Housing Perceptions of Low-Income Single Parents

Abstract

Environment-behavior researchers, other social scientists, and environmental design professionals have not yet carefully examined the housing perceptions and needs of single parents and their children, a user group that constitutes an increasingly large component of the U.S. population. This article first provides a brief overview of demographic trends, relevant previous research, and conceptual frameworks for pursuing research. Then, two studies are presented that examine the issues outlined in the conceptual frameworks. Study 1, an exploratory work. examines the perceptions of 90 low-income residents, including 82 single parents. through the use of surveys at three housing developments in Peoria, Illinois. Study 11 examines a portion of these conceptual frameworks by analyzing the housing perceptions among different subgroups of single parents. Results indicate that different sets of issues correlate with one another depending upon single parents' current marital status and their prior family backgrounds.