Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) Research Meets Household Panel Surveys: Research Potentials of the German Socio-Economic Panel and Its Boost Sample of SGM Households

Abstract

There are numerous challenges to studying structural inequality in sexual and gender minority (SGM) populations, from the difficulty of obtaining a representative sample to issues comparing data across populations. This data brief illustrates how the largest household panel survey in Germany, the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), and its recent nationwide boost sample of SGM households, Sample Q, have addressed these challenges. We discuss the case of the SOEP and its boost sample to illustrate the untapped potentials that lie in other national household panels for research into the lived experiences of SGM people, couples, and families. Based on the SOEP example, we show the potential for cross-sectional comparative, retrospective, and longitudinal life course research using the detailed information on the extended families (parents, children, siblings, and relatives) of SGM respondents in household panel surveys.

Partnership Dynamics of LGB People and Heterosexuals: Patterns of First Partnership Formation and First Cohabitation

“…Recruitment of households for Sample Q was done in two phases (Fischer et al, 2022 ): In the first phase, a random telephone screening of the general adult population in Germany was conducted, where roughly 75,000 people were interviewed and asked about their sexual orientation and gender identity. All those who chose an answer other than “heterosexual” were screened as part of the target group and were invited to take part in the SOEP survey in the second phase.…”

“…Although there are already various large-scale surveys in which data on partner relationships are collected on a longitudinal basis, these surveys either do not include information on sexual orientation and/or the gender constellation of respondents’ partnerships, or the number of cases is too small. 3 The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) boost sample of sexual and gender minority households, which was recruited in 2019, is the first dataset for Germany that allows us to examine the partnership biographies of LGB people on a representative basis (Fischer et al, 2022 ).…”

Sexual Orientation, Workplace Authority and Occupational Segregation: Evidence from Germany

“…The SOEP started in 1984 and currently includes nearly 15,000 households and around 30,000 individual respondents (Goebel et al, 2019). In 2019, a boost sample of sexual and gender minorities (SOEP Sample Q) increased the number of LGB respondents in the SOEP (de Vries et al, 2021; Fischer et al, 2022). The analysis presented in this article pools the information from four waves (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019) of the SOEP, as the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO)-08 classification has only been available since 2013 and the questions on workplace authority are only included every two years.…”

“…First, it asks whether there is a sexual orientation gap in workplace authority or high-level workplace authority, and second, whether working in a gender-segregated or integrated occupation affects the probability of (high-level) workplace authority for LGB people. The data used in this study come from four pooled waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP), which added a boost sample of gender and sexual minorities in 2019, thus offering a unique opportunity to answer these questions in the German context (de Vries et al, 2021; Fischer et al, 2022). For the analysis logistic regression models are used.…”

Job Attribute Preferences of Sexual Minority People: The Role of Past Discrimination and Safe Havens

“…The SOEP is a representative household panel in Germany with approximately 29,000 respondents in the year 2019 (Goebel et al 2019;The SOEP group 2020). In the year 2019, a boost sample of nearly 500 households including sexual and gender minority people (SOEP-Q) was added to the SOEP (Fischer et al 2022;de Vries et al 2021). I compared the industry sector of heterosexual employees (SOEP) with that of sexual minority employees (SOEP and LGBielefeld 2019).…”