Contributions of the Usage and Affective Experience of the Residential Environment to Residential Satisfaction

The existing literature has documented that housing conditions, neighborhood characteristics, and socioeconomics are important determinants of residential satisfaction. However, the contribution of the actual usage of the residential environment to residential satisfaction has rarely been studied. To help fill in this gap, this study examines the contribution of the usage of housing and neighborhoods as well as the affective residential experience to residential satisfaction. We apply a subjective well-being framework and consider residential satisfaction and residential affective experience as two constituent components of the residential domain subjective well-being. Data were collected in Beijing from November 2011 to June 2012. The results show that home and neighborhood activities significantly affect residential satisfaction; higher levels of valence and activation of daily activities at home and in the neighborhood lead to more residential satisfaction.