Too close for comfort? Impact of pandemic residential environment on women’s life satisfaction and spousal relationships

Abstract

Few studies have examined the role of residential conditions during different phases of the pandemic on life satisfaction and spousal relationships. Using survey data on 440 married women collected before, during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Singapore, this article tests the hypothesis that residential crowding, co-residence with children or parents/in-laws and lack of access to private open, green spaces during the lockdown are associated with worsened life satisfaction and spousal relationships. Multinomial logistic regression results suggest that married women in more spacious homes were significantly less likely to experience worsened life satisfaction at the peak of movement restrictions (RRR = 0.967, p = .037), and that having access to open spaces was associated with improved life satisfaction (RRR = 3.536, p = .018) and spousal relationships (RRR = 2.267, p = .032). Housing policy in dense urban settings can increase population well-being and resilience by increasing access to co-working spaces and open green spaces.