Marriage Matters: Spousal Similarity in Life Satisfaction

Ulrich Schimmack and Richard Lucas

No 623, Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin from DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research

Abstract: Examined the concurrent and cross-lagged spousal similarity in life satisfaction over a 21-year period. Analyses were based on married couples (N = 847) in the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). Concurrent spousal similarity was considerably higher than one-year retest similarity, revealing spousal similarity in the variable component of life satisfac-tion. Spousal similarity systematically decreased with length of retest interval, revealing simi-larity in the changing component of life satisfaction. Finally, there was considerable spousal similarity in the stable component of life satisfaction over 20-years. The implications of these findings for causal theories of life satisfaction and studies in line with behavioural genetics are discussed

Keywords: Subjective Well Being; Life Satisfaction; Marriage; Couples; Spousal Similarity; Heritability; Assortative Mating; Longitudinal Panel; SOEP (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B49 D1 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 8 p.
Date: 2006
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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