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Measuring Quality of Life in the Neighborhood: The Cases of Air-Polluted Cities in Tunisia

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to study the quality of life in the neighborhood by developing a scale to measure the perceived environmental quality of life. Items of the scale were produced using semi-structured interviews. Three main dimensions of environmental quality of life (EQL) were recognized by an exploratory factor analysis applied on 732 participants. This factor structure was then subjected to a confirmatory factor analysis performed on a second sample of 791 people. The satisfactory internal consistency of the three EQL dimensions, the good fit of the measurement model to the data and the stability of the factorial structure all confirm the excellent psychometric qualities of the designed scale.

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Notes

  1. For this dimension, the scores are reversed: the higher the score, the less the participant perceives annoyances in the neighborhood.

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Acknowledgments

The research presented in this paper is part of the Espervie Program (Environment and Health: Risk Perception and Quality of Life) and is funded by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR).

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Correspondence to Aurore Marcouyeux.

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Hassine, K., Marcouyeux, A., Annabi-Attia, T. et al. Measuring Quality of Life in the Neighborhood: The Cases of Air-Polluted Cities in Tunisia. Soc Indic Res 119, 1603–1612 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-013-0565-7

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