Housing Tenure, Intrahousehold Homeownership Structure and Health

Abstract

As two important dimensions of the quality of life, housing and health are inextricably linked. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study explores the impact of housing tenure and intrahousehold homeownership structure on residents’ health in urban China. The results indicate that full owner-occupancy weakens residents’ health by compressing their time for rest and relaxation and squeezing household medical expenditure. Further analysis on the effects of attribution of full homeownership between couples finds that, compared with spouse-owned, self-owned or couple-owned improves residents’ health by lowering the possibility of sacrificing career for family, reducing labor hours and easing debt pressure. Importantly, couple-owned generates more health benefits than either self-owned or spouse-owned. In addition, the health effects of intrahousehold homeownership structure are greater among young adults, those with higher income than their spouses and those with strong awareness of gender equality. It is also worth noting that there are gender-based health differences in marriage due to the intrahousehold homeownership structure. These findings have implications for integrating social policies in the housing, health, and family domains.