Topics of SOEP-Core¶

The topics of the SOEP questionnaires and the various modules they contain can be grouped into 11 areas. Some of the modules deal with aspects of life that tend to change from one year to the next, and are therefore repeated annually, while other modules are repeated at intervals of several years. How often a module is repeated is stated in the “module” column of our topic tables. Some SOEP modules are also adapted in different ways to the different questionnaires. The questions in the “Big Five” personality traits module, for instance, are formulated differently in the mother-child questionnaires than they are in the individual questionnaire.

Overview of Modules in Different SOEP Questionnaires

	Individual	Youth	Mother-Child A	Mother-Child B	Mother-Child C	Parents D	Mother-Child E
Affective well-being	x	x
Big Five personality traits	x	x		x	x		x
Birth history		x	x	x	x	x	x
Childcare			x	x	x	x	x
Educational aspirations		x				x	x
Health of child			x	x	x		x
Height and weight of child			x	x	x
Height and weight	x	x
Language ability German / native language	x	x
Leisure and activities (with child)				x	x
Life satisfaction	x	x
Language use				x			x
Locus of control	x	x
Family background	x	x
Parental interest in school performance		x					x
Allowance		x					x
Political orientation	x	x
Risk aversion	x	x
State of health	x	x
Strengths and difficulties					x		x
Temperament			x	x

The Scales Manual briefly describes the theoretical background and development of all of the scales used in the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study. It also provides the relevant citations as well as the items belonging to the scales and the answer format, including the verbal anchors.

Note

The topic tables list the modules in a questionnaire, not the question items. The modules listed do not represent all of the variables in the SOEP, nor do they refer to all questionnaires. Specific information can also be found in our generated datasets.

Last change: Feb 21, 2024