The 50+ study
The 50+ study is an empirical , sociological basic study of the attitudes, values, everyday attitudes and behavior of those born between 1939 and 1964 in Germany . It is carried out as a longitudinal study every two years with a constant sample ( panel ) of around 7800 representative selected subjects of these age groups.
background
The years 1939 to 1964 are at the center of research on the older generation because they have been the main actors in the change in values since the 1960s and are now the main actors in demographic change in Germany . With around 22 million people, they are by far the most influential German population group. This subject-related panel study is carried out by the Stiftung: Internetforschung and repeated every two years. It was headed by Dieter Otten in 2007/2008 and 2009 and supervised by scientists from the University of Osnabrück . The study was supported by ERGO Direkt insurance until 2011 . The representative panel is recruited through direct mailing and updated with data from the Schober Information Group . The survey is carried out online with an online survey system. The results are checked by means of a CATI control survey carried out in 2009 by the Hamburg-based ARIS survey research company. At the same time, the results were compared and checked by means of a special evaluation of the Sinus worlds from the years 1939 to 1964.
2008 study
The first study (published by Rowohlt Verlag , Reinbek 2008) represents a real paradigm shift in research into demographic change. It shows that it will be fundamentally different from what was previously expected. The population is getting older, but the number of older people is decreasing because the behavior of the decisive 70% of the test subjects of demographic change does not (any longer) correspond to the images of old age in politics and society. Most of them are therefore not old . The age limit (the limit of age self-assessment and external assessment) is constantly pushing upwards in the modern age. He is currently over 80 years of age. But even after that, the behavior of the test persons will no longer match the conventional age images. The main reason for this is the fundamentally changed body and health-conscious lifestyle of older people with fitness values in health, psyche and social integration that are similar to those of 40-year-olds. Politics and society will have to take this into account.
Study 2009
These results were again impressively confirmed in the short studies of 2009. Particularly noteworthy for two thirds of the respondents is the high level of aspiration with regard to the expected life span, the high importance of the (spouse) partner including active sexuality, the high mobility (willingness to move, travel), the intense cultural activity with a high level Importance of cinema and parties, and the relatively high economic prosperity (113% of the median income).
Three results are of particular value:
- Almost no one is employed at the age of 65, but 66% of the test subjects would still like to continue to work.
- Over 80% of the test persons do not want to go to an old people's home, 30% not even in the case of severe need for care . In contrast, there is a close relationship with new forms of living and living such as shared apartments or multi-generation houses .
- The active test persons are characterized by a high level of political commitment including a preventive willingness to protest (see Stuttgart 21 ). However, the equation older voters equals conservative voters no longer applies. Politically, the majority of the test persons tend towards a red-red-green coalition.
2011 study
Those born between 1939 and 1964 will make up around 48% of the citizens eligible to vote in the federal election in 2013 . In view of the expected higher turnout of this group of voters, more than 50% of the votes cast in the Bundestag election should come from them. The actors of demographic change will therefore determine the outcome of the election. That is why the 50+ study 2011/2012 is dedicated to the political consequences of demographic change. A survey of political attitudes, ideas and suggestions, which has not yet been carried out in this detail, analyzes the entire range of the political potential of the actors and shows the political consequences. The study “50+ The New Majority” will be published in 2012.
literature
- Dieter Otten : The 50+ study: How the young old are revolutionizing society . Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-62354-7 .
- KarstadtQuelle Insurance (ed.): Freer than ever ... The Free Generation 2009: The attitude towards life of people aged 45 and over . Nuremberg / Erlangen 2009 ( online; PDF version ).
- Dieter Otten, Nina Melsheimer: Life plans "50plus" . In: Federal Center for Political Education (Ed.): From Politics and Contemporary History . No. 41 , 2009 ( online; PDF version ).