Psychological Home, Clutter, and Place Attachment Predicting Life Satisfaction among Women of Color: Home is Beyond Physical Space

Abstract

We examined psychological home, place attachment, clutter, and life satisfaction with adult women of color (n = 99; M age = 50.33 years old) drawn from a larger national sample of women who self-identified with clutter tendencies. We assessed resource (i.e., annual household income, homeownership status, and relationship status) and contextual (i.e., type of dwelling, number of people in household, and years in residence) variables, plus measures of psychological home, place attachment, and clutter, as predictors of life satisfaction among women of color. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that psychological home was a significant predictor of life satisfaction over and above resource and contextual variables. Place attachment and clutter did not moderate the relationship between home and life satisfaction. However, clutter mediated the relationship between home and life satisfaction. Implications for women of color, study limitations, and future directions are discussed.

The Meaning of Home in Male Migration: Listening to Men’s Experiences

“…2015;Wojnicka and Pustułka 2019). Studies on psychological home among natives have reported that gender is an important factor in understanding the importance of self-identity in one's home (Crum and Ferrari. 2019a).…”

“…2020). Psychological home is a significant predictor of life satisfaction (Crum and Ferrari. 2019a).…”

Home Away from Home: Comparing Factors Impacting Migrants’ and Italians Sense of Psychological Home

“…Vand der Klis and Karsten [ 1 ] identify three frameworks to understand the concept of home, namely the physical dwelling itself, activities surrounding the dwelling, and particular social settings that are familiar to the person around their dwelling area. Literature from a variety of fields indicated that the concept of home frequently was associated with feelings of safety and security within the individuals that partake within the concept [ 2 ] however when the experience of home is burdened by over-abundance of clutter, this feeling may result in a lower sense of well-being [ 3 ]. Such associations highlight the importance of the home concept as a construct worth studying for community psychologists who are predominantly interested in how living environments impacts the well-being of individuals and communities [ 4 ].…”

“…Psychological home has been consistently associated with life satisfaction in both Italy [ 9 ] and America [ 2 , 3 , 10 ]. For instance, using data gathered in Italy, psychological home predicted resilience in both migrant and non-migrant populations [ 5 ].…”

Office Clutter: Comparing Lower and Upper-Level Employees on Work-related Criteria

“…Subsequent investigations explored whether an overabundance of possessions, termed clutter, had a negative influence on one's well-being (e.g., Roster et al, 2016). For instance, Crum and Ferrari (2019a) analyzed whether clutter impacted overall life satisfaction among women of color. Results showed that life satisfaction was higher among women with less clutter.…”