SATISFACTION WITH RESIDENCE AND WITH LIFE - WHEN HOMELESS MENTALLY-ILL PERSONS ARE HOUSED

The disconfirmation model is used to specify hypotheses about the effe ct of housing type and housing preferences, of clinical status, social characteristics and personality on satisfaction with housing and with life. These hypotheses are tested with data collected from homeless m entally ill shelter users who were randomly assigned to either group o r individual housing. As hypothesized, subjects were more satisfied wi th their residential accommodations after moving into permanent housin g and liked independent housing more than group living. Housing satisf action did not vary as a consequence of the discrepancy between type o f housing preferred and obtained. Life satisfaction was related to per sonality measures but was not affected by the move into housing or by the type of housing obtained. These findings highlight the limits of a pplicability of the disconfirmation model, the need to treat satisfact ion as multidimensional, and the importance of personality in explaini ng more general aspects of satisfaction. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevie r Science Ltd.