I was curious about a few social variables which often associate across generations, and also within families. So I looked in the General Social Survey for denomination, highest degree and socioeconomic index, which I knew were surveyed for the individual (respondent), their parents and their spouse. Below the fold are the correlation matrices generated. Remember that if you assume a linear dependency you square the correlation (e.g., 0.50 → 0.25) to find out how much of the variation in X can be accounted for by variation in Y.
| Religious denomination | Denomination | Father’s Denom. | Mother’s Denom. | Denom. Raised | Spouse Denom. | Spouse Denom. Raised |
| Denomination | – | 0.63 | 0.59 | 0.68 | 0.80 | 0.48 |
| Father’s Denom. | – | – | 0.84 | 0.89 | 0.47 | 0.40 |
| Mother’s Denom. | – | – | – | 0.87 | 0.41 | 0.39 |
| Denom. Raised | – | – | – | – | 0.48 | 0.42 |
| Spouse Denom. | – | – | – | – | 0.67 | |
| Spouse Denom. Raised | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Highest level of education | Degree | Father’s Degree | Mother’s Degree | Spouse Degree |
| Degree | – | 0.43 | 0.41 | 0.57 |
| Father’s Degree | – | – | 0.57 | 0.37 |
| Mother’s Degree | – | – | – | 0.35 |
| Spouse Degree | – | – | – | – |
| Socioeconomic index | SEI | Father’s SEI | Mother’s SEI | Spouse SEI |
| SEI | – | 0.26 | 0.23 | 0.33 |
| Father’s SEI | – | – | 0.38 | 0.22 |
| Mother’s SEI | – | – | – | 0.20 |
| Spouse SEI | – | – | – | – |
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