Patzina, AlexanderAlexanderPatzina0000-0001-5039-7016Collischon, MatthiasMatthiasCollischonSchmitz, AlinaAlinaSchmitz2026-10-052026-10-0520261096-03170049-089Xhttps://fis.uni-bamberg.de/handle/uniba/117559Research on the implications of intergenerational educational mobility for subjective well-being has paid little attention to heterogeneity across mobility patterns and different groups. To address this gap, we examine how upward educational mobility affects life satisfaction, focusing on three aspects: First, we distinguish mobility patterns by the distance between educational origin and destination. Second, we assess the mediating role of income and occupational position. Third, we examine heterogeneities by age and gender. Using 39 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study, we apply inverse probability weighting and a fixed effects approach to compare the life satisfaction of upwardly mobile individuals to counterfactual outcomes had they remained at their parental educational level. Our results show that upward educational mobility is related to increased life satisfaction and that this effect amplifies with age. Differences in life satisfaction between mobile and non-mobile individuals are partly driven by unequal labor market returns, but labor market processes do not explain the age-related increase in mobility effects. Despite persistent gender inequalities in social roles and rewards of educational attainment in the German context, the impact of mobility on life satisfaction is largely similar for women and men. Overall, the findings support the rising-from-rags hypothesis and cumulative advantage theory, indicating that upward educational mobility yields enduring improvements in life satisfaction.engAge trajectoriesEducational mobilityFixed-effects approachInverse probability weightingMulticohort panel dataSubjective well-beingarticle10.1016/j.ssresearch.2026.103437