NEIGHBORHOOD INTEGRATION, RACE RELATIONS, AND THE QUALITY-OF-LIFE

About one thousand adults (1,030) in a major city in Michigan, USA were interviewed about their city experience, including their levels of satisfaction with neighborhood quality of life and with the quality of race relations in the city generally. One hundred ten (110) variables were included in the questionnaire to examine satisfaction with the quality of life (QOL) in the neighborhood and the city-at-large. Race relations in the city were found to be important intervening variable of satisfaction with overall quality of city life among White residents, but not among Blacks. Also, satisfaction with racial mix of neighborhood was found to be a significant intervening variable between satisfaction with various aspects of neighborhood life and overall satisfaction with neighborhood QOL for the White sample, but not the Black. Satisfaction with neighborhood QOL was found to be a significant inter-vening variable between conditions in the neighborhood and satisfaction with the QOL in the city at-large for both Blacks and Whites. Interpretations of these findings are offered.