The relationship between long-term psychiatric clients' psychological well-being and their perceptions of housing and social support

This research tested hypotheses derived from motivation-hygiene theory that housing and social support would be differentially related to long-term psychiatric clients' Positive Affect and Negative Affect. The participants were 89 people between the ages of 18 and 65, who had been hospitalized for psychiatric problems at least twice and who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic, chronic depressive, or manic-depressive. Results indicated that the number of Housing Concerns was positively correlated with Negative Affect but not Positive Affect. Support Satisfaction was negatively correlated with Negative Affect, and Frequency of Support was positively correlated with Positive Affect. Interactions between the housing variable and Network Size were found for both Positive Affect and Negative Affect, thus supporting the stress-buffering hypothesis. The findings provided mixed support for motivation-hygiene theory.