Understanding quality of life in a northern, rural climate

Abstract

The availability of community amenities, including physical, social, and service amenities, is expected to add to the quality of life (QOL) of residents. The study had 1417 residents of northern New England rate the availability and importance of 18 amenities in their community and also rate their QOL. Multivariate analysis found that accounting for amenity importance mediates the impact on QOL of amenity availability. In most cases, these estimates are biased upward. Implications for community development include the need to account for residents' perceptions of the importance of amenities before concluding that a community needs more of something in order to improve residents' QOL.