Gender, Loneliness and Happiness during COVID-19

Arbeitspapier

We analyse a measure of loneliness from a representative sample of German individuals interviewed in both 2017 and at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Both men and women felt lonelier during the COVID-19 pandemic than they did in 2017. The pandemic more than doubled the gender loneliness gap: women were lonelier than men in 2017, and the 2017-2020 rise in loneliness was far larger for women. This rise is mirrored in life-satisfaction scores. Men's life satisfaction changed only little between 2017 and 2020; yet that of women fell dramatically, and sufficiently so to produce a female penalty in life satisfaction. We estimate that almost all of this female penalty is explained by the disproportionate rise in loneliness for women during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 15653

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Health: General ; Health and Inequality ; Health: Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health ; Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty: General
• Subject: COVID-19 ; loneliness ; life satisfaction ; gender ; SOEP

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Lepinteur, Anthony ; Clark, Andrew E. ; Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada ; Piper, Alan ; Schröder, Carsten ; D'Ambrosio, Conchita
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2022

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/267390
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET