The Health Effect of Homeownership: Mediation and Moderation from Satisfaction Perception and Housing Unaffordability

• In Event: Community and Urban Sociology Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4: Housing Processes

Abstract

This study proposes a theoretical model that integrates important mediating and moderating effects to explain whether and how homeownership is potentially linked to health. This integrative model examines (1) whether the effect of homeownership on health is moderated by housing cost (especially housing unaffordability) and (2) whether the health effect of homeownership can be explained by the three mechanisms represented by three satisfaction perceptions—housing satisfaction, community satisfaction, and life satisfaction—that stress homeownership’s material, social, and symbolic values, respectively. Guided by the theoretical model, the analyses of the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey data generate important insights. First, there is clear evidence that homeownership is significantly related to better health in Canada and that this health-promoting effect is not diminished by unaffordability. Second, homeownership does not have a direct health benefit, and the revealed health benefit can be attributed to the three mechanisms. These underlying mechanisms, supported by empirical evidence, can explain how homeownership brings about better health and shed light on how housing inequality may translate into health disparity.

Author

• Min Zhou, University of Victoria