Pollmann-Schult (2014): study DE 1994

Publication

Author(s):

Pollmann-Schult, M.

Title:

Parenthood and Life Satisfaction: Why don't children make people happy?

Source:

Journal of Marriage and Family, 76(2)

Investigation

Public

Working aged couples, Germany, followed at least 2 years, 1994 - 2010

Survey name

DE-SOEP

Sample

Selection from general population sample

Respondents

N = 16021

Non Response

Assessment

Interview: face-to-face

Happiness Measure(s) and Distributional Findings

Full text:

Self report on single question:

Taking all things together, how satisfied are you with your life these days? Please answer with the help of this scale. For instance, when you are totally satisfied with your life, please tick '10'. When you are totally unsatisfied with your life, please tick '0'. You may use all values in between to indicate that you are neither totally satisfied nor totally unsatisfied."
10 totally satisfied
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0  totally unsatisfied

Classification:

O-SLW-c-sq-n-11-d

Author's label:

Life satisfaction

Remarks:

Nonmother: M = 7.16 (SD=1.72), N=18,357
Mother:       M = 7.12 (SD=1.66), N=31,034
Nonfather:  M = 6.96 (SD=1.77), N=19,490
Father:        M = 7.07 (SD=1.621), N=26,439

Page in publication:

324, 326

Observed distribution

Summary Statistics

On original range 0 - 10 On range 0-10

Mean:

7.08 -

SD:

- -

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding Marital status x parenthood Change in marital status
Change in living with children or not Marital status Change in marital status Relative time use Change in leisure Equivalent household income Change in income level Number of children Birth of children
Number of children Employment status Became unemployed
Moved out of workforce
Went in education
Change from full-time to part-time