Differentiate Patterns of Individually Perceived Quality of Life in Big Cities, Towns and Rural Areas

Abstract

Quality of Life (QoL) in local place is one of the most important factors of place competitiveness and thus is pushed to the working agendas of scientists as well as practitioners in the local governance. Generally, it is agreed that QoL differ in diverse local places. Explanation of these differences still is complex and challenging problem. Most often living place related QoL is researched and predicted by investigating social indicators that reflect averaged objective living conditions in some certain place: country, city, town or region. Scientific research on empirically observed relationships among objective living conditions in local places and individuals’ subjectively perceived QoL had concluded that impacts of socio-economic circumstances in local places (measured by common social indicators) on subjectively perceived individual QoL are not direct, but complex, versatile and diverse. To explore and structure this diversity some conceptual assumptions were made and respective research was conducted. It is assumed that range of intermediate personal characteristics – individual objective and subjective QoL factors – leverage over individual subjectively perceived QoL. On the other hand, objective differences of socio-economic factors in local places suggest that personal characteristics and other objective and subjective QoL factors specific to particular individuals could form some common patterns that are able to disclose differences in individually perceived QoL in different socio-economic conditions, diverse local places, e.g. cities, towns and rural areas. The research aims at investigating differences in patterns of individual subjectively perceived QoL in different local places. The differences of considered local places are reasoned by indicators of objective socio-economic conditions in cities, towns and rural areas. The tested presumption is that common patterns of individual subjectively perceived QoL differ respecting objective socio-economic factors in the local places; e.g. residents of higher income regions value income factor less than residents of lower average income regions, etc… The research concludes with finding and discussing statistical regression models for predicting individual subjectively perceived QoL in towns, big cities and rural areas. Residents’ attitude to social environment, their abilities to deal with important problems in life, household total income, and age are used as predictors to explain differences of individual subjectively perceived QoL. The case of Lithuania is investigated. European Social Survey (round 6, 2013) data is used. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.27.5.14640