Residential Neighbourhoods, Perceived Social Support and Subjective Wellbeing

Abstract

Research on subjective wellbeing has mainly focused on personality and demographic variables. The influence of residential neighbourhoods are usually not considered. This study, investigates the influence of types of neighbourhoods and perceived social support on life satisfaction among residents in Ibadan metropolis. Using a 2-way factorial design and multistage sampling technique, five of the eleven Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the metropolis were purposively selected for the study. Ten enumeration areas were selected from each LGA using simple random technique. The number of participants in the selected enumeration areas were determined using enumeration area maps. Two hundred and twenty house-owners and renters each were then selected from the low, medium and high density areas of the LGAs using systematic technique, making a total of 1,100 participants. The selected household heads were sampled. A structured questionnaire focusing on socio-demographic profile, life satisfaction scale (r=0.74) and a multi-dimensional scale of perceived social support (r=0.87) was administered to the participants. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and analysis of variance at 0.05 level of significance. Three hypotheses were tested. The results reveal that social support did not have significant main influence on life satisfaction (F (1,237) =.04; p>.05) while neighbourhood types significantly influenced life satisfaction (F (1,237) = 10.79; p<.05). There were significant interaction effects of neighbourhood and social support on life satisfaction (F(1,237) = 4.15). The findings suggest that the places we live are important for improvement of our life satisfaction.