The Age U-shape in Europe: The Protective Role of Partnership
Article dans une revue: In this study, we ask whether the U-shaped relationship between life satisfactionand age is flatter for individuals who are partnered. An analysis of cross-sectionalEU-SILC data indicates that the decline in life satisfaction from the teens to thefifties is almost four times larger for non-partnered than for partnered individuals,whose life satisfaction essentially follows a slight downward trajectory with age.However, the same analysis applied to three panel datasets (BHPS, SOEP andHILDA) reveals a U-shape for both groups, albeit somewhat flatter for the partneredthan for the non-partnered individuals. We suggest that the difference between thecross-sectional and the panel results reflects compositional effects: i.e., there isa significant shift of the relatively dissatisfied out of marriage in mid-life. Thesecompositional effects tend to flatten the U-shape in age for the partnered individualsin the cross-sectional data.
Auteur(s)
Andrew E. Clark, Hippolyte d’Albis, Angela Greulich
Revue
- Vienna Yearbook of Population Research
Date de publication
- 2021
Mots-clés
- Life satisfaction
- Life cycle
- Partnership
- Marriage
Pages
- 293-318
URL de la notice HAL
Version
- 1
Volume
- 19