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German Microdata Lab

Debts, negative life events and subjective well-being: disentangling relationships

Author: Klaus Pforr

Cooperation partners: Nora Müller, Oshrat Hochman

Project description

The project builds on the findings on the moderating influence of economic resources on the relationship between negative life events and subjective well-being (SWB).
Specifically, we are investigating how divorce, unemployment and the death of a partner affect subjective well-being.A previously neglected dimension of economic resources is over-indebtedness, measured as negative net wealth. In the project, we attempt to identify the causal relationships between over-indebtedness, negative life events and SWB. The analyses with the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) have so far shown firstly a direct negative effect of over-indebtedness on SWB, secondly a cumulative effect of over-indebtedness over time and thirdly a partial mediation of the negative effect of negative life events on SWB through over-indebtedness. Over-indebtedness reinforces the negative relationship between negative life events on SWB through the negative impact of over-indebtedness on SWB. Negative life events do not influence the probability of over-indebtedness.We also find no moderating effect of over-indebtedness on the association between negative life events and SWB.The work was extended to include an international comparative perspective.SHARE data were used to examine how the labor markets and welfare state systems of Germany, Sweden, Italy and Israel explain the differences in the moderating effects of debt on the effects of negative life events.

Publikationen:

Hochman, Oshrat, Nora Müller und Klaus Pforr  (2019): ‘Debts, negative life events and subjective well-being: disentangling relationships.’ In Wealth(s) and subjective well-being, edited by Gäel Brulé, and Christian Suter, Social Indicators Research Series 76, 377-399. Cham: Springer.

Müller, Nora, Klaus Pforr und Oshrat Hochman (2021): ‘Double Burden? Implications of indebtedness to general life satisfaction following negative life events in international comparison.’ Journal of European Social Policy 31 (5): 614–628.