Publications Based on SOEP Data: SOEPlit

When are pupil absences most harmful for academic achievement?

How Behavior and Motivation Mediate the Impact of School Absences on Achievement

This study investigates the mediating role of psychosocial factors, including behaviors and motivations, in the association between school absences and academic achievement. Using comprehensive longitudinal data from England, linking National Pupil Database (NPD) school register data with Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) survey data (N=7,204), the analysis explores the impact of absences at ages 12/13 ...

The Minimum Wage in Germany: Institutional Setting and a Systematic Review of Key Findings

The introduction of a statutory minimum wage in Germany in 2015 aimed at improving the welfare of low-wage workers but was also accompanied by concerns about distortions in Europe’s largest economy. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of results from the evaluation of the German minimum wage by compiling recent descriptive evidence and a systematic literature review on causal effects through ...

Participation in German courses and language skills

Is the First Language a Resource, an Obstacle, or Irrelevant for Language Minority Students’ Education?

Successful integration into the education system is of major importance for the future prospects of immigrants and their children as well as for the social cohesion and viability of the receiving societies. Language is generally viewed as an important aspect of this integration. Whereas there is widespread agreement that the language of the residence country (L2) is crucial for students’ educational ...

Cumulative Socioeconomic Risk Factors and Infant Temperament

Numerous studies in recent decades have shown a significant association between familiar socioeconomic status (SES) and child development. Less is known about the cumulative effects of socioeconomic risk factors, which may have a greater impact on child outcomes than single factors, especially in the first years of life. The study utilized latent mixture models to investigate the effects of socioeconomic ...

The educational wealth divide in Europe: Post-secondary enrollment gaps across parental wealth components and countries

Parental wealth is a crucial dimension of socioeconomic status (SES) and plays a significant role in the intergenerational transmission of educational advantage. Previous research on the topic has been limited to a small number of countries, and findings on the relationship between parental wealth and educational attainment are hardly comparable across institutional contexts. Furthermore, the specific ...

Household members’ positive personality traits and age stereotypes do not predict perceived expectations for active aging

The household represents a proximal social context whose members can convey various expectations to each other, including expectations for active aging. We used a nationally representative sample (N = 2007, aged 16–94 years) to investigate the household predictors of perceived expectations for active aging (PEAA, i.e., “activation demands” targeting individuals as older adults) in three domains: physical ...

Continuing exposure to disadvantageous material and perceived economic factors on self-rated health in different life stages: fixed effects analyses with data from the German Socioeconomic Panel

Life course epidemiology explores health disparities over time. The accumulation thesis thereby suggests an add-up of disadvantages, while the adaptation model assumes an adjustment to disadvantageous conditions. Examining the relevance of these accumulation and adaptation processes, the present study analyses continuing exposure to various material and perceived economic factors on self-rated health ...

The interplay of poverty and employment trajectories in couples around the transition to parenthood in Germany

The transition to parenthood is a critical period that exacerbates gendered economic inequality, with mothers more likely than their partners to experience employment disruptions and income losses. This study examines individual poverty risk among partnered indivduals (N=1,237) in Germany from a life course perspective, analyzing how gendered career patterns around first births between 1992 and 2013 ...