Participation in Common Activities and Satisfaction with Common Space - In a Tentative Framework of Housing Adjustment for Swedish Cohousing Residents -

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to find the role of participation in common activities and satisfaction with common space in a tentative housing adjustment framework for Swedish cohousing residents, applying the housing adjustment behavior model of Winter (1978, 1996). The data used for this research were a subset of data Choi and Paulsson (2011) surveyed from 12 Swedish cohousing units. Number of 216 cases whose age was 40 and over were selected and analyzed with Pearson correlations and hierarchical linear regressions by SPSS. The regression analyses included four main concepts as endogenous variables, which were participation in common activities, satisfaction with common space, overall life satisfaction, and intention to move out. The results showed that participation in common activities raised satisfaction with common space and overall life satisfaction but reduced intention to move out. Meanwhile, satisfaction with common space diminished intention to move out but did not impact overall life satisfaction. When overall life satisfaction was added to the final regression model, the direct impacts of security reasons, participation in common activities, and satisfaction with common space on intention to move out disappeared. It may be concluded that participation in common activities and satisfaction with common space acted as intervening variables in the tentative cohousing adjustment framework. Even though this study leaves further research on specifying the framework, it may be noteworthy as a first attempt that explains the flow of main concepts. This study may broaden the possibility of empirical studies to develop an analytical path model of housing adjustment for cohousing residents.