Appendix A: Codebook for the Subset of the 2002 General Social Survey

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 2002 GSS includes all the cases (2,765) and 74 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

CHLDIDEL Ideal 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

FINRELA Opinion of family income

GRASS Should marijuana be made legal

GUNLAW Favor or oppose gun permits

HAPMAR Happiness of marriage

HAPPY General happiness

HEALTH Condition of health

HOMPOP Number of persons in household

HRS1 Number of hours R worked last week

HRSRELAX Hours per day R has to relax

INCOME98 Total family income

INC98REC Recoded 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

MASEI R’s mother’s socioeconomic index

PADEG Father's highest degree

PAEDUC Highest year school completed, father

PARTYID Political Party Affiliation

PASEI R’s father’s socioeconomic index

POLVIEWS Think of self as liberal or conservative

POSTLIFE Belief in life after death

PRAY How often does respondent pray

PRAYER Support Supreme Court Decision on prayer in public schools

PRES00 Vote for Gore, Bush, Nader in 2000

PRES96 Vote for Clinton, Dole, Perot in 1996

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