Appendix A

Codebook for the Subset of the 2000 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 2000 GSS includes all the cases (2,817) and 64 variables. For those interested in other variables in this study, links to the complete data set for GSS 2000 can be found at:

http://www.csub.edu/~jross/projects/ssricrem/SPSS/xtras.html

 

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

INCCAT98                 Recoded total family income

INCOME98                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

POSTLIFE                  Belief in life after death

PRAY                          How often does respondent pray

PRAYER                     Support Supreme Court Decision on prayer in public schools

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