Explicando los efectos económicos y ambientales de la calidad de vida sobre la retención de la población en residencias rurales Explaining the economic and environmental effects of quality of life on the retention of population in rural residences

The objective of this study was to explaining the economic and environmental effects of quality of life on the retention of population in rural residences. This shows an applied research, and in terms of nature and methods, it is considered as a descriptive-analytical one. For the purpose of data collection, field studies and library studies have been conducted. To this end, an index questionnaire based on the Likert Scale was prepared and randomly distributed among the villagers. The population of the study includes 2570 individuals; however, using the Cochran’s formula, the sample size of the study was determined as 356 individuals. The collected questionnaires have been analyzed through descriptive statistics, T-test and, multivariate regression. Results show that structural equations, with a value of over 0.05 and t-statistic of 1.072, the effect of the financial aspect of life quality on retention of population is recorded. In addition, the results have also manifested that the environmental aspect of quality of life is also effective on the former with a value of 0.05 and t-statistic of 2.017, which is higher than the critical value of 1.96. Finally, it can be concluded that the environmental aspect of life-quality is significantly effective on retention of population in rural residences; however, considering the obtained path coefficient of 0.208, it is concluded that the economic aspect of life quality is not of any known significant effects on retention of population in rural areas.


Introduction
The quality of life of residents is a concept that has been widely used in lectures and development programs over the centuries. It is used to provide a better life for people by upgrading it Which is a multi-level and fluid concept that expresses the happiness and well-being of people (Horváth & Jónás-Berki, 2018). For the other hand, retention of rural population in villages is consistently related to the issue of Rural-Urban migration. On this basis it is expected that a majority of reasons causing such migrations are followed by migration of villagers from rural areas. One reason for this phenomenon is the economic problems present in the atmosphere of villages (Mathew & Sreejesh, 2017).
Issues such as explicit and implicit unemployment, instability and insufficiency of income, rural poverty and others, which usually emerge in structures in which occupational agriculture and especially farming activities, have a high share of employment and income in absence of other sources (Su & Swanson, 2017). In order to mitigate the negative effects of such issues and to improve the life-level of villagers which in turn results in less rural-urban migration , several different strategies have been proposed (Alavi Zadeh, 2013).
In general, if the income of rural households is insufficient, the motivation for migrating to cities and taking part in other economic activities will be so robust that it will cause in lack of retention of households in the villages, especially under the current circumstance of day-to-day increase in the differences between urban and rural communities (Mir Latifi, 2013). Rural-Urban migration is a phenomenon that emerged throughout the industrialization process of countries which is the main cause of many of the atmospheric and social changes in communities (Zhang Et al, 2016).
In the country of Iran, as cities began to industrialize, the process of employment of unemployed youngsters in the agriculture sector commenced in the favor of industrial and serviceprovision-related activities (Rostamalizadeh, 2013). The process of extensive migration and exiting of young and active population from villages endangers the sustainability of rural communities. One way to mitigate rural-urban migrations is to improve the sustainability of life quality in rural areas, which covers equality, sustaining cultural variability, improving the quality of life and generally, any kind of change in economic activities that would result in improvement of life quality (Noorbakhsh, 2012). Currently, the level of life quality in rural areas being low, and resultantly migration of rural people to large cities has caused several social, economic, and environmental issues in both cities and villages (Mohammadi, 2014).

Definition of life quality
Life quality is defined as the general welfare of an individual. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines life quality as people's individual perception of their condition in life in terms of culture, goals, expectations, standards, concerns and the value-system in which they live (WHO QOL, 2010). In the view of Foo, life quality is defined as an indicator of individuals' general satisfaction with their lives (Foo, 2017). Based on all observations, quality of life is viewed as an extensive concept covering physical health, mental condition, freedom and, the relations between an individual and environmental characteristic (Clarke & Marshall, 2000).
Quality of life focuses on the entire aspects of life (Cultural, Social, Environmental, Physical, hygienic, and the system of local value). Quality is defined as modality and so the abbreviation "QoL" (Quality of Life) lexically points to the manner of life including the differences, however it's unique and distinct per person (Barany, 2014). In addition, in terms of terminology, the Persian Dictionary of Amid defines it also as manner, modality and, state (Amid Dictionary). Quality of life is universally a constituent of individual activities that project a desirable reflection for any aspect of life. The present study focuses on individuals' emotional reactions to life events, sense of life, needs and satisfaction, manners, and, satisfaction with occupational and personal relationships (Diener, 1997).
Furthermore, in literature also the expression of "quality of life" denotes "welfare", a significant factor in uptake of development (Clarkel, 2015). Leo (1983) defines quality of life as a bold naming for the same old concept of economic and mental well-being in the living place. Smith defines quality of life as social well-being, while Andrews defines it as public welfare and Muller (1983) defines it as individuals' and categories' welfare under general socioeconomic conditions. Yet another scholar views quality of life as the conditions of the environment in which people live; including pollution, quality of housing, as well as some personal traits and conditions among the public such as health and education (Pecione, 2017). Quality of life is a multidimensional subjective notion (Nilson, 2016), and it can be considered as individuals' perception of their position in life in terms of culture and value of their residence, considering the former's expectations and standards (Andrews, 1974). As a construct, quality of life has recently been the subject of several studies in various fields such as medicine, sociology, philosophy, and psychology; however, there is no sign of any extensively accepted single standard definition for quality of life (Pal & Kumar, 2018). This is because many researchers believe that quality of life is a multidimensional relative notion affected by time, place and, personal and social value (Rezvani, 2019).

Theoretical Basics
Quality of life is not a newly introduced notion, rather it even existed in the Greek Philosophy and Aristotle has pointed to it in his discussion regarding physical happiness (Poorzaheri, 2012). Nevertheless, even different fields of science have agreed upon different definitions of the formerly mentioned notion, however, in general quality of life can be considered as a criterion for understanding the citizens' conditions and their levels of satisfaction by the truecoming of those needs that are related to the dimensions of life (Anabestaani, 2013). Having a desirable quality of life has always been and is a wish for the mankind (Qanbari, 2014).
The history of development of the concept of quality of life dates back to the era in which Aristotle lived around 385 B.C. As early as the time was, Aristotle defined happiness as having a good life or well completion of tasks. In addition, while discussing physical or the bodily happiness, he has pointed to quality of life as well. Aristotle has also been quoted to define happiness as some sort of dignified activity for the soul. Aristotle, has also expressed that happiness is the product of individuals dignified and valuable activities and guides the mankind towards a good life. Serious discussions focusing quality of life began only in the 1930s, but luckily since that time researchers from various science fields have studied the concept of quality of life; resulting in various versions of definitions each fitting a certain geographic area (Barimani, 2014, 586). In 1955, when an international association was founded to study the concept of quality of life, studying the notion in various fields of science began to institutionalize, and so figures such as Jean Paul Sartre and others began to pay attention to it while discussing the individual's inner states (Poortaheri, 2012, 14). In 1960s, this concept began to gain interests from the field of social sciences as well (Rezvani, 2019, 36). It was only through the former decade that it turned out that economic growth and development are not the only factors required for improving the quality of life of a nation (Dos, 2008, 233).
As the economic approach of life quality began to emerge in the 1960s and 1970s, quality of life began to be evaluated as welfare only. However, opposing to such views, Koant states that there are certain subjective dimensions that are effective in quality of life. During the late decades of the 20 th Century, with the expansion of urbanism, especially in less-developed countries, several regional atmospheric, social and economic inequalities have emerged along with multiple challenges that have occurred in human residences, especially the rural areas, under the shadow of development plans and policies. These inequalities have been followed by various social and economic issues such as rural-urban migration (Andrews & Withey, 1976).
On this basis, many scholars and scientists have tried to focus their attention on the concept of rural life quality (Barimani, 2014). It seems that with respect to the multitude of scientific fields involved with the subject of life quality, it would be extremely difficult, challenging and or even maybe inappropriate to categorize this concept under a single field of science (Hosseini, 2015).
The main problem is that there is no specific universally agreed upon and accepted definition for quality of life (Cramer, Seven & Einar, 2004). In fact, quality of life can be defined differently under the effects of the individual's mental and physical health, freedom, and social relations with the environment, plus other factors including personal satisfaction, dimensions of life and etc. (Ruževičius, 2012). The region under study was the sector of Razavie, located in the province of Khorasan

Research method
In terms of objective, the present study is considered as an applied-developmental research, while in terms of nature, applied methods, and data collection manners, it is considered as a descriptive-analytical survey study. To collect the required data, firstly the various intellectual basics related to the subject matter were extracted from previously published domestic and foreign studies and were subsequently categorized. Afterwards, the research variables were extracted from a questionnaire form corresponding to the objectives of the study that was randomly distributed

Descriptive investigation of items relating to the economic dimension
The economic dimension of life quality is comprised of three components namely as employment, income, and investment. The following table presents the descriptive statistics of  While investigating the question of "state of employment in the sector of services" it has been observed that in most cases the choice of "high" is selected by the respondents (38.8%).
Furthermore, regarding the question of "state of access to proper jobs in adjacent villages" it has been observed that most respondents (39%) have chosen the "Average" choice. While investigating the item of "income from the agriculture" it has been observed that most respondents have selected the "Average" choice (51.1%). Nevertheless, while investigating the item of "income from the industry" it has been observed that most respondents have selected the "Average" (45.5%) choice. Also, regarding the item of "income from the services sector" it can be seen that most respondents have selected the "Average" (42.7%) choice.
Investigating the statistics relating to the item of "income from livestock" revealed that most respondents (54.9%) have selected the choice "Average". Investigating the item of "investment in agriculture" reveals that most respondents have selected the choice "Average" (44.4%). Investigating the item of "investment in livestock" showed that most of the respondents have selected the choice "Average" (48.9%). Elaborating on the statistics relating to the item of "investment in real estate" showed that most of the respondents have selected the choice "Average" (40.7%). While investigating the question of "investment in industry" it was revealed that in most cases the respondents have selected the choice "Average" (41.4%). Ultimately, also investigating the statistics of the question of "investment in the sector of services" showed that most of the respondents have selected the choice "Low" (45.5%).

Descriptive Investigation of Items Relating to the Environmental Dimension
The environmental dimension is comprised of two components namely as quality of the environment and, outlook and climate. The following table presents the descriptive statistics relating to these items. In addition, the significance value calculated by the Chi-do test was smaller than 0.001 for the entire question and so not all of the questions have been reported in the table. While investigating the item of "quality of sidewalks and cleaning of the village", it was turned out that most respondents (32.3%) had selected the choice "Average". Elaborating on the statistics relating to the "collection and disposal of surface waters" showed that most of the respondents selected the choice "Low" (31%). Investigating the statistics relating to the item of "collection of waste" showed that most respondents (32.3%) selected the choice "High".
Investigating the item of "quality of cleaning and hygiene" showed that most respondents selected the choice "High" (34.3%). Regarding the item of "access to water for farming" most respondents selected the choice "Low" (34.5%). Elaborating on the statistics relating to the item of "number of natural outlooks", showed that most respondents have selected the choice "Average" (43.5%).
Nevertheless, investigating the statistics relating to the item of "amount of landscape" revealed that most respondents have selected the choice "Average" (33.9%). Since the studied components are comprised of more than one item with low scales, therefore it is necessary to select a proper normality test for the research variables. The results are reported in the following table. Absolute values of skewedness coefficient of smaller than 3 and absolute values of elongation of smaller than are considered as normal for the variables (Clean, 2010). As you can see in table 5, for the entire variables of the study the values of skewedness and elongation coefficients are located in the mentioned range, and their normality is accepted.

Comparing the dimensions of the study with the median
Since all 4 dimensions have normal distribution, we can use the one sample t-test to compare the average values of the components with the value of 3 (the median of the 5-degree Liker Scale). The results are reported in the following table:   that if the absolute value of t-value for a certain coefficient is higher than 1.96, that coefficient will be considered significant at a confidence of 95%.

Conclusion
Considering the findings, solutions such as development of industrial activities for creating more employment opportunities; improving the infrastructures of ranching; development and expansion of infrastructures of on-the-road services with respect to requiring low capital but giving high income and considering the fact that the village is located on the transit-route between Sarakhs-Turkmenistan, development of maintenance services such as repair centers.
Considering the fact that certain transit routes pass through these villages, widespread of greenhouse farming with respect to water deficiency in the villages, developing ranching complexes outside the villages, changing farmers' farming patterns and condensing the agriculture, stopping construction in the vicinity of railways, development and amplification of the vegetation to control the floods, equipping farms with novice irrigation systems, asphalting the main roads, developing the landscapes, developing the sidewalks with pavements, constructing walking bridges and underpasses in the old Mashhad-Sarakhs way for villages that are challenged by such lacks.
life in the elderly Behavioral Medicine.Washington, D.C publisher.