Residential Satisfaction

A theory of residential satisfaction is developed and used in the specification of a path model wherein compositional characteristics of households and the context of the dwelling and neighborhood in which they live influence various dimensions of satisfaction. Relationships are estimated for 767 households sampled in Wooster, Ohio, in 1975, using two-stage least-squares techniques. Results show that certain households demonstrate less satisfaction in any residential context, and that certain dwelling and neighborhood contexts elicit dissatisfaction across the full sample. Only a few such contextual factors prove significant in most compositional subsamples, indicating that different household types differently evaluate and/or adapt to similar contexts.