Good Life and Advancement in Germany

On behalf of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation´s (KAS) Department of Politics and Consultancy, the market and social research institute USUMA GmbH conducted a representative survey on the topic of a good life in Germany. In particular, the survey addresses the topics of living situation and social advancement and decline.

Topics: 1. Social advancement and decline: Personally happy aspects of the current situationn (open); importance of different areas of life and satisfaction with these areas (family life, work, friends, income, living environment/housing, health, freely available time, being able to afford something, financial security, partnership, education/training, voluntary work); life satisfaction; evaluation of life so far in comparison with parents, friends, schoolmates, siblings, colleagues and neighbours; evaluation of own life with parents´ life in different areas of life (family love, work, friends, income, living environment/housing, health, free time, being able to afford something, financial security, partnership, education/training); Perception towards father/mother/both parents together considered as upwardly mobile, on the same level or as downwardly mobile; importance of different characteristics for personal advancement in life (diligence/effort, being able to network, will to succeed, ambition, self-confidence, other characteristic (open)); importance of different framework conditions for personal advancement in life (good financial situation, good education/training, a supportive parental home, other people who encourage, good relationships or connections, other important framework condition (open)); importance of career advancement in one´s own life; greater importance for one´s own career advancement: personal characteristics vs. framework conditions over which the respondent has little influence; expectations with regard to the development of personal life circumstances in the next 10 years (improvement, deterioration or no strong change); most important reasons for the expected development (open); respondent has so far achieved what he/she wanted to achieve, achieved more or achieved less than he/she wanted to achieve; wishes for change in own life.

2. Living situation: stable partnership; children; children in the household; total number of children; age of children; occupational restriction due to childcare; differences in childcare with regard to occupational restriction; total duration of occupational restriction (months, years); organisation of childcare (regular and reliable care by others, e.g. kindergarten, childminder, grandparents, etc.); care mainly shared between partners, no regular and reliable care by others although desired,, partner or respondent himself/herself mainly took care of the child/children); impact of the childcare phase on career advancement (beneficial, hindering, no (significant) impact); desire for more support during the childcare phase (from the state, from private service providers, from the employer, from family and friends, from the partner, others (open), from no one);

Demography: sex; age; country of birth; German nationality; foreign nationality (1st and 2nd mention); country of birth of parents; migration status (Germans without migration background, Germans with migration background, foreigners); highest educational attainment; highest educational attainment of father and mother; comparison of partner´s educational attainment with own educational attainment; employment status; occupation if not employed; occupational status;Country of birth of parents; migration status (Germans without migration background, Germans with migration background, foreigners); highest educational attainment; highest educational attainment of father and mother; comparison of partner´s educational attainment with own educational attainment; employment status; occupation if not employed; occupational status; occupational status of father and mother; religiousness (scale 0-100); religious denomination; frequency of churchgoing; childhood and youth spent in the former West Germany, in the former GDR or not in Germany; federal state of residence; size of town; intention to vote and party preference in the next federal election (Sunday question); size of household; number of persons in the household under 18.

Additionally coded were: Respondent ID; weight; filter; willingness to do an in-depth telephone interview; political municipality size classes, federal state; willingness to do an in-depth interview; information for dual-frame weighting: number of other persons aged 18 and over who regularly use the mobile phone apart from the respondent; number of landline numbers and mobile phone numbers via which the respondent can be reached by telephone.