{
    "slug": "gss-wellbeing-2024",
    "source_label": "GSS (2024) — Well-being battery (HAPPY + HAPMAR + SATFIN + SATJOB)",
    "source_url": "https:\/\/gss.norc.org\/get-the-data\/",
    "license": "Public domain (NSF-funded, NORC at the University of Chicago)",
    "fielded_at": "2024-06-01",
    "methodology": "survey",
    "n_respondents": 3309,
    "disclosure": {
        "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.",
        "weights": "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.",
        "screener": "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).",
        "fieldwork": "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).",
        "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.",
        "likert_labels": "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.",
        "question_text": "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?\""
    },
    "questions": [
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_wb_happy",
            "prompt_text": "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?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 3.06,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.015,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 3.106,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.322,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.032,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "1_very_happy_pct": 23.4,
                "2_pretty_happy_pct": 56.2,
                "3_not_too_happy_pct": 20.4
            },
            "n_respondents": 3281,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps (NORC GSS 2024 post-stratification). 3-pt remap 7−2x. The 'not too happy' share is 20.4% but the mode is the middle option — general happiness is the most centred of the four items. Distribution as weighted percentages, ordinal-code keys (1 = best on the raw GSS scale)."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_wb_hapmar",
            "prompt_text": "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?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 4.146,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 4.086,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 4.206,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.122,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -0.884,
            "ground_truth_shape": "left-skewed",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "1_very_happy_pct": 60.8,
                "2_pretty_happy_pct": 35.6,
                "3_not_too_happy_pct": 3.5
            },
            "n_respondents": 1351,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. Married-only (subgroup n=1,351). 3-pt remap 7−2x. 'Very happy' at 60.8% is the highest within-battery happy-extreme cell — marital happiness is the most positively-skewed item in the GSS happiness\/satisfaction quartet. Ordinal-code keys."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_wb_satfin",
            "prompt_text": "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?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 2.834,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 2.784,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 2.884,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.454,
            "ground_truth_skewness": 0.128,
            "ground_truth_shape": "multimodal-symmetric",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "2_more_or_less_pct": 46.4,
                "3_not_satisfied_pct": 30.9,
                "1_pretty_satisfied_pct": 22.6
            },
            "n_respondents": 3291,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. 3-pt remap 7−2x. The only sub-3.0 item in the battery — 30.9% report 'not satisfied at all' with their financial situation, ~10pp more than the 'not too happy' share for general happiness. Ordinal-code keys."
        },
        {
            "question_template_slot": "gss2024_wb_satjob",
            "prompt_text": "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?",
            "ground_truth_mean": 4.027,
            "ground_truth_ci_lower": 3.983,
            "ground_truth_ci_upper": 4.071,
            "ground_truth_sd": 1.066,
            "ground_truth_skewness": -1.029,
            "ground_truth_shape": "left-skewed",
            "ground_truth_distribution": {
                "4_very_dissat_pct": 4.3,
                "3_little_dissat_pct": 9.2,
                "1_very_satisfied_pct": 44.8,
                "2_moderately_satisfied_pct": 41.7
            },
            "n_respondents": 2244,
            "weighting_notes": "Weighted to wtssps. Employed-only (subgroup n=2,244). 4-pt remap 1+(4−x)·4\/3 (1→5.0, 2→3.67, 3→2.33, 4→1.0). Combined dissatisfied-tail (codes 3+4) sits at 13.5%. Distribution as weighted percentages, ordinal-code keys."
        }
    ]
}