The Influence of Communication and Cosmopoliteness on Quality of Life Perceptions

Abstract

This article examines the impact of a sequence of variables that includes people's communication activity and quality of life assessments. Survey results indicate that more cosmopolitan people, those with more diverse interests, those with stronger patterns of media use, and those with higher levels of community knowledge hold stronger assessments of the quality of life available in their community. No such relationships are found for people's assessment of whether the country is headed in the right direction. The growing body of quality of life research often ig- nores the work conducted by communication researchers (see Andrews, 1986; Campbell, 1981; Sirgy, 2001; Sirgy & Samli, 1995). People's subjective assessments of their qual- ity of life may be affected not only by the objective envi- ronment (Andrews & Withey, 1976 (1974 in Refs.); Headley et al., 1991) but also by their personal assessments based on information gained through media and interpersonal chan- nels. This process involves a comparative element, as people make judgments based not only on their own experiences and circumstances but also on messages about their situation and how things are going elsewhere (Campbell et al., 1976). Inglehart and Rabier (1986), Michalos (1986), and others propose an aspiration-adjustment model where the perceived quality of life reflects a gap between aspirations and one's perceived situation. Although aspirations may be internally derived, we also conclude what's possible--or what's desir- able--by learning about the quality of life elsewhere. Thus, quality of life assessments are affected by personal experi- ences, aspirations and hopes that reflect our assessment of what's achievable elsewhere, and messages that tell us about our own immediate environment. i