Gender, Loneliness and Happiness during COVID-19

Anthony Lepinteur, Andrew Clark, Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell (), Alan Piper, Carsten Schröder and Conchita D'Ambrosio
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Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell: CSIC Institute for Economic Analysis

No 15653, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We analyse a measure of loneliness from a representative sample of German individuals interviewed in both 2017 and at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Both men and women felt lonelier during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did in 2017. The pandemic more than doubled the gender loneliness gap: women were lonelier than men in 2017, and the 2017-2020 rise in loneliness was far larger for women. This rise is mirrored in life-satisfaction scores. Men's life satisfaction changed only little between 2017 and 2020; yet that of women fell dramatically, and sufficiently so to produce a female penalty in life satisfaction. We estimate that almost all of this female penalty is explained by the disproportionate rise in loneliness for women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; loneliness; life satisfaction; gender; SOEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 I14 I18 I30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2022-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hea and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Published - published in: Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2022, 101, 101952

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Related works:
Journal Article: Gender, loneliness and happiness during COVID-19 (2022)
Working Paper: Gender, Loneliness and Happiness during COVID-19 (2022)
Working Paper: Gender, Loneliness and Happiness during COVID-19 (2022)
Working Paper: Gender, loneliness and happiness during COVID-19 (2022)
Working Paper: Gender, loneliness and happiness during COVID-19 (2022)
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