Psychological well being, urban household crowding and gender in developing countries: Nigeria

Abstract

The paper focuses on urban household crowding as a chronic stressor in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data used in the paper were obtained from a larger cross-sectional survey of households in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. Variables used in the analysis include both the objective component of household crowding and subjective component of household crowding, as well as psychological well being variables which also include specific measure of health problem. Correlation and multiple regression statistical techniques are used to analyze the data. The result of the correlation analysis shows that there is a positive relationship between household crowding and psychological distress of women and men. The comparisons of the magnitude of the regression coefficient of specific household crowding variables and the overall effect as shown by R² suggest gender differences in the effect of household crowding on psychological distress of women and men; and the effect is more on women than on men. Policy implications of the findings are discussed in the paper.

Key words: Gender; Household crowding; Psychological well being; Africa; Nigeria