GSS (2024) — Sexual-morality trio (homosex + xmarsex + premarsx)
https://gss.norc.org/get-the-data/ →benchmark:gss-sexual-morality-2024
Shape mix:
1
multimodal-symmetric
1
right-skewed
1
bimodal-asymmetric
Δ 2.34
4.00
()
→ 1.66
()
within-fixture gradient
Acceptance rubric
An SSR re-run acceptably reproduces this benchmark when it clears every check below on the same 3 paired questions the source publishes. The chip badges name the checks the round-38 → round-46 shape-mismatch finding argued are necessary but not sufficient in isolation.
CI overlap
3/3
Shape match
3/3
SSR mean inside CI · shape badge reproduces the source label.
What this benchmark discloses
Recruitment screener (verbatim)
GSS uses an address-based national probability sample of U.S. adults 18+. The 2024 cross-section ran mixed-mode (in-person + web push). No content screener. Sampling frame and selection probability are documented in the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (NORC). All three items are on the larger ballot share (per-item n ≈ 2,115-2,189 of the wave's 3,309 total). Don't-know / no-answer respondents drop from each variable's n per the standard GSS convention for these 4-pt morality items.
Sample weighting & demographics
Weighted to wtssps (NORC's recommended GSS 2024 post-stratification weight, person-level). The published 1-5 means are the weighted raw means after the 4-pt 1+(raw-1)·4/3 remap; the published distributions are weighted percentages of each ordinal code.
Fieldwork dates, country, language
United States, 2024 cross-section. Fieldwork March–November 2024 per the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (page 1). Modes: in-person and web push (push-to-web for the subsample without prior in-person contact).
Original question text & translations
homosex (codebook verbatim): "What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex — do you think it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?" xmarsex: "What is your opinion about a married person having sexual relations with someone other than the marriage partner — is it always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?" premarsx: "If a man and a woman have sex relations before marriage, do you think it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?"
Likert / scale labelling
All three items share the codebook value set. 1 = 'always wrong' (least tolerant), 2 = 'almost always wrong', 3 = 'wrong only sometimes', 4 = 'not wrong at all' (most tolerant). SSR rescale 1 + (raw − 1) × 4/3 maps the raw 1-4 axis onto SSR 1-5 with higher = more tolerant on both axes (raw 1→1.0, raw 2→2.33, raw 3→3.67, raw 4→5.0). NB this is the INVERSE direction from the SATJOB fixture, where raw 1 was the most positive answer.
FGI moderator guide & coding rules
Closed-ended Likert, no FGI. No moderator guide. Each respondent rates each item independently in the same wave. premarsx has run since 1972, xmarsex since 1973, homosex since 1973 — all three with the same stem template and the same 4-pt value labels. The wording is 'wrong only sometimes' in the codebook; we collapse the 'only' for the distribution key label.
Data source & license
Public domain (NSF-funded). Required citation: Davern, Michael; Bautista, Rene; Freese, Jeremy; Herd, Pamela; and Morgan, Stephen L. General Social Survey 1972-2024. NORC ed., Chicago, 2025.
Anything not disclosed here was not available in the source dataset and is recorded as such.
SSR run — reproducibility keys
- template_version
- 3.0.0
- llm_seed
- 4217
- bootstrap_seed
- 8434
- llm_model
- deepseek-v4-flash
- embedding_model
- nvidia/nv-embed-v1
SSR score vs ground truth, by question
Each row holds one question. The teal mark and range are SSR. The sky mark and range are the source FGI/survey.
§
What about sexual relations between two adults of the same sex — do you think it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?
SSR
—
Source
3.46 (3.38–3.54)
Source distribution
SD 1.85
skew -0.48
4 cells
multimodal-symmetric
1.02.03.04.05.0
§
What is your opinion about a married person having sexual relations with someone other than the marriage partner — is it always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?
SSR
—
Source
1.66 (1.62–1.71)
Source distribution
SD 1.14
skew 1.61
4 cells
right-skewed
1.02.03.04.05.0
§
If a man and a woman have sex relations before marriage, do you think it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?
SSR
—
Source
4.00 (3.93–4.07)
Source distribution
SD 1.54
skew -1.17
4 cells
bimodal-asymmetric
1.02.03.04.05.0