Poverty and affordable housing: Comparing the attitudes and beliefs of social work students in the United States to those of social work students in the Netherlands

This cross-national exploratory study examines the influence of social structure and educational level on the attitudes and beliefs of social work students from two countries, the United States and the Netherlands. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to elicit information regarding student attitudes and beliefs as they relate to poverty and affordable housing. The data was collected using three research instruments; these include a demographic survey and two scales, the Poverty and Housing Scale (PHS) and a second scale that was designed to measure beliefs regarding the causes of poverty (COP). The final sample consisted of 456 student responses. Three hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-tests and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Findings of this study indicate that while social work students from both countries had a more structural view of poverty and affordable housing and the causes of poverty, students from the Netherlands had a significantly more cultural/individualistic view when compared to students from the USA. These results were not anticipated. Structuration Theory (Giddens) is used as a conceptual foundation and in discussion of the results. Implications for social work education, policy, and practice are discussed. Future research is suggested.