The Association between Housing Characteristics and Depression among Single-Person Households: A Longitudinal Study Using Data from the Korea Welfare Panel Study
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background The proportion of single-person households in South Korea has risen sharply, from 26.8% of all households in 2014 to 34.5% in 2023, and this group is disproportionately affected by depression relative to multi-person households. Housing has been identified as an important, yet under-examined, social determinant of mental health in this population. Most prior studies, however, have relied on a single composite indicator of housing deprivation—typically unmet minimum housing standards or excessive housing-cost burden—so it remains unclear which specific housing conditions drive the association with depression. This study examined the longitudinal association between multiple, disaggregated housing characteristics and depression among single-person households, and tested whether satisfaction with social relationships moderates this association. Methods Data were drawn from four consecutive waves (2020–2023; waves 15–18) of the Korea Welfare Panel Study (KoWePS). A balanced panel of 2,186 individuals who lived in single-person households throughout the four-year period was constructed. Housing characteristics included housing area, monthly housing-cost burden, housing tenure stability, housing location (above-/below-ground), five components of the structural, performance, and environmental criteria specified in Korea's Minimum Housing Standards (heat/fire/moisture resistance; ventilation/lighting/heating; noise/vibration/odor/air pollution; natural-disaster safety; and fire-evacuation structures and facilities), and housing environment satisfaction. Depression was measured with the Korean version of the 11-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D 11). Descriptive statistics were calculated, and a Hausman test was used to compare fixed-effects and random-effects specifications. Fixed-effects panel logistic regression was then used to estimate the association between housing characteristics and depression, and interaction terms were added to test the moderating role of social relationship satisfaction. Results Poorer subjective health was significantly associated with a higher likelihood of depression (coef. = 0.523, p < .001). Among housing characteristics, unmet standards for heat/fire/moisture resistance (coef. = 0.292, p < .05) and for fire-evacuation structures and facilities (coef. = 0.443, p < .001) were significantly associated with higher depression, whereas greater housing environment satisfaction was associated with lower depression (coef. = -0.221, p < .001). Higher satisfaction with social relationships (coef. = -0.494, p < .001) and family relationships (coef. = -0.344, p < .001) was also associated with lower depression. Housing area, housing-cost burden, tenure stability, housing location, ventilation/lighting/heating, noise/vibration/odor/pollution, and natural-disaster safety were not significantly associated with depression. The interaction between social relationship satisfaction and unmet fire-evacuation standards was significant (coef. = -0.430, p < .001), indicating that strong social relationships buffered the adverse mental-health effect of inadequate fire-evacuation facilities. Conclusions Among the components of Korea's minimum housing standards, deficiencies specifically related to fire and structural safety—rather than housing area, cost burden, or tenure type—were most consistently associated with depression in single-person households, and strong social relationships mitigated this risk. These findings support disaggregating housing-deprivation indicators in future research and policy, and point to fire-safety retrofitting, minimum-standard enforcement for single-occupancy housing, and community-based social-relationship programs as concrete levers for improving the mental health of single-person households.
Source: Research Square
Authors: MinAh Baek, EunJeong Kang, HyeWon Lee, SunJeong Kim
Institution: Soonchunhyang University
Language: English
Subfield: Health
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204072970