ESRA 2025 Preliminary Program
All time references are in CEST
Survey research on well-being |
| Session Organiser |
Dr Daniel Seddig (KFN)
|
| Time | Tuesday 15 July, 13:45 - 15:00 |
| Room |
Ruppert Wit - 0.52 |
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Papers
Revealing Unobserved Harm in the Classroom: The “Echo-Effect” of Bullying
Mr Till Stefes (Ruhr University Bochum) - Presenting Author
Aim of this presentation is emphasizing the classroom as a critical unit of analysis in survey research involving sensible topics among children and young people. A new three level design (schools, classrooms, students) allows the discovery of a health risk which is often overlooked: While the detrimental effects of bullying on victims are well-documented, the broader classroom impact remains underexplored and is unobserved in many cases, especially in sociological and educational survey studies. This study is introducing the term "Echo-effects" of bullying, which describes the phenomenon that witnessing bullying affects the subjective well-being (SWB) of non-targeted students.
Using a full survey approach in two municipalities, the study draws on survey data from 121 classrooms and over 1,200 students aged 12–17. It applies multilevel regression analyses to assess the SWB of students exposed to four types of bullying—physical, verbal, social, and cyberbullying. Unlike single-item studies prone to measurement error, a robust multi-dimensional SWB index that spans six dimensions is applied. This approach ensures greater statistical accuracy and reliability, offering new insights into the pervasive influence of classroom bullying, strengthening adolescent perspectives in survey research.
By categorizing classrooms with at least one bullying incident and identifying students as victims or bystanders (without direct self-reports of witness status), I examine significant differences in SWB between targeted, non-targeted witnessing, and non-witnessing students.
Findings demonstrate that children and youths in classrooms with reported bullying show significantly lower well-being, illustrating the far-reaching consequences of bullying beyond direct victimization.
Target audience are all researchers looking into childhood, youth and adolescence and school context. If subjective well-being is in their scope of research, they must recognize both the potential individual effect as well as the echo effect of bullying.
Understanding complexity: Interactions between work life and wellbeing of trans and nonbinary people in Switzerland
Ms Dorian Mittner (Berner Fachhochschule) - Presenting Author
In the “Trans at Work” survey we examined the interaction between work life and wellbeing of trans and nonbinary people in Switzerland. To capture various dimensions of gender-diversity as accurately as possible, we developed new questionnaire items in collaboration with the national transgender association (Transgender Network Switzerland), involving members of the LGBTIQ+ community in each study phase.
1207 participants completed the questionnaire. Our measures included gender identity, its match with officially documented gender, sex assigned at birth, and use of a first name differing from official documents.
It is notoriously difficult to capture the multifaceted reality of gender identity and expression in quantitative survey items. Especially genderqueer (e.g. nonbinary, agender, genderfluid) people often chose the response option “partly” to seemingly simple yes-no questions. A significant number of participants would not or only partly refer to themselves as a trans person, while they were often well-aware of fitting the umbrella term definition of being trans (self-identified gender differing from sex assigned at birth).
However, to make the specific experiences of trans or gender-diverse people visible and to compare them to cisgendered participants regarding their life situation, work life and wellbeing, it was fruitful for quantitative analyses to assign them to distinct categories. Using the umbrella term definition of “trans” stated above, 752 participants were categorized as “trans”, the other 455 as “cis”. Doing so allowed us to quantify meaningful differences in life satisfaction and related measures between the two groups – the differences being exclusively to the disadvantage of “trans” people – which, in turn, provides a strong argument for the implementation of countermeasures.
Based on our findings, we suggest using clear and precise measures of the relevant dimensions of gender or sex for the specific context of study and make the purpose of each question transparent.
Testing and validation of a short 4-item instrument for measuring subjective wellbeing
Dr Radka Hanzlová (Institute of Sociology of the Czech Academy of Sciences) - Presenting Author
Measuring wellbeing is an important topic for many disciplines. As there is no clear definition of wellbeing, it is very difficult to measure wellbeing correctly and appropriately. It is most often measured using a single question on happiness or life satisfaction, which is neither methodologically nor theoretically ideal. The scientific community's prevailing view is that wellbeing is a multidimensional concept and must be measured as such. While there are several instruments available, they tend to be quite lengthy, and in the context of the increasing tendency to reduce the length of questionnaires and the shift towards online surveys, their use in research is not optimal. The aim of this study is to test a 4-item instrument for measuring subjective wellbeing based on recommendations from the ONS. Each item relates to one dimension of wellbeing: life satisfaction, positive affect (happiness), negative affect (anxiety), and eudemonia (usefulness in life). The analysis is based on data from the second wave of the Czech Education Panel Survey (CZEPS) in autumn 2024. The survey focused on second-year secondary school students, with a total sample size of 20,344 respondents. Basic and more advanced statistical methods of exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and item response theory (IRT) were used for validation. The findings from all methods confirmed the unambiguous single-factor structure of the measurement concept as well as excellent reliability values. Furthermore, measurement invariance by gender and study type was tested. The results indicated the attainment of full scalar invariance by study type and partial scalar invariance by gender, allowing researchers to meaningfully compare their latent mean scores and to test relationships with other theoretical constructs of interest. The results of this study offer novel and valuable insights into the ongoing discussion regarding the measurement of subjective wellbeing.
Retirement Replacement Rates across Europe: Household Dynamics, Income Security, and Quality of Life
Professor Aviad Tur-Sinai (University of Haifa) - Presenting Author
Professor Avia Spivak (Ben-Gurion University of the Negev)
Replacement rates have become accepted as a useful metric for assessing the conditions of retirees and households at point of retirement. We use data from the SHARE longitudinal database to investigate income dynamics within a comparative European context. Our analysis, centering on households as opposed to the individuals on whom international data commonly focus, reduces replacement rates to their components — pension, labor income, etc. — and looks at the dynamics among household members in relation to work and pension income.
Total replacement rates vary widely among the fourteen countries sampled: overall replacement rates of around the Bismarckian 70% across the entire sample, 80% in countries that have Social Democratic and Continental social-policy regimes, and 60% in countries that have East European and Middle Eastern regimes. Looking the pension and wage components, however, the latter accounts for about 30% of household income—an important fact for decision-makers to consider. Couples tend to retire together, especially if close in age, and labor income compensates amply for lower pension income. The Gini coefficients of our sample are compared before/after retirement to determine whether the social programs that underlie pensions mitigate income inequality after retirement. Post-retirement ability to move on the income ladder is another measure of equality.
Finally, we examine the well-being and quality of life of retirees and their households. We find a positive correlation between replacement rate and indicators of retirees’ and their households’ quality of life, e.g., satisfaction with life, ability to consume healthcare services, and ability to cover unforeseen expenses.
