Life Satisfaction Development in the Transition to Adulthood: Differences between Boys and Girls and Children of Immigrants and Non-Immigrants

Juul Henkens , NIDI
Helga A. G. De Valk , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI-KNAW), University of Groningen
Matthijs Kalmijn , Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Research Institute NIDI/University of Groningen

This study examined how life satisfaction develops in the transition to adulthood, and to what extent this development differs between boys and girls and between children of immigrants and non-immigrants. Longitudinal data of seven waves (2010-2018) were used. German young people (N = 3757, 54% girls, 78% non-immigrant, Mage = 14.8, SD = 0.7 at wave 1) were followed between age 14 and 23 and multi-level random effect models were applied. Results show that life satisfaction developed in a non-linear way in the transition to adulthood (M-shape), with overall decreases between age 17 and 18 and between age 20 and 23. Girls reported lower and more unstable trajectories than boys. Girls with an immigrant background represented the lowest life satisfaction trajectory. Finally, differences in life satisfaction among groups vanished into young adulthood.

See extended abstract

 Presented in Session P1. Postercafe