Manufactured housing and the elderly: Residential satisfaction, the sense of community, social integration, and psychological adjustment

This study considers alternative residential environments for the elderly, and their differential effects upon residential satisfaction, the sense of community within the neighborhood, social integration in the community, and resident psychological adjustment. Elderly residents of site-built housing are compared to elderly residents of manufactured housing. To specify the importance of age on the dependent variables, a non-elderly subsample is compared for these variable relationships. An environmental-behavioral theoretical perspective drives the research hypotheses. The hypotheses test the effects of residential satisfaction upon the sense of community in the neighborhood and social integration in the community, and the effects of sense of community within the neighborhood upon social integration in the community. Neighborhood age concentration is tested on the sense of community within the neighborhood and social integration in the community.;The data come from two sources. A 1986 mail survey of Wake County, North Carolina residents provides for quantitative analyses, while interviews and surveys of residents of a manufactured housing park provide qualitative data.;The results of the analyses reveal that the elderly manufactured housing residents are generally as satisfied with their residential environments as the elderly site-built housing residents. Furthermore, the elderly manufactured housing residents are found to maintain sense of community, social integration, and psychological adjustment levels which are comparable to the elderly site-built housing residents. Increasing residential satisfaction has no effect upon the sense of community within the neighborhood for the elderly manufactured housing residents, while it has a positive effect upon one indicator of social integration. The elderly manufactured housing residents show positive relationships between sense of community within the neighborhood and some social integration indicators. Neighborhood age concentration has no effect upon the dependent variables.;The results suggest that, contrary to earlier research, the elderly in manufactured housing tend to maintain affiliations outside of their residential environments, and thus do not depend upon their neighborhoods to meet social integration needs. Furthermore, these residents, given their relatively high levels of residential satisfaction, have life-cycle reasons which may suggest that manufactured housing is a viable option for them. Policy implications of these findings and future research suggestions are discussed.