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

Petrunyk, Inna; Pfeifer, Christian

doi:10.1515/jbnst-2015-1010

Cited by 13 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Mean life satisfaction is 7.26 (7.19-7.33) in our sample and 6.9 (6.78-7.02) in the population-similar to means found in the German general population (e.g. mean = 6.98 [SD = 0.78], [48]). Tables A2 and A3 also shows descriptive statistics for all independent variables in the following analyses.…”

Section: Descriptivessupporting

confidence: 85%

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey

Walther

Fuchs

Schupp

et al. 2020

J Immigrant Minority Health

112

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Refugees are at an increased risk of mental health problems and low subjective well-being. Living circumstances in the host country are thought to play a vital role in shaping these health outcomes, which, in turn, are prerequisites for successful integration. Using data from a representative survey of 4325 adult refugees who arrived in Germany between 2013 and 2016, we investigated how different living conditions, especially those subject to integration policies, are associated with psychological distress and life satisfaction using linear regression models. Our findings show that an uncertain legal status, separation from family, and living in refugee housing facilities are related to higher levels of distress and decreased life satisfaction. Being employed, contact to members of the host society, and better host country language skills, by contrast, are related to reduced distress and higher levels of life satisfaction. These associations should inform decision making in a highly contested policy area.

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Section: Descriptivessupporting

confidence: 85%

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey

Walther

Fuchs

Schupp

et al. 2020

J Immigrant Minority Health

112

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“…Consistent with the literature, higher levels of household income tend to have strong positive influences on life satisfaction or happiness (Petrunyk and Pfeifer 2016). Most studies posit a small and modest, yet measurable correlation between income and happiness (Schyns 2003;Ahuvia 2008;Diener and Biswas-Diener 2002).…”

Section: Socio-demographic Variablesmentioning

confidence: 64%

Happiness and Consumption in Mauritius: An Exploratory Study of Socio-Economic Dimensions, Basic Needs, Luxuries and Personality Traits

2019

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Mainstream economics perceive an individual as highly individualistic, presuming that he/ she consumes goods in the most efficient way to optimize his/her level of happiness. This study attempts to explore the nexus between socioeconomic dimensions, basic needs, luxuries and personality traits and happiness in Mauritius. Material consumption and happiness are projected to be positively and strongly related. This is usually illuminated in terms of the increased possibilities to satisfy basic needs and luxuries along with other motives which additional spending provides. Other instrumental aspects of consumption, such as its relative, community-based and hedonic magnitudes are accounted. Cross-sectional data are compiled from a household survey with a sample size of 1015 observations. To conduct the analysis, an ordered probit model is applied. The general conclusion is drawn upon the results that socioeconomic indicators like educational attainment, residential location, family size, income in addition to the intermediate needs deprivation index, brand consciousness, fashion innovativeness, commercial interest, shopping enjoyment, hedonism, bandwagon effect and personality traits are significantly related to people's happiness.

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“…Numerous studies have examined average trajectories of life satisfaction in East and West Germany after reunification, as well as some of its determinants (e.g., Easterlin & Plagnol, 2008;Frijters et al, 2004a;Noll & Weick, 2010;Petrunyk & Pfeifer, 2016; also see Bartolini et al, 2013). Overall, average life satisfaction in the former West German population remained remarkably stable; if anything, it slightly declined (at least through 2007; see Bartolini et al, 2013;Noll & Weick, 2010).…”

Section: Life Satisfaction After German Reunification and Other Critical Life Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies used life satisfaction, understood as a global evaluation of one's life compared to how life ought to be, as a suitable indicator of adjustment to critical life events (e.g., Diener et al, 2018;Infurna et al, 2017;Wang et al, 2011). For former East Germans, life satisfaction was high around the time of reunification, but then sharply declined and-despite a certain degree of rebound-eventually stagnated below the mean-level of the former West German population (e.g., Frijters et al, 2004a;Petrunyk & Pfeifer, 2016). However, because previous studies focused only on mean-level changes, to date little is known about potential heterogeneity in patterns of adjustment within the former East German population.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterogeneity in Trajectories of Life Satisfaction After Reunification: The Role of Individual Resources and Life Stage in Former East Germany

et al. 2021

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For people living in the former East Germany, reunification with the former West Germany fundamentally transformed the sociopolitical system and most domains of everyday life. Previous research has revealed temporal shifts in average life satisfaction after reunification in the former East German population as a whole, but so far little is known about heterogeneity in patterns of adjustment within the population. Building on evidence of considerable diversity in trajectories of adjustment to other critical life events, in the current study we use longitudinal data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study and growth mixture models to identify typical yet distinct trajectories of life satisfaction among former East Germans, covering the period just before reunification and four years thereafter. We identified four trajectories: continuously satisfied (experienced by 17% of the sample), upward adjusters (24%), downward adjusters (34%), and continuously dissatisfied (25%). Results of logistic regression analyses indicate that the propensity to follow a particular trajectory was strongly predicted by an individual’s baseline economic (employment, but not income), socio-relational (loneliness) and personal (education, satisfaction with health) resources. Whereas former East Germans with more resources just prior to reunification were more likely to maintain high or increase in life satisfaction, their peers with fewer resources were more apt to either maintain low or decrease in life satisfaction. People in their mid-twenties through mid-fifties (i.e., prime working age) at the time of reunification were also more likely to maintain low life satisfaction. Accordingly, reunification affected the unfolding of individual lives differently.

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

Cited by 13 publications

References 23 publications

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Large-Scale German Survey

Happiness and Consumption in Mauritius: An Exploratory Study of Socio-Economic Dimensions, Basic Needs, Luxuries and Personality Traits

Heterogeneity in Trajectories of Life Satisfaction After Reunification: The Role of Individual Resources and Life Stage in Former East Germany

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