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General happiness, life satisfaction, and optimism.
| Question | Source | Years | Waves |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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? | GSS | 1972–2024 | 35 |
| Life is exciting, routine, or dull In general, do you find life exciting, pretty routine, or dull? | GSS | 1973–2024 | 30 |
| Satisfaction with family life C. Your family life. | GSS | 1973–1994 | 18 |
| Satisfaction with city or place of residence A. The city or place you live in. | GSS | 1973–1994 | 18 |
| Unfair to bring a child into the world F. It's hardly fair to bring a child into the world with the way things look for the future. | GSS | 1973–1994 | 15 |
| Feeling sure life will work out as wanted Have you usually felt pretty sure your life would work out the way you want it to, or have there been times when you haven’t been (1958: very) sure about it? | ANES | 1958–1976 | 8 |
| Usually able to carry out plans as expected When you do make plans ahead, do you usually get to carry out things the way you expected, or do things usually come up to make you change your plans? |
| ANES |
| 1958–1976 |
| 8 |
| Satisfaction with life as a whole Would you say that you are extremely satisfied, very satisfied, moderately satisfied, slightly satisfied, or not satisfied at all? | ANES | 2008–2024 | 5 |
| Happiness with life in general If you were to consider your life in general these days, how happy or unhappy would you say you are, on the whole… | GSS | 1991–2018 | 5 |
| Can run own life or problems are too big Some people feel they can run their lives pretty much the way they want to; others feel the problems of life are sometimes too big for them. Which one are you most like? | ANES | 1968–1976 | 5 |
| Better to plan ahead or life is a matter of luck Do you think it’s better to plan your life a good way ahead, or would you say life is too much a matter of luck to plan ahead very far? | ANES | 1968–1976 | 5 |
| Little people can do to change their lives B. There is little that people can do to change the course of their lives. | GSS | 1991–2018 | 4 |
| Life is meaningful only if you provide the meaning F. Life is only meaningful if you provide the meaning yourself. | GSS | 1991–2018 | 4 |
| Life does not serve any purpose D. In my opinion, life does not serve any purpose. | GSS | 1991–2018 | 4 |
| How often respondent feels rushed In general, how do you feel about your time--would you say you always feel rushed even to do things you have to do, Only sometimes feel rushed, or almost never feel rushed. | GSS | 1982–2016 | 4 |
| General happiness on a seven-point scale If you were to consider your life in general, how happy or unhappy would you say you are, on the whole? | GSS | 2002–2022 | 3 |
| Overall satisfaction with family life B. All things considered, how satisfied are you with your family life? | GSS | 2002–2018 | 3 |
| Experienced feeling of being somewhere before A. Thought you were somewhere you had been before, but knew that it was impossible. | GSS | 1984–1989 | 3 |
| Wondering whether anything is worthwhile B. You sometimes can't help wondering whether anything is worthwhile any more. | GSS | 1973–1976 | 3 |
| Next to health, money is most important A. Next to health, money is the most important thing in life. | GSS | 1973–1976 | 3 |
| Living only for today D. Nowadays, a person has to live pretty much for today and let tomorrow take care of itself. Do you more or less agree with that, or more or less disagree? | GSS | 1973–1976 | 3 |
| Importance of being self-sufficient H. Being self-sufficient and not having to depend on others. | GSS | 1993–2025 | 2 |
| Days felt happy in the past week D. Felt happy? | GSS | 1996–2025 | 2 |
| Importance of having nice things E. Having nice things. | GSS | 1993–2025 | 2 |
| Satisfaction with life as a whole Overall, on a scale from zero to ten, where zero is not at all satisfied and ten is completely satisfied, how satisfied are you with life as a whole these days? | Fed SHED | 2021–2022 | 2 |
| Expected life rating in five years If you were asked to rate your overall life from 0-10, where 10 represents the best possible state and 0 represents the worst possible state, how do you think you would rate your life five years from today? | GSS | 2018–2022 | 2 |
| Current overall life rating from 0 to 10 If you were asked to rate your overall life from 0-10, where 10 represents the best possible state and 0 represents the worst possible state, how would you rate your life today? | GSS | 2018–2022 | 2 |
| Rating of own quality of life In general, would you say your quality of life is… | GSS | 2018–2021 | 2 |
| General happiness, follow-on survey NOTE: This variable originates on the GSS Next follow-on, and should not be analyzed without the GSS Next-specific weights WTSSPS_NEXT or WTSSNRPS_NEXT | GSS | 2025 | 1 |
| Satisfaction with life as a whole All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole nowadays? | GSS | 2018 | 1 |
| Easy to accomplish my goals To what extent is the following statement true or untrue for you? It is easy for me to accomplish my goals | GSS | 2018 | 1 |
| Seeing myself as pretty successful Right now, I see myself as being pretty successful. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Rarely counting on good things happening I rarely count on good things happening to me. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Always optimistic about own future I'm always optimistic about my future. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Many ways around problems I am facing There are lots of ways around any problem that I am facing now. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Belief that if something can go wrong it will If something can go wrong for me, it will. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Hardly ever expecting things to go my way I hardly ever expect things to go my way. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Could think of ways to get out of a jam If I should find myself in a jam, I could think of many ways to get out of it. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Expecting the best in uncertain times In uncertain times, I usually expect the best. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Expecting more good things than bad to happen Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Can think of many ways to reach my goals I can think of many ways to reach my current goals. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Energetically pursuing my goals At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my goals. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Meeting the goals I have set for myself At this time, I am meeting the goals I have set for myself. | GSS | 2016 | 1 |
| Always optimistic about my future F. I'm always optimistic about my future. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Expect more good than bad to happen to me I. Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Rarely counts on good things happening H. I rarely count on good things happening to me. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Wishes for more self-respect C. I wish I could have more respect for myself. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Frequency of feeling thankful for blessings I feel thankful for my blessings. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Satisfied with myself on the whole A. On the whole, I am satisfied with myself | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Hardly ever expects things to go my way G. I hardly ever expect things to go my way. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Feels like a person of worth equal to others D. I feel that I'm a person of worth, at least equal to others. | GSS | 2004 | 1 |
| Experiences that make you feel free (third mention) C. Third distinct experience mentioned | GSS | 2000 | 1 |
| More or less personal freedom than in the past And how about you? Do you personally feel that you now have more freedom, less freedom, or about the same amount of freedom as you had in the past? | GSS | 2000 | 1 |
| How much personal freedom respondent has And about you yourself? Would you say right now that you have complete freedom, a great deal of freedom, a moderate degree of freedom, not much freedom, or no freedom at all? | GSS | 2000 | 1 |
| Sense of control over own life Some people feel they have completely free choice and control over the way their lives turn out, and other people feel that what they themselves do has no real effect on what happens to them. Please use this scale to indicate how much freedom of choice and control you feel you have over the way your life turns out. | GSS | 2000 | 1 |
| Experiences that make you feel free (second mention) B. Second distinct experience mentioned | GSS | 2000 | 1 |
| No sense planning a lot A. There's no sense planning a lot -- if something good is going to happen, it will. | GSS | 1996 | 1 |
| Feeling successful in family life The next few questions are about your success in different areas of life. First, how successful do you feel in your family life? Do you feel... | GSS | 1996 | 1 |
| Days felt overjoyed in past week J. Felt overjoyed about something? | GSS | 1996 | 1 |
| How long ago the anger-provoking event happened How long ago did this event happen? (ALLOW OPEN-ENDED RESPONSE; IF A RANGE IS GIVEN, PROBE FOR SPECIFIC NUMBER) | GSS | 1996 | 1 |
| Little control over bad things that happen to me D. I have little control over the bad things that happen to me. | GSS | 1996 | 1 |
| Importance of personal judgment in making life decisions D. Your own personal judgment | GSS | 1988 | 1 |
| The world is getting better J. Taking everything into account, the world is getting better. | GSS | 1985 | 1 |