A potential gender bias in assessing quality of life – a standard gamble experiment among university students

Figures & data

Figure 1 Illustration of the gamble.

Notes: A and B are the two alternative choices. Choice B results in a lottery with outcome B1 with probability p and outcome B2 with probability 1-p.

Table 1 Student characteristics and quality of life values

Item	Result
Gender
Male (%)	51.7
Female (%)	48.3
Live with parents (%)	12.9
Part-time job to finance studies (%)	51.7
Study of more than one subject (%)	38.7
Semester (mean, [standard deviation])	6 (2.5)
Expected semesters to graduation (mean, [standard deviation])	7.4 (2.0)
Quality of life (mean, [standard deviation])	0.57 (0.25)

Table 2 Subgroup results for quality of life values

Item	QoL value
Gender
Male	0.51
Female	0.64
Live with parents	0.54
Live without parents	0.58
Part-time job to finance studies	0.61
No part-time job	0.54

Abbreviation: QoL, quality of life.

Table 3 Determinants of quality of life

Variable	Model (1)		Model (2)		Model (3)
	OLS		GLM with binomial distribution		Betafit
	Coefficient (standard error)	P>z	Coefficient (standard error)	P>z	Coefficient (standard error)	P>z
Gender (female =1)	0.155 (1.82)*	0.082	0.656 (2.03)**	0.043	0.630 (2.00)**	0.045
Live with parents =1	−0.119 (−0.89)	0.384	−0.517 (−1.04)	0.296	−0.388 (−0.93)	0.350
Part-time job =1	0.066 (0.60)	0.555	0.287 (0.68)	0.497	0.348 (0.78)	0.436
More than one subject =1	0.076 (0.68)	0.502	0.335 (0.78)	0.433	0.278 (0.61)	0.543
Semester	−0.063 (−1.45)	0.161	−0.270 (−1.62)	0.104	−0.279 (−1.79)	0.073
Expected semesters to graduation	0.068 (1.16)	0.256	0.291 (1.33)	0.182	0.320 (1.55)	0.120
Constant	0.327 (1.32)	0.201	−0.755 (−0.81)	0.418	−1.038 (−1.13)	0.258
	Prob > F =0.35		Log pseudolikelihood =−14.52		Prob > χ^2 =0.27
	R^2 =0.15

Note: Significant at

* 10%,

** 5%.

Abbreviations: OLS, ordinary least squares; GLM, generalized linear model; Prob, probability.