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The Impact of Intergenerational Mobility on Well-being in Japan

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Abstract

The study investigates the relationship between intergenerational social class mobility and subjective well-being in Japan. It considers the macro-social context and examines how socioeconomic changes affect the association between intergenerational social class mobility and life satisfaction. Based on data drawn from the Social Stratification and Social Mobility Survey from 1985 to 2015 for both males and females, we adopted the diagonal reference model to measure the effects of origin, destination, and mobility. We found that the life satisfaction of mobile members was mainly determined by their destination rather than their origin classes. We did not find additional mobility effects. The analysis confirmed that the effects of class mobility differed across cohorts and that there is a trend of the origin and destination weights. Those who were mobile in a period of recession tended to be more affected by their origin class than those who were mobile in a period of high or stable economic growth. Whereas these trends were confirmed for both males and females, it was more prominent among females. We found additional mobility effects on the youngest female cohort and identified that horizontal mobility harms life satisfaction for this cohort. We also found that the association between class mobility and life satisfaction changes according to the socioeconomic environment and that the mobility impacts differ by gender.

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Availability of data and materials

SSM 2015 survey data is allowed only for members. SSM 1985–2005 survey data are available only with the approval of SSJDA (https://csrda.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp).

Code availability

SPSS software was used to conduct the present research.

Notes

  1. However, as Kanai used OLS and mobility dummies, it was not clear how the SWB of mobile members was defined by their origin and destination classes and mobility, respectively and how it changed.

  2. There are two reasons for using data from 1985 onward: first, females were included in the survey for the first time in 1985, and second, life satisfaction was included in the questionnaire from 1985 onward.

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Acknowledgements

The study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP25000001.

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The study was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP25000001.

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  1. Faculty of Human Sciences, Waseda University, Tokorozawa, Japan

    Aram Kwon

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Kwon, A. The Impact of Intergenerational Mobility on Well-being in Japan. Soc Indic Res 162, 253–277 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-021-02834-0

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