Home ownership, mortgages and psychological distress

Although many studies have established that owning a home is associated with a variety of health benefits (lower mortality and morbidity rates), important gaps in our understanding of the relationship between housing tenure and health remain. In particular, previous research has tended to rely upon single, binary measures of housing tenure (home owners versus renters). These broad categories do not capture the heterogeneity that exists within housing tenure classifications. This paper uses an expanded measure to differentiate home owners with mortgages, from those who do not have mortgages and from those who live in rental accommodation. The results reveal a gradient in housing tenure and psychological distress; individuals in rental situations report the highest levels of distress, home owners without mortgages the lowest levels. Moreover, housing tenure modifies the impact of stress on distress in these data. The findings are interpreted in the context of changes to housing policy in Canada, and the economic climate during the period in which these data were collected. Future research directions are discussed.