Differential Life Satisfaction in a German Representative Sample

Christopher Arnold () and Beate Muschalla
Additional contact information
Christopher Arnold: Department of Psychotherapy and Diagnostics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
Beate Muschalla: Department of Psychotherapy and Diagnostics, Technische Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 1, 1-14

Abstract: Life satisfaction includes various aspects, such as satisfaction with work, family, environment, and finances, and is influenced by sociodemographic and socioeconomic factors. This representative study investigates differential life satisfaction in the general population and its associations with sociodemographics. The study used a cross-sectional design with 2522 German participants, collected via face-to-face interviews and three-stage random sampling, assessing satisfaction across 17 life areas with the Differential Life Burden Scale. Overall life satisfaction was high ( M = 4.46, scale from 1 to 6). Although globally satisfied, most participants (84.2%) named at least one negative area of life. Politics and environment were perceived as dissatisfying ( M = 3.1; M = 3.81, respectively); social contacts and leisure time were evaluated as rather satisfying ( M about 5.00). Age, income, and unemployment were associated with life satisfaction. Gender and age were differently associated with life domains: Older people were less satisfied with their health. Younger people were more satisfied with leisure time. Younger were less satisfied with their children than older participants. The German population is generally satisfied with life, though factors like age, unemployment, and income influence the number of negatively perceived life domains. This highlights the importance of evaluating specific life areas in addition to overall life satisfaction for a more comprehensive understanding.

Keywords: stress; life satisfaction; subjective well-being; resilience; quality of life (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/105/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/1/105/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:1:p:105-:d:1567065

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().