UNDERSTANDING CONSTRAINTS AND RESIDENTIAL SATISFACTION AMONG LOW-INCOME SINGLE-PARENT FAMILIES

Housing adjustment models theorize that demographic and personality ch aracteristics of families combine to explain residential satisfaction. This article reports the operationalization of several personality ch aracteristics. The Leford Test of Tenant Locus of Control, measures of household planning styles, an index measuring willingness to work to improve residential conditions, an index measuring participation in co mmunity activities, measures of expected and of experienced discrimina tion, and selected demographic characteristics are hypothesized to pre dict residential satisfaction. Two components of residential satisfact ion, housing and neighborhood, are tested in separate regression model s. The results suggest that personality characteristics are powerful p redictors of housing satisfaction, whereas residential characteristics , feeling safe, and having friends in the neighborhood are powerful pr edictors of neighborhood satisfaction.