# **Appendix D. Variable Descriptions and Definitions, Gallup World Poll**

|**Variable**|**Question**|**Scale**|
|---|---|---|
|SWB|Please imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at the<br>bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the<br>best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder<br>represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the<br>ladder wouldyou say youpersonallyfeelyou stand at this time?|0 (worst possible<br>life) - 10 (best<br>possible life)|
|Age & age<sup>2</sup>/100<br>||Age inyears<br>|
|Gender||Male/female|
|Has a partner|Dummy taking the value of 1 if the respondent is married or has<br>a domesticpartner,and 0 otherwise.|1=yes; 0=no|
|Has children under 15|Dummy taking the value of 1 if the respondent has children<br>under 15 livingin one’s household,and 0 otherwise.|1=yes; 0=no|
|Immigrant|Wereyou born in this country,or not?|1=no;0=yes|
|Religious|Is religion an importantpart ofyour dailylife?|1=yes;0=no|
|Has health problems|Do you have any health problems that prevent you from doing<br>anyof the thingspeopleyour age normallycan do?|1=yes; 0=no|
|Had physical pain<br>yesterday|Did you experience the following feelings during a lot of the day<br>yesterday? How aboutphysicalpain?|1=yes; 0=no|
|Lives in a rural area|The respondent’s self-reported type of settlement: (1) Rural area<br>or farm; (2) Small town or village; (3) Large city; (4) Suburb of a<br>large city. ‘Rural’ is defined as individuals in categories (1) and<br>(2)and “urban” as individuals in categories(3)and(4).|1=rural;<br>0=urban|
|Education level|What is your highest completed level of education? Elementary:<br>Completed elementary education or less (up to 8 years of basic<br>education); Secondary: Completed secondary education and up<br>to 3 years tertiary education (nine to 15 years of education);<br>Tertiary: Completed 4 years of education beyond “high school”<br>and/or received a 4‐year college degree.|1=elementary<br>2=secondary<br>3=tertiary|
|Employment status|Divided in 5 categories based on a series of questions. (1)<br>employed full-time for an employer; (2) self-employed, (3) part-<br>time employed, (4)unemployed,and(5)out of workforce.||
|Per capita income|Per capita income (reported household income divided by<br>household size)|International<br>dollars|
|Financial struggle|Index with 2 equally weighted items. Have there been times in<br>the past 12 months when you did not have enough money to:<br>1. buy food that you or your family needed?<br>2.provide adequate shelter or housingforyou andyour family?|1=yes; 0=no|
|Income sufficiency|Which one of these phrases comes closest to your own feelings<br>about your household’s income these days?<br>1= living comfortably on present income<br>2= getting by on present income<br>3= finding it difficult on present income<br>4= findingit verydifficult onpresent income|<br>1-4|
|Satisfied with standard of<br>living|Are you satisfied or dissatisfied with your standard of living, all<br>the thingsyou can buyand do?|1=satisfied;<br>0=dissatisfied|
|Personal economic<br>optimism|Right now, do you feel your standard of living is getting better<br>or getting worse?|1=getting worse<br>2=the same<br>3=gettingbetter|
|Optimism about<br>economic climate|Right now, do you think that economic conditions in the city or<br>area where you live, as a whole, are getting<br>better orgettingworse?|1=getting worse<br>2=the same<br>3=gettingbetter|
|Social support|If you were in trouble, do you have relatives or friends you can<br>count on to help you wheneveryou need them,or not?|1=yes; 0=no|
|Civic engagement|Index with 3 equally weighted items. Have you done any of the<br>following in the past month? How about:<br>1.<br>Donated money to a charity?<br>2.<br>Volunteeredyour time to an organization?|1=yes; 0=no|

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