Housing tenure and psychological well-being during adolescence

Although a substantial body of work has demonstrated that housing tenure (home ownership vs. renting) is a determinant of health, much less work has focused on this relationship between children and adolescents. This is a significant omission as there is good reason to hypothesize that the effect of housing status on health may change with age. In particular, growing independence and reduced exposure to the residential environment may attenuate the association between housing tenure and health as children age. Using a large representative sample of adolescents, ages 12 to 19 years old, the hypothesis that age moderates the relationship between housing tenure and psychological well-being is tested. The findings, in general, support the hypothesis. Future directions for research are discussed.