GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ASSESSING LOCAL WELL-BEING

The article presents the results of the second wave of the Local Well-being Index study (n = 9681) in order to identify the dynamics of changes from 2023 to 2024. Attention to the gender component is motivated by a number of theoretical and empirical publications devoted to gender differences in such indicators as life satisfaction, work-life balance, level of happiness, quality of life, subjective well-being. The paper examines the research potential of the constituent criteria of the Local Well-being Index using the example of the analysis of the gender characteristics in the assessment of local well-being. The purpose of the article is to determine gender differences in the assessment of local wellbeing, taking into account such indicators as economic opportunities, emotional perception, public safety, orderliness, education and health care based on the results of the second wave of research on the Rating of Regions of Ukraine by the Local Well-being Index. Accordingly, 6 research hypotheses were formulated regarding the main criteria of the Index. The theoretical basis of the Local Well-being Index is based on research in the fields of psychology, sociology, urban studies, and well-being. A feature of the theoretical model on which the index is based is the ability to compare urban and rural settlements. The article analyzes the overall Index and identifies gender differences. Statistical analysis of the data confirms that the overall level of the Local Well-being Index does not demonstrate statistically significant gender differences. However, the assessment of emotional perception, economic opportunities and public safety indicate the presence of statistically significant differences in the assessments of men and women. In the future, special attention should be paid to studying the long-term impact of military actions on the perception of well-being and possible adaptation mechanisms for different social groups.