Life Satisfaction 
*****************

**Summary**

General life satisfaction has been measured with an individual item in the SOEP on an annual basis 
since 1984. Domain-specific life satisfaction was initially measured with seven items (1984-1990), 
and since 2008 with ten items. Items 1 to 5 can be combined into one scale in all survey years 
(Schimmack, Krause, Wagner, & Schupp, 2009). In addition, satisfaction in 11 further domains is 
surveyed at irregular intervals. 

**Theoretical Background**

Since its inception, the SOEP has included cognitive measures of well-being. The first measure is the 
global 11-point rating of life satisfaction (Schimmack, Schupp, & Wagner, 2008). This item is used 
almost exclusively as a measure of well-being in the SOEP. The reasons for its popularity are its high 
face validity and the widespread use of life satisfaction ratings in the well-being literature.  
Single-item measures of life satisfaction are a reasonably valid and common way to measure general 
life satisfaction: moderate associations with other well-being measures, including written interviews, 
informant reports, and measures of daily affect are reported by Sandvik, Diener, and Seidlitz (1993). 
Research using the World Value Survey (http://www.worldvaluessurvey.org) found single-item 
measures of life satisfaction to be positively related to affect balance and positive affect, and inversely 
related to negative affect (Suh et al., 1998). 
The second measure is the average of various domain satisfactions that are routinely assessed in the 
SOEP (health, household income, dwelling, and leisure time). This measure has two drawbacks. First, 
it does not weigh domains by their subjective importance. Second, the measure fails to capture aspects 
of well-being that are not covered by the domains included in the survey (Schimmak, 2008). A key 
advantage of this measure is that it relies not solely on respondents’ ability to summarize and weigh all 
relevant aspects of their lives in response to a single question about satisfaction with life in general. 

**Scale Development**

Information on the further development, reliability, and validity of the items can be found in Kroh 
(2006), in Schimmak (2008) and in Schimmack, Krause, Wagner, & Schupp (2009). 

**References**

*Kroh, M. (2006). An experimental evaluation of popular well-being measures. Berlin: DIW Berlin.*

*Sandvik, E., Diener, E., & Seidlitz, L. (1993). Subjective well-being: The convergence and stability of 
self-report and non-self-report measures. Journal of Personality, 61, 317–342.*

*Schimmack, U., Schupp, J., & Wagner, G. G. (2008). The influence of environment and personality on 
the affective and cognitive component of subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 89, 
41-60.*

*Schimmack, U., Krause, P., Wagner, G. G., & Schupp, J. (2009). Stability and change of Well Being: 
An experimentally enhanced Latent State-Trait-Error Analysis. Social Indicators Research, 95, 
19-31.*

*Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S., & Triandis, H. C. (1998). The shifting basis of life satisfaction 
judgments across cultures: Emotions versus norms. Journal of Personality and Social 
Psychology, 74, 482–493.*

**Items**

	1. How satisfied are you with your life, all things considered? (Wie zufrieden sind Sie gegenwärtig, alles in allem, mit Ihrem Leben?) How satisfied are you with (Wie zufrieden sind Sie): 
	2. your health (mit ihrer Gesundheit)? 
	3. your household income (mit dem Einkommen Ihres Haushalts)? 
	4. your dwelling (mit Ihrer Wohnung)? 
	5. your free time (mit Ihrer Freizeit / in den Jahren 1995, 1996: mit Ihrer Freizeittätigkeit)? 
	6. your job (mit ihrer Arbeit)? 
	7. your housework (mit ihrer Tätigkeit im Haushalt)? 
	8. the child care available (mit den vorhandenen Möglichkeiten der Kinderbetreuung)? 
	9. your personal income (mit Ihrem persönlichen Einkommen)? 
	10. your family life (mit Ihrem Familienleben)? 
	11. your sleep (mit Ihrem Schlaf)?

Scale: 0 (Completely dissatisfied / Ganz und gar unzufrieden) to 10 (Completely satisfied / Ganz und 
gar zufrieden)

**Test-Retest Correlations**
 
In 2005, 2006 and 2009, item 1 to 5 were included in retests taken by subsamples within 30 to 49 days 
after the initial test. Pooled across the years (minimal N = 603), test-retest correlations were (in scale 
order, item 1 to 5) .66, .64, .71, .67, and .56. The test-retest correlation of the scale based on these five 
items was .77.

**Items and Scale Statistics**

.. csv-table::
   :file: csv/10a_lifesatisfactionindiffdomains.csv
   :header-rows: 1
   :class: longtable
   :widths: 2 3 2 2 2


**Items**

How satisfied are you with (Wie zufrieden sind Sie): 

	1. Your social security (soziale Sicherung)? 
	2. School education (Ausbildung)? 
	3. Duration of leisure (Freizeitumfang)? 
	4. Living standard (Lebensstandard)? 
	5. Your area (Wohngegend)? 
	6. The supply of goods and services in your area (Angebot von Waren und Dienstleistungen)? 
	7. The environmental conditions in your area (Umweltzustand)? 
	8. Local access to public transport (mit dem Angebot an Waren und Dienstleistungen hier am Ort)? 
	9. Democracy as it exists in Germany (Demokratie in Deutschland)? 
	10. Social life (Freundes-/Bekanntenkreis)? 
	11. Your volunteer work in clubs, associations, or other social service organizations (ehrenamtliche Tätigkeit)? 
	12. The level of social justice in Germany (mit der Verwirklichung der sozialen Gerechtigkeit in Deutschland)?

Scale: 0 (Completely dissatisfied / Ganz und gar unzufrieden) to 10 (Completely satisfied / Ganz und 
gar zufrieden)

**Items and Scale Statistics**

.. csv-table::
   :file: csv/10b_lifesatisfactionunregasked.csv
   :header-rows: 1
   :class: longtable
   :widths: 2 3 2 2 2