The General
Social Survey (GSS) is a large, national probability sample of adults
in the United States. It began in 1972 and continued on an almost yearly
basis until 1996. In 1996, the GSS became a biannual survey and the sample
size doubled from about 1,500 to nearly 3,000. Many questions are asked
on each survey, while other questions are rotated from survey to survey.
This subset from the 1998 GSS includes all the cases (2,832) and approximately
60 of the nearly 850 variables.
| Variable | Description of Variable |
| ABANY | Abortion if woman wants for any reason |
| ABDEFECT | Abortion if strong chance of serious defect |
| ABHLTH | Abortion if woman's health seriously endangered |
| ABNOMORE | Abortion if married and wants no more children |
| ABPOOR | Abortion if low income and can't afford more children |
| ABRAPE | Abortion if pregnant as result of rape |
| ABSINGLE | Abortion if not married |
| ADULTS | Household members 18 years and older |
| AGE | Age of respondent |
| AGED | Should aged live with their children |
| AGEKDBRN | Respondent's age when first child born |
| ATTEND | How often respondent attends religious services |
| BIBLE | Feelings about the bible |
| CAPPUN | Favor or oppose death penalty for murder |
| CHILDS | Number of children |
| CLASS | Subjective class identification |
| COLATH | Allow anti-religionist to teach |
| COLCOM | Should communist teacher be fired |
| COLHOMO | Allow homosexual to teach |
| COLMIL | Allow militarist to teach |
| COLRAC | Allow racist to teach |
| DEGREE | Respondent's highest degree |
| EDUC | Highest year of school completed |
| FAIR | People fair or try to take advantage |
| FEAR | Afraid to walk at night in neighborhood |
| GRASS | Should marijuana be made legal |
| GUNLAW | Favor or oppose gun permits |
| HAPMAR | Happiness of marriage |
| HAPPY | General happiness |
| INCOME98 | Total family income |
| INCCAT98 | Recoded version of total family income |
| LIBATH | Allow anti-religious book in library |
| LIBCOM | Allow communist's book in library |
| LIBHOMO | Allow homosexual's book in library |
| LIBMIL | Allow militarist's book in library |
| LIBRAC | Allow racist's book in library |
| MADEG | Mother's highest degree |
| MAEDUC | Highest year school completed, mother |
| MARITAL | Marital status |
| PADEG | Father's highest degree |
| PAEDUC | Highest year school completed, father |
| POLVIEWS | Think of self as liberal or conservative (recoded) |
| POSTLIFE | Belief in life after death |
| PRAY | How often does respondent pray |
| PRAYER | Support Supreme Court Decision on prayer in public schools |
| PRES92 | Vote for Clinton, Bush, Perot |
| PRES96 | Vote for Clinton, Dole, Perot |
| PRESTG80 | Respondent's occupational prestige score (1980) |
| RACE | Race of respondent |
| RELIG | Respondent's religious preference |
| RELITEN | Strength of affiliation |
| SEI | Respondent's socioeconomic index |
| SEX | Respondent's sex |
| SIBS | Number of brothers and sisters |
| SPDEG | Spouse's highest degree |
| SPEDUC | Highest year school completed, spouse |
| SPKATH | Allow anti-religionist to speak |
| SPKCOM | Allow communist to speak |
| SPKHOMO | Allow homosexual to speak |
| SPKMIL | Allow militarist to speak |
| SPKRAC | Allow racist to speak |
| THNKSELF | To think for ones self |
| TRUST | Can people be trusted |
| TVHOURS | Hours per day watching television |
| ZODIAC | Respondent's astrological sign |
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