Leipzig Youth Study: Has life satisfaction among girls fallen, or are the figures misleading?

Life satisfaction among young girls in Leipzig has fallen significantly in recent years – more so than among their male peers. This appears to be the finding of a study by researchers at the University of Leipzig, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and Leuphana University Lüneburg, which has just been published in the *Journal of Happiness Studies*. However, the matter does not seem quite so straightforward. Partly because the survey methodology was changed partway through.

The study was based on data from the Leipzig Youth Study, for which young people aged between 12 and 17 were surveyed about their living conditions between 2010 and 2023.

“The so-called gender gap in life satisfaction has risen sharply – all young people are less satisfied in 2023 than in 2015, but the decline is twice as steep among girls as among boys, meaning the gender gap is widening accordingly,” says psychologist Dr Julia Rohrer from the University of Leipzig, who led the study. Whilst 12- to 17-year-olds reported an average life satisfaction score of 3.9 points on a scale of 1 to 5 in 2015, this figure fell to 3.7 points in the same age group in 2023.

“This general slight decline is, in itself, not surprising against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. The numerous restrictions have, of course, also affected young people. What is particularly striking, however, is that the gender gap has widened significantly during this period,” explains the researcher. In 2015, girls were only slightly less satisfied than boys. By 2023, however, the gap between the genders had widened to almost half a point on the scale. “It is therefore girls in particular who have become less satisfied over time,” says Rohrer, summarising a key finding of the study.

Unless, of course, they were already more dissatisfied before, but the survey is only now revealing this.

The influence of migration

The researchers attribute the trend towards greater life dissatisfaction, particularly among girls, to a combination of various factors. Firstly, the growing gender gap is much more pronounced among pupils from migrant backgrounds, according to Rohrer. However, it is precisely this section of the population that is difficult to compare over time: Whilst pupils with a Vietnamese migrant background made up a large proportion of the group in the first data wave in 2010, the latest data wave in 2023 showed a relatively higher proportion of girls and boys with refugee experience and a Muslim background.

“Part of the growing gender gap therefore simply reflects the fact that the population in Leipzig has changed over time,” the researcher emphasises.

Differences in the survey methodology

There are also differences in the survey methodology: in 2023, tablets were used as a survey tool for the first time in the youth study. The data revealed that girls reported lower levels of satisfaction when using tablets than they had done years earlier when completing paper questionnaires.

“As the survey took place in the classroom, this could, for example, be an effect of increased anonymity: perhaps some girls sugar-coat their answers on paper, so that the full gender gap only becomes visible on the tablet,” explains Rohrer.

Finally, looking beyond these two factors – including among pupils without a migrant background and in responses on paper – the researchers observed that gender gaps are emerging or widening slightly due to satisfaction with leisure activities and satisfaction with relationships with friends. “It could be that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected girls more severely than boys,” says the psychologist.

The researchers’ data was drawn from the City of Leipzig’s Youth Study, which was produced in collaboration between staff from the Office for Youth and Family Affairs and the Office for Statistics and Elections. For this study, between 2,000 and 3,000 young people were surveyed in a school setting in 2010, 2015 and 2023. In total, responses from 4,800 young people were included in the researchers’ analyses.

A somewhat ambiguous data situation

According to Rohrer, there is as yet no reliable data or published analyses on general trends in Germany regarding this topic. However, there is currently a debate both nationally and internationally about whether mental health among girls and young women may have deteriorated. In this discourse, the dominance of social media is often cited as the cause, with the claim that it makes girls in particular unhappy.

“However, the data on this is not as clear-cut as one might assume based on the sweeping claims in the media. Many of the trends appear to be limited to the English-speaking world. That said, social media has, of course, become more prevalent elsewhere too,” she says. Many of the data sources cited are not fully comparable over time. For example, screening criteria have changed in some respects in the US, meaning that girls are now being tested more extensively for certain mental health issues. If more testing is carried out, it is to be expected that the figures will rise, because previously undetected cases suddenly become apparent.

Original title
of the publication in the Journal of Happiness Studies: “Why Did the Gender Gap in Adolescent Life Satisfaction Grow? Evaluating Methodological and Demographic Explanations”