A spatial study of quality of life in the USA

Raid W Amin,Rodney P Guttmann,Bradly Rivera-Muñiz

doi:10.1007/s43545-021-00111-y

Raid W Amin, Rodney P Guttmann + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00111-y

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Abstract

This study's main goal was to develop a comprehensive Quality of Life (QoL) Index based on 31 demographic variables for the 3108 counties in the contiguous USA. Counties were ranked worst in QoL to best, and spatial cluster analysis is used to identify counties with significant low/high QoL clusters. GIS-based mapping was used to create informative heat maps with significant clusters shown. The rate of African Americans, diversity in a race within counties, and upward mobility were studied in a regression analysis in which QoL was predicted from these three covariates. The QoL Index was adjusted for the covariates, and a new spatial heat map with clusters is obtained. It was concluded that as the rate of African Americans increases in a county, the QoL decreases, while the QoL increases when diversity or upward mobility increases.

Highlights

Quality of life (QoL) is a topic that has been widely studied among academics and philosophers for many years
In addition to the descriptive information that can be obtained from heat maps, it is of interest to identify any clusters of high and low QoL using the software SaTScan TM (“Software for the spatial, temporal, and space–time scan statistics,” n.d.) Spatial Scan Statistic (Kulldorff and Nagarwalla 1995)
Professionals from the fields of social sciences, health, among others, can benefit from the results, as they can get a better understanding of how race, diversity, and upward mobility are related to QoL and how these are distributed spatially across the contiguous USA

Summary

Introduction

Quality of life (QoL) is a topic that has been widely studied among academics and philosophers for many years. We aimed to create a more general QoL Index at the county resolution for the Contiguous USA that considers four sub-indices: the physical and social environment, economics, health, and the natural environment Using this Index, we will explore the relationship between QoL and the rate of African Americans, diversity, and upward mobility at the county level. The United States is increasingly a multi-lingual, multi-racial, and multi-ethnic country, trending towards an equal rate of minority and non-minority populations in future years (Lee et al 2012) These results can help local policymakers approach problems of poor QoL by better understanding their communities and the opportunities that they provide to their populations by addressing such problems. Professionals from the fields of social sciences, health, among others, can benefit from the results, as they can get a better understanding of how race, diversity, and upward mobility are related to QoL and how these are distributed spatially across the contiguous USA

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