Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

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 ...

Refugees' religious affiliation, religious practice and social integration

Should Germany have built a new wall? Macroeconomic lessons from the 2015-18 refugee wave

In 2015–2016 Germany experienced a wave of predominantly low-skilled refugee immigration. We evaluate its macroeconomic and distributional effects using a quantitative overlapping generations model calibrated using German micro data to replicate education and productivity differentials between foreign born and native workers. Workers are modelled as imperfect substitutes in aggregate production leading ...

What Difference Does a Negative Opinion Climate Make? Assessing Immigrants’ Low-Wage Risks in Times of Heightened Anti-Immigrant Attitudes

Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass ein negatives Meinungsklima gegenüber Einwanderern das Niedriglohnrisiko von Einwanderern der zweiten Generation erhöht. Eine Matching-basierte Analyse von Daten aus 18 Wellen des Sozio-oekonomischen Panels (SOEP) liefert deutliche Indizien für diese Hypothese. Im Einklang mit existierenden Studien über die Löhne von Migranten zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass kontextuelle ...

Risky Moms, Risky Kids? Fertility and Crime after the Fall of the Wall

Following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, the birth rate halved in East Germany. Despite their small sizes, the cohorts conceived during this period of socio-economic turmoil were, as they grew up in reunified Germany, markedly more likely to be arrested than cohorts conceived a few years earlier. This is consistent with negative parental selection during the period of turmoil. We highlight risk attitude ...

Non-migrants’ and migrants’ interethnic relationships: the third party role of cohabiting partners

Considering both non-migrant and migrant couples, this paper studies the effect of cohabiting life partners’ attitudes, resources, and social network compositions on their spouse’s interethnic friendships and acquaintances. Thus, partners are conceptualized as important “third parties” for interethnic relationship formation. Analysing representative German household panel data, I find that partner ...

Is the problem mine, yours, or ours? The impact of unemployment on couples’ life satisfaction and specific domain satisfaction

Using longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP, 1984-2017) and conducting fixed effects panel regressions, this study investigates the impact of unemployment on couples’ overall life satisfaction, as well as both partners’ satisfaction in specific life domains. Results confirm that job loss is harmful to both partners’ life satisfaction. In line with gender role models, the costs ...