Perceived privacy of the dwelling and psychological restoration during the COVID-19 lockdown

Abstract

Dwelling is a fundamental factor for mental health. Lockdowns, established to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, forced millions of people to take shelter in their homes, enhancing the need to understand the characteristics of the dwelling that promote psychological restoration. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between some perceived conditions of dwelling habitability (appreciation of the physical environment, visible nature, crowding, and privacy) and their effect on psychological restoration through the concept of the perceived restorativeness of dwelling. An online survey was carried out with the participation of 478 Mexican adults. Physical environment, visible nature, crowding, and privacy showed significant correlations with the perceived restorativeness of housing and psychological restoration itself. However, only privacy showed an effect on psychological restoration in structural modelling. We propose that privacy is fundamental to improving dwellings’ restorativeness and restoring their inhabitants, and experts should consider it when designing housing spaces. However, more evidence is needed to generalize beyond the context of lockdowns.

Keywords:

• Dwelling
• privacy
• psychological restoration
• perceived restorativeness
• crowding
• habitability
• visible nature

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aurora de Jesús Mejía-Castillo

Aurora de Jesús Mejía-Castillo is a full-time professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Veracruz. She holds doctorate and master’s degrees in Psychology. Her research interest is on environmental psychology, principally on restorative environments. She has published book chapters and articles about health psychology and environmental psychology. As a professor, she teaches courses in environmental and social psychology. She has shared her contributions at national and international events, including the International Association of People-Environment Studies (IAPS) Conference and the Asociación de Psicología Ambiental (PSICAMB) congress.

Rubén Flores-González

Rubén Flores-González is a full-time professor at the Center for Opinion Research at the University of Veracruz. His research interests are on political communication, and political attitudes. He has also performed research on psychological health as part of the COVIDiStress international consortium. Member of the Latin American Electoral Campaigns Research Association (ALICE), and of the Mexican Association of Statistics (AME).

Claudio Rafael Castro López

Claudio Rafael Castro López is a full-time professor at the Facultad de Estadística e Informática and member of Centro de Estudios de Opinión y Análisis at the Universidad Veracruzana. His research interests are methodology in opinion studies and segmentation algorithms. Member of Word Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR) and of the Mexican Association of Statistics (AME).

Vicenta Reynoso-Alcántara

Vicenta Reynoso-Alcántara is a full-time professor at the Faculty of Psychology, University of Veracruz. She holds a doctorate in Psychology. Her research interests are mainly in cognition and how the context may promote good health. She is part of the COVIDiStress international consortium. Also, she collaborates in the research line of environmental psychology. She is a member of the American Psychological Association (APA).