Life Satisfaction in Germany After Reunification: Additional Insights on the Pattern of Convergence

2016 ◽  
Vol 236 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inna Petrunyk ◽  
Christian Pfeifer
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Household Income ◽  
German Reunification ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Using Data ◽  
East West ◽  
Overall Life Satisfaction

Abstract The authors update previous findings on the total East-West gap in overall life satisfaction and its trend by using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) for the years 1992 to 2013. Additionally, the East-West gap and its trend are separately analyzed for men and women as well as for four birth cohorts. The results indicate that reported life satisfaction is on average significantly lower in East than in West German federal states and that part of the raw East-West gap is due to differences in household income and unemployment status. The conditional East-West gap decreased in the first years after the German reunification and remained quite stable and sizeable since the mid-nineties. The results further indicate that gender differences are small. But the East-West gap is significantly smaller and shows a trend towards convergence for younger birth cohorts.

scholarly journals Declining regional disparities in mortality in the context of persisting large inequalities in economic conditions: the case of Germany

2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 486-496
Author(s):  
Alyson A van Raalte ◽  
Sebastian Klüsener ◽  
Anna Oksuzyan ◽  
Pavel Grigoriev
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
State Level ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
German State ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Regional Mortality ◽  
East West ◽  
Economic Inequalities

Abstract Background Subnational regional mortality inequalities are large and appear to be mostly increasing within industrialized countries, although comparative studies across high-income countries are scarce. Germany is an important country to examine because it continues to experience considerable economic disparities between its federal states, in part resulting from its former division. Methods We analyse state-level mortality in Germany utilizing data from a newly constructed regional database based on the methodology of the Human Mortality Database. We compare time trends (1991–2015) in the German state-level standard deviation in life expectancy to that of other large, wealthy countries and examine the association between mortality and economic inequalities at the regional level. Finally, using contour-decomposition methods, we investigate the degree to which age patterns of mortality are converging across German federal states. Results Regional inequalities in life expectancy in Germany are comparatively low internationally, particularly among women, despite high state-level inequalities in economic conditions. These low regional mortality inequalities emerged 5–10 years after reunification. Mortality is converging over most ages between the longest- and shortest-living German state populations and across the former East–West political border, with the exception of an emerging East–West divergence in mortality among working-aged men. Conclusions The German example shows that large regional economic inequalities are not necessarily paralleled with large regional mortality disparities. Future research should investigate the factors that fostered the emergence of this unusual pattern in Germany.

Cohort Increases in Sex with Same-Sex Partners: Do Trends Vary by Gender, Race, and Class?

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Mishel ◽  
Paula England ◽  
Jessie Ford ◽  
Mónica L. Caudillo
Keyword(s):  
White Men ◽  
Mass Incarceration ◽  
Sex Partners ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Social Surveys ◽  
Race And Class ◽  
Lower Socioeconomic ◽  
Using Data

We examine change across U.S. cohorts born between 1920 and 2000 in their probability of having had sex with same-sex partners in the last year and since age 18. Using data from the 1988–2018 General Social Surveys, we explore how trends differ by gender, race, and class background. We find steep increases across birth cohorts in the proportion of women who have had sex with both men and women since age 18, whereas increases for men are less steep. We suggest that the trends reflect an increasingly accepting social climate, and that women’s steeper trend is rooted in a long-term asymmetry in gender change, in which nonconformity to gender norms is more acceptable for women than men. We also find evidence that, among men, the increase in having had sex with both men and women was steeper for black than for white men, and for men of lower socioeconomic status; we speculate that the rise of mass incarceration among less privileged men may have influenced this trend.

scholarly journals East-West Couples: Distribution, Characteristics and Stability

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Lois
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Distribution Characteristics ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
Cohabiting Couples ◽  
East German ◽  
Unmarried Cohabitation ◽  
East West

SOEP data were used to examine relationships consisting of one partner socialised in West Germany and one in East Germany and who presently reside in the “old” (former West German) or “new” (newly formed East German) federal states. The estimated share of east-west couples among all marriages or cohabiting couples rises continuously within the observed period reaching approximately two and eleven percent respectively by 2009. The specific characteristics of east-west couples are that their employment-related division of labour is relatively egalitarian, above-average the partners are of different confessions and practice different religions, at least one of the partners is frequently divorced and there is also a strong tendency towards unmarried cohabitation. Besides the place of socialisation, the present place of residence has an independent impact on the economic situation, division of labour and marriage propensity. Analyses of relationship stability reveal that east-west couples exhibit a relatively high risk of separation. This is partly due to religious differences between the partners, but primarily to the low marriage propensity and the overrepresentation of divorced persons within this type of relationship.

Gelijke opleiding, verschillende opbrengsten : Een onderzoek naar genderongelijkheid in het effect van opleidingsniveau op de mate van leidinggeven

2020 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-28
Author(s):  
Anneke de Hamer ◽  
Ineke Maas
Keyword(s):  
Gender Inequality ◽  
Returns To Education ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Education Level ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Capital Theory ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Equal Education ◽  
Onderzoek Naar ◽  
Using Data

Abstract Equal education, different returns: Research into gender inequality in the effect of education level on the degree of supervisionThe aim of this article is to investigate whether the effect of individuals’ education level on the degree of supervision their position holds, differs between men and women and how this has changed over birth cohorts. Drawing on the human capital theory and the glass ceiling metaphor, hypotheses on gender differences in the returns to education and how these change with birth cohort and age, are formulated. The hypotheses are tested using data from the Dutch Labor Supply Panel. We find that the returns to education are smaller for women than for men. This is the case in all age groups and birth cohorts. However, no evidence was found that women from earlier cohorts profit more from their education than women from later cohorts. Women and men born between 1961 and 1970 have the highest returns to education, as well as middle aged women and men.1

scholarly journals Comparison of the Abitur examination in mathematics in Germany before and after reunification in 1990

ZDM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Regina Bruder
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
West Germany ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
German Reunification ◽  
Federal Republic Of Germany ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Federal States ◽  
German Federal States ◽  
The Social ◽  
Before And After

AbstractIn Germany, the Abitur is the highest qualification granted at the end of secondary education after 12 or 13 years of schooling; it provides a general university entrance qualification. Traditionally, written and oral examinations are required to obtain the Abitur. Until 1990, there were mainly decentralized examinations in mathematics in West Germany (Federal Republic of Germany [FRG]), which were taken after 13 school years, and a centralized examination that students took after 12 years of school in East Germany (German Democratic Republic [GDR]). In the unified Germany, examinations are now increasingly set by the 16 individual federal states. This paper has a special focus on changes and permanent features in the written Abitur examination in mathematics in Germany in the context of the social changes caused by the German reunification in 1990. These changes since 1990 are described with regard to the initial situation and framing conditions for the written Abitur examination. Two time periods are considered: (1) the examination situation in the FRG and GDR before 1990 and (2) the changes in the five eastern German federal states (former GDR) under the system change and accession to the FRG after 1990 but before the PISA shock.

scholarly journals A first glance into the black box of life satisfaction surrounding childbearing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arnstein Aassve ◽  
Francesca Luppi ◽  
Letizia Mencarini
Keyword(s):  
Life Satisfaction ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Black Box ◽  
General Level ◽  
Subjective Well Being ◽  
Panel Survey ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Overall Life Satisfaction

AbstractThe vast majority of studies looking into the relationship between childbearing and subjective well-being use overall measures where respondents either report their general level of happiness or their life satisfaction, leaving substantial doubt about the underlying mechanisms. However, life satisfaction and happiness are intuitively multidimensional concepts, simply because there cannot be only one aspect that affects individuals' well-being. In this study, by considering seventeen specific life satisfaction domains, these features come out very clearly. Whereas all the domains considered matter for the overall life satisfaction, only three of them, namely satisfaction with leisure, health and satisfaction with the partnership, change dramatically surrounding childbearing events. Even though we cannot generalise (since these results stem from one particular panel survey, i.e., Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia data), it appears that the typical anticipation and post-child decrease of life satisfaction, so often found in existing studies, stems from changes in these three domains.

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