Heterogeneity in gender differences in self-reported political preferences, trust, and well-being across 39 European countries

Yifan Yang, Magnus Johannesson, Frank Fossen, Levent Neyse and Felix Holzmeister

EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, 2026, vol. 16, issue 1, No 3406

Abstract: Previous research suggests that women tend to self-report higher life satisfaction and happiness, lower health status and trust, and more left-leaning political preferences than men. We revisit the gender gap in these outcome variables using random-effects meta-analysis, aggregating data across 39 countries surveyed in the European Social Survey (n ≈ 500,000). Measured in Cohen's d units, women, n average, report 0.023 higher life satisfaction, 0.039 higher happiness, 0.110 lower health status, 0.032 lower trust, and 0.061 more left-leaning preferences. We find significant heterogeneity, with the estimated standard deviation of the true gender difference across countries ranging from 0.049 (for life satisfaction) to 0.079 (for political preferences). Moderation analyses indicate that, as countries' gender equality increases, the gender gap in political preferences widens, while the gap in health status narrows. We conclude that the meta-analytic gender gaps are small, while heterogeneity is large, suggesting limited generalizability of gender differences across European countries.

Keywords: Gender differences; Heterogeneity; European social survey; Meta-analysis; Generalizability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:espost:341337

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-33362-3

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