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
Version
  • 1
Volume
  • 19