Endogenous selection bias and cumulative inequality over the life course. Evidence from educational inequality in subjective well-being.

Autor/inn/en	Kratz, Fabian; Patzina, Alexander
Titel	Endogenous selection bias and cumulative inequality over the life course. Evidence from educational inequality in subjective well-being. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Endogene Selektionsverzerrung und kumulierte Ungleichheit im Lebensverlauf. Erkenntnisse über bildungsspezifische Ungleichheit im subjektiven Wohlbefinden.
Quelle	In: European sociological review, 36 (2020) 3, S. 333-350Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; gedruckt; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0266-7215; 1468-2672
DOI	10.1093/esr/jcaa003
Schlagwörter	Bildungsniveau; Soziale Situation; Soziale Ungleichheit; Zufriedenheit; Niedrig Qualifizierter; Qualifikation; Teilnehmerstruktur; Auswirkung; Benachteiligung; Entwicklung
Abstract	"According to theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage, inequality increases over the life course. Labour market research has seized this argument to explain the increasing economic inequality as people age. However, evidence for cumulative (dis-)advantage in subjective well-being remains ambiguous, and a prominent study from the United States has reported contradictory results. Here, we reconcile research on inequality in subjective well-being with theories of cumulative (dis-)advantage. We argue that the age-specific endogenous selection of the (survey) population results in decreasing inequalities in subjective well-being means whereas individual-level changes show a pattern of cumulative (dis-)advantage. Using repeated cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey (N'='15,252) and employing hierarchical age-period-cohort models, we replicate the finding of decreasing inequality from the United States with the same research design for Germany. Using panel data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (persons'='47,683, person-years'='360,306) and employing growth curve models, we show that this pattern of decreasing inequality in subjective well-being means is accompanied by increasing inequality in intra-individual subjective well-being changes. This pattern arises because disadvantaged groups, such as the low educated and individuals with low subjective well-being show lower probabilities of continuing to participate in a survey and because both determinants reinforce each other. In addition to allowing individual changes and attrition processes to be examined, the employed multi-cohort panel data have further key advantages for examining inequality in subjective well-being over the life course: They require weaker assumptions to control for period and cohort effects and make it possible to control for interviewer effects that may influence the results." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku).
Erfasst von	Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung, Nürnberg
Update	2020/3