The Far-Reaching Effects of Menopause on Happiness, Mental Health and Quality of Life

Due to a lack of suitable large-scale survey data, the impact of the menopause on women's lives, e.g. in terms of work, leisure and family, has been severely understudied in the quantitative social sciences in general and in sociology in particular. Using waves 10-13 of the German Family Panel Study (pairfam), this study begins to fill this gap. The effect of menopause on quality of life and well-being is tested using a series of outcomes and fixed-effects regression. These outcomes include up to 20 indicators of happiness, mental health and life satisfaction. Menopause has a negative effect on all outcome variables, and for the majority of outcomes the menopause effect is significant. The results suggest that the menopause has far-reaching effects on quality of life and well-being, i.e. it reduces well-being and significantly worsens mental health. I conclude with an agenda for future research and important questions that remain to be answered.