

Intra-couple gaps in retirees’ financial resources: their extent and predictors across Eastern and Western Germany

Intra-couple disparities in economic resources are often downplayed, yet they substantially affect power dynamics, marital satisfaction, and financial well-being during the marriage and have lasting economic consequences in the event of separation. With the growing privatization of old-age security amidst population aging and welfare cuts, understanding economic intra-couple disparities among retired ...