The relationship between satisfaction with life as a whole and three other factors (domain satisfaction, social network ties, and perceptions of service delivery): Rural Russian village panel study 1995-2003

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] It is found in the literature that satisfaction with life as a whole (LS) is very multi-dimensional subjective indicator. This dissertation wanted to see this multi-dimensionality of LS and examined LS from three different angles. Using rural Russian village panel data 1995-2003, the dissertation conducted three different analyses. Scholars say that LS and happiness studies are important for social, economic, and public policy development. The significant relationships between LS and all other factors including specific life domain satisfactions, social network ties, mental health, and perceptions of local service delivery, in this dissertation, implied that LS can be connected to many different areas of society. Studies in this dissertation then showed that rural Russian village residents' satisfaction with life as whole was significantly associated with many factors. For instance, specific life domain satisfactions such as family satisfaction, marital satisfaction, income satisfaction, and village satisfaction - all was significantly related to LS in the study. The dissertation tested their two-way reciprocal relationship and the relationship from domain satisfaction to LS was substantial in the panel study. All results in the studies were quite close to results in other similar studies found in the literature. This is another importance of this research.