Housing Conditions and Adolescents’ Socioemotional Well-being: An Empirical Examination from China

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This paper examines the association between housing and adolescents’ socioemotional well-being in China using a large nationally representative dataset from the 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The results showed that housing conditions were negatively correlated with adolescents’ depression and positively correlated with subjective well-being when family income was controlled. However, homeownership did not predict adolescent’s subjective well-being and depression. Adolescents living in urban areas have better socioemotional well-being than adolescents living in rural areas, as demonstrated by their higher subjective well-being, lower depression, and higher self-esteem. Both urban and rural adolescents were influenced by housing conditions in a similar pattern. In addition, self-esteem mediated the relationship between housing conditions and adolescents’ socioemotional well-being. The results indicate that housing conditions are an important factor for policymakers to consider when promoting children’s well-being in China.