Neighborhood Predictors of Life Domain Satisfaction and Subjective Wellbeing in Rural and Urban Groups: Implications for Health Policy and Practice

Abstract

This research investigates the extent to which satisfaction with thirteen aspects of neighborhood predicts the life domain satisfaction and subjective wellbeing (SWB) of rural (n = 408) and urban (n = 1,690) groups as measured by the seven life domains of the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) using Australian data. Open space and sharing and borrowing between neighbors were found to predict life domain satisfaction for rural respondents but not urban respondents. On the other hand, leisure facilities predict domain satisfaction for urban but not rural respondents, while trust between neighbors predicts a greater number of domains for urban respondents. Greater awareness of neighborhood predictors unique to rural or urban groups could help target public health policy aimed at maintaining SWB is these populations.