Associations between Objective and Subjective Housing Status with Individual Mental Health in Guangzhou, China

Lijian Xie, Suhong Zhou and Lin Zhang
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Lijian Xie: School of Tourism and Geography Science, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China
Suhong Zhou: School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China
Lin Zhang: Institute of Studies of Greater Bay Area, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510006, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: Housing is an important social determinant of mental health. However, few studies simultaneously measure the objective housing status (i.e., housing tenure, living space, housing conditions, and housing stability) and subjective housing status (i.e., housing satisfaction) as well as examine their effects on people’s mental health (i.e., stress, anxiety, and depression). Thus, using a sample size of 1003 participants by two-stage random sampling survey in Guangzhou, China, this study applies multivariate ordinary least square regression models to comprehensively explore and compare the associations between objective and subjective housing status with mental health, and then analyze the moderating effects of subjective housing status on the relationships between objective housing status and mental health. The findings suggest that there are significant differences in people’s mental health based on different housing status. The subjective housing status can better explain the variances in mental health than objective housing status. Also, subjective housing status may partly mitigate the adverse impacts of objective housing disadvantages on some aspects of an individual’s mental health. Therefore, housing improvement policies and public health initiatives should be designed based on a comprehensive account of objective and subjective housing characteristics as well as their influences on specific aspects of mental health.

Keywords: objective housing status; subjective housing status; mental health; moderating effects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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