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Studies

Schimmack & Lucas (2007): study XZ Germany West 1984

Publication

Author(s):
Schimmack, U.; Lucas, R.E.
Title:
Marriage Matters, Spousal Similarity in Life Satisfaction.
Source:
Schmollers Jahrbuch, 2007, Vol. 1, 1 - 7

Investigation

Public
Couples, followed 21 years, West-Germany 1984-2004
Survey name
DE-SOEP
Sample
Probability multistage stratified area sample
Respondents
N = 1728
Non Response
Assessment
Interview: face-to-face
Yearly, with both spouses separately

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
Page in publication:
4

Correlational Findings

Author's label Subject Description Finding spousal similarity in life-satisfaction Current characteristics of spouse
Earlier happiness of others
Current happiness of others
stability of happiness Long term happiness (< 10 years ago)