Neighborhood Community and Life Satisfaction

Abstract

The impact of a sense of belonging to a community in a neighborhood on a person's overall life satisfaction is examined in an analysis of a random sample survey (N = 783) of residents of a metropolitan area. In addition to identifying specific direct and indirect effects, the study finds that the extent to which individuals feel a part of a neighborhood community serves as a critical intervening variable through which other objective and perceived neighborhood conditions impact on their subjective quality of life.