Quality matters: housing and the mental health of rural migrants in urban China

Abstract

This study goes beyond housing ownership and investigates how housing size, quality, and location affect the mental health of rural migrants in urban China. By using the RUMiC data, the results show that in addition to housing ownership, living space and housing quality are also significantly associated with the mental health of rural migrants. Moreover, with an increase in living space, the mental health of rural migrants who live in private rental housing tends to improve significantly slower than rural migrants who live in dormitories. Furthermore, housing quality and housing location do not moderate the effect of housing ownership on the mental health of rural migrants. This study highlights that it is important to go beyond homeownership and pay more attention to other attributes of housing when studying the mental health of rural migrants. Particularly, this study underscores that improving housing quality is an effective way to improve the mental health of rural migrants in urban China.