An examination of household participation in the housing delivery system

The purpose of this study was to investigate two types of homeowner groups—limited self-help and conventional—and their levels of participation within the housing delivery system. Independent variables examined were self-esteem, housing congruence, technical experience, housing satisfaction and neighborhood satisfaction. The dependent variable examined was residential satisfaction.

A purposive sample of 41 limited self-help homeowners and 40 conventional homeowners participated in the study. A self-report questionnaire was given to each subject in their own home. The instrument was comprised of demographic, self-esteem, technical experience, housing congruence, housing satisfaction, neighborhood satisfaction and residential satisfaction measures.

It was hypothesized that the limited self-help and conventional homeowner groups will differ on self-esteem, technical experience, housing congruence, housing satisfaction, neighborhood satisfaction and overall residential satisfaction. Least square means and one-way Analysis of Variance were used to determine significant differences between the two groups of homeowners. Correlation coefficients and multiple regression were run to examine existing relationships between selected psychological, technical and housing variables.

Demographic data showed slightly lower income and educational levels for the limited self-help group. Conventional homeowners were more likely to work in white collar occupations, while, the self-help group worked in blue-collar jobs. Self-esteem, housing satisfaction and neighborhood satisfaction were found to be significantly different between the two homeowner groups. Overall, residential satisfaction did not differ between the limited self-help and conventional groups.

The results of this study suggested that for these two home-owner groups, it is not the means of participation in the housing delivery system that contributes to their residential satisfaction. Both the limited self-help and conventional households were satisfied with their present housing situation.