Bildung und subjektives Wohlbefinden im Zeitverlauf, 1984–2002:

This analysis of the change in subjective well-being attempts two aims. On the one hand, the change of subjective well-being over the time period from 1984 to 2002 will be considered. Effects of age, period and cohorts will be analyzed simultaneously. Education and educational expansion are considered as social mechanisms behind these processes of change and therefore introduced into the analyses. Methodologically, a multilevel approach is chosen. To analyze life satisfaction independently from health aspects, satisfaction with health will be controlled for. Hierarchical Linear Models (HLM) will be used for data analysis. Data structure, applicability and parameter estimations of HLM will be considered in detail. The data base is the German Socio-economic Panel data set, although only the West German subsample is used for analysis. Results indicate – beside a strong influence of health satisfaction – robust effects of education, a substantial age effect and a weak negative cohort effect on life satisfaction.