Life Course Research with Panel Data: An Exemplary Analysis on the Reproduction of Social Inequality

• In Event: 4151 - Life Course

Abstract

Panel data are increasingly used in life course research. Panel data, however, would be under-analyzed if only the classical methods of life course research (event-history analysis and sequence analysis) would be used. Methods that were developed for the analysis of panel data are therefore very helpful in life course research. In this article we emphasize that especially growth curve modeling and fixed-effects regression can supplement the life course research toolbox.

To illustrate the usefulness of these methods, we provide an exemplary panel data analysis using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel 1984-2014. We chose a classical sociological research question on the reproduction of social inequality, which we reinterpret in a life course framework: is there a well-being differential over the life course between people from different social origin? And if yes, what is the mediating role of unemployment?

Our results show that higher social origin indeed relates to higher well-being, and that the well-being differential increases with age. Further, we show that unemployment plays no significant role in mediating origin-specific effects of age on well-being.

Authors

• Josef Bruderl, University of Munich

• Fabian Kratz, University of Munich

• Gerrit Bauer