Housing quality and psychological well-being among the elderly population

Abstract

With exponential growth in the number of elderly Americans living independently in the community, it is important to better understand the implications of living conditions for psychological well-being among the elderly population. In a cross-sectional study, housing quality is associated with positive affect among the older adults living independently in the community. Moreover, this relation is mediated by place attachment. Elderly residents of higher quality homes, independent of multiple sociodemographic factors (e.g., income, gender), feel more attached to their home, which, in turn, appears to account for the relation between housing quality and positive affect.