ATHENS, Ohio - Domestic tranquility apparently is prevalent in America. Most Americans like where they live and think where they live is a good place for children. Those are the findings of a national telephone survey of 1,007 adults by the Scripps Survey Center at Ohio University and the Scripps Howard News Service in June.
Eighty percent of the respondents gave their neighborhoods favorable ratings, with 33 percent saying the area in which they live is great, and 47 percent saying it is good. When it comes to raising kids, most give their neighborhoods a thumbs-up. Twenty-eight percent said their neighborhoods are great for children to grow up in and 45 percent believed their neighborhoods are good.
Guido H. Stempel III, co-director of the survey, says the results are consistent with those of early surveys that found most people like where they live and would pass up the opportunity to go elsewhere.
People who live in rural areas are the most positive about where they live, with 43 percent saying where they live is great, and 39 percent saying it is an excellent place for children. Twenty-nine percent of those who live in suburbs say it's a great place for children, while only 26 percent of those who live in small cities and 24 percent of those in big cities say the same.
Respondents also like their own homes, with 81 percent saying their home is as good as or better than the one they grew up in. Those who live in suburbs are most likely to say that, with 54 percent saying their home is better than the one they grew up in and 31 percent saying it is as good.
People over the age of 65 are more positive about their homes than younger people. Sixty-eight percent of the older respondents said their present homes are better than the ones they grew up in.
The survey has a sampling error of 4 percent. Co-directors were Thomas W. Hodges, director of the survey center, and Thomas Hargrove of the Scripps Howard News Service.
Contact: Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Journalism Guido Stempel, 740-593-2609, or Media Specialist Jennifer Kirksey Smith, 740-597-1796.