Welfare Survey 1993

Quality of life and satisfaction in selected areas of life. Evaluation
of financial, occupational and health situation. Life style and
expectations of the future.

Topics: 1. Housing situation: housing situation in primary residence;
number of rooms; living space in square meters; furnishing
characteristics of residence; residential status; house-hunting in the
last six months and outcome of this; satisfaction with housing (scale);
sense of security in residential area; stress scale for noise, air
pollution, lack of free nature, destruction of countryside and quality
of drinking water.

2. Society: postmaterialism; conflict groups in society; opinions
about the preferred or current primary bearer of the transformation
costs in the re-structuring process in the eastern part of Germany;
comparison of current personal living conditions with those at the time
of unification in 1990.

3. Public safety: satisfaction with public safety and environmental
protection; probability of victimization; anomy.

4. Life situation: optimism/pessimism; education level and
satisfaction with education (scale); self-classification of social
class.

5. Role distribution between the sexes: the woman between role of
mother and occupation (scale); attitude to the GDR model of support of
working mothers; satisfaction with division of work in household
(scale) and note of presence of partner in answering this question;
memberships; current feeling of happiness; satisfaction with leisure
time (scale); desire for more leisure time; frequency of selected
leisure activities.

6. Household: detailed information on size of household and persons
living in it; satisfaction with family life; marital satisfaction or
satisfaction with partnership; living together with a partner or living
separately from spouse.

7. Social contacts: judgement on chances for new contacts; number,
care and possession of close friendships; frequency of contacts with
friends; contacts with acquaintances and relatives in the other part of
Germany before the turning point; change of frequency and quality of
contacts since the turning-point.

8. Occupation: detailed information on occupation; satisfaction with
role as housewife (scale); reasons for work as housewife; satisfaction
with situation in life; difficulties to find a suitable position;
desire for employment; preference for a full-time position or part-time
employment; search for work in the last 12 months; intensity of desire
for employment; work in occupation learned; employment in short time
work or ABM {work creation measure}; job at place of residence; job in
East or West Germany or abroad; most important criteria for a job and
comparison of these criteria with current situation at work (scale);
job satisfaction (scale); importance of areas of life, occupation,
leisure time and family; desire to end employment; fear of unemployment
or forced change of position; expected difficulties with a hypothetical
new search for work; social mobility; evaluation of financial security
in case of unemployment.

9. Financial and health situation: satisfaction with the ´net of
social security´ (scale); gross income, net income and household
income; personal inheritance in the last three years; inheritance of
building or real estate; extent of inherited assets; satisfaction with
household income, standard of living and health (scale); personally
being handicapped or in need of care; change of occupation for health
reasons; regular use of medication; psychological and physical health;
religiousness; satisfaction with church (scale).

10. Future expectations: optimistic expectations of income
development, the development of job security, the development of the
cost of living, the environment situation at place of residence, the
development of professional career and opportunities to exert political
influence; optimistic future expectation for personal surroundings;
interest in politics; satisfaction with opportunities for political
activity and democratic institutions in the country (scale); party
inclination and party identification; general contentment with life
(scale); concerns for economic development, maintenance of peace, the
flow of applicants for political asylum, the costs of German unity;
development of crime and development of unemployment in Germany;
comparison of personal living conditions with earlier and later times
as well as with persons in other parts of the country and other
countries.

11. Life style: most important goals in life; interest in selected
musical styles; interest in special television offerings and preferred
areas; intensity of interest in selected literature genres; media
usage; preferred information from newspapers; preferred magazines;
characterization of personal clothing style as well as furnishing
style; psychological self-characterization and preferred behaviors;
Demography: age; sex; marital status; occupation household income;
household size; household composition; respondent is head of household;
presence at home on the last four days. Also encoded was: time at end
of interview; type of building; high-rise building; type of city.