GSS (2024) — Well-being battery (HAPPY + HAPMAR + SATFIN + SATJOB)
https://gss.norc.org/get-the-data/ →benchmark:gss-wellbeing-2024
Shape mix:
2
multimodal-symmetric
2
left-skewed
Δ 1.31
4.15
()
→ 2.83
()
within-fixture gradient
Acceptance rubric
An SSR re-run acceptably reproduces this benchmark when it clears every check below on the same 4 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
4/4
Shape match
4/4
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 — every selected adult is invited regardless of attitudes. Sampling frame and selection probability are documented in the GSS 2024 Codebook R3 (NORC). Two of the four items are subgroup-restricted: hapmar to married respondents (n = 1,351) and satjob to employed respondents (n = 2,244).
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 3-pt 7−2x or 4-pt 1+(4−x)·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
happy (general happiness): "Taken all together, how would you say things are these days — would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?" hapmar (marital happiness, married only): "Taking things all together, how would you describe your marriage? Would you say that your marriage is very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?" satfin (financial satisfaction): "We are interested in how people are getting along financially these days. So far as you and your family are concerned, would you say that you are pretty well satisfied with your present financial situation, more or less satisfied, or not satisfied at all?" satjob (job satisfaction, employed only): "On the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do — would you say you are very satisfied, moderately satisfied, a little dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?"
Likert / scale labelling
happy / hapmar — 3 points: very happy (best) / pretty happy / not too happy (worst). satfin — 3 points: pretty well satisfied (best) / more or less satisfied / not satisfied at all (worst). satjob — 4 points: very satisfied (best) / moderately satisfied / a little dissatisfied / very dissatisfied (worst). 1-5 SSR rescale: 3-pt via 7−2x (1→5, 2→3, 3→1); 4-pt via 1+(4−x)·4/3 (1→5.0, 2→3.67, 3→2.33, 4→1.0). No 'don't know'/'no answer' — those respondents drop from each variable's n.
FGI moderator guide & coding rules
Closed-ended Likert, no FGI. No moderator guide. Each respondent rates each item independently in the same wave. The HAPPY / SATFIN items have run since 1972 and SATJOB since 1972 with the same stems and value labels; HAPMAR was added in 1973 and gates on a 'currently married' screener earlier in the questionnaire.
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
- 4214
- bootstrap_seed
- 8428
- 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.
§
Taken all together, how would you say things are these days — would you say that you are very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?
SSR
—
Source
3.06 (3.02–3.11)
Source distribution
SD 1.32
skew -0.03
3 cells
multimodal-symmetric
1.02.03.04.05.0
§
Taking things all together, how would you describe your marriage? Would you say that your marriage is very happy, pretty happy, or not too happy?
SSR
—
Source
4.15 (4.09–4.21)
Source distribution
SD 1.12
skew -0.88
3 cells
left-skewed
1.02.03.04.05.0
§
So far as you and your family are concerned, would you say that you are pretty well satisfied with your present financial situation, more or less satisfied, or not satisfied at all?
SSR
—
Source
2.83 (2.78–2.88)
Source distribution
SD 1.45
skew 0.13
3 cells
multimodal-symmetric
1.02.03.04.05.0
§
On the whole, how satisfied are you with the work you do — would you say you are very satisfied, moderately satisfied, a little dissatisfied, or very dissatisfied?
SSR
—
Source
4.03 (3.98–4.07)
Source distribution
SD 1.07
skew -1.03
4 cells
left-skewed
1.02.03.04.05.0