Exploring relationships between housing and health among youth in the context of adverse structural conditions – an explorative research study

Housing problems of youth are rarely considered in the context of youth health, although housing problems can be seen as a source of worry and stress, which, as evidenced by past studies, is negatively associated with health. Thus, the main aim of the present study was to examine whether and how housing stability, quality, and perception of having a housing problem were related to stress and assessment of health among Slovenian youth. Additionally, the study explored the effect of youth's economic background, as differences in health outcomes are often attributed to differences in socioeconomic status. The results indicated significant direct and indirect relationships between the financial situation of the family, housing status, living conditions, and fear of having a housing problem. Latter was statistically significantly associated with the feeling of stress, which in turn was significantly related to the health assessment among youth. The results also indicated that poor living conditions directly affected the youth’s health assessment. Implications for future work are suggested.