![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Multiple studies have identified an urban penalty on, and regional differences in, life satisfaction, but few studies compare the effects of both. This study applies a generalized ordered logit to data on residential location, region of the UK and two different life satisfaction measures. Overall, the regional effect outweighs the rural effect. A stable rural premium for life satisfaction is found; for satisfaction with leisure, though, the effect differs across levels of satisfaction (a rural location increases the likelihood of being both highly satisfied and highly dissatisfied). Regional effects are also found to differ across levels of life satisfaction.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author is very grateful to the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful, detailed and constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Whilst life satisfaction, happiness and quality of life are sometimes used interchangeably, they are not synonyms. Happiness is an affective state, whilst life satisfaction is an evaluation of life as a whole. Quality of life is usually measured via a combination of objective factors.