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Correlational findings

Study Stutzer & Frey (2006): study XZ Germany West 1984

Public
15+ aged, general public West Germany, 1984-2000
Sample
Respondents
N = 15268
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Yearly

Correlate

Authors's Label
Marriage later in life
Our Classification
Remarks
Not all Ss are followed all 17 years
Operationalization
Follow-up of people who over a period of 17 years:
a: remained married
b: remained single (never married)
c: got married for the first time
Marital status assessed every year

Observed Relation with Happiness

Happiness Measure Statistics Elaboration / Remarks O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-d DMa = + People who marry later in life were initially more happy than never marrieds who remain single.

This difference in initial happiness varies with age. It is largest around age 25 does not appear around age 30.

Ma controled for:
- sex
- age
- education level
- parenthood
- household income
- household size
- position in household
- employment
- place of residence
- citizenship status (migrant or not)

Happiness in the first 3 years of marriage left out from this analysis, in order to avoid a 'honeymoon effect'.