ABSTRACT
The psychological literature bears mainly on the connection between subjective crowding and stress, and how the former elevates the latter. One of the major outcomes of household crowding may have to do with an individual's psychological state and sense of well-being. To disentangle the effects of crowding, several control variables are used: socioeconomic status, household structure, stage in the family life cycle, and household control. Socioeconomic status is represented by family income and the respondent's education. The causal connections between crowded dwellings and psychological reactions are poorly understood and open to speculation. Research literature on life events provides with additional insight on how the experience of crowding can have consequences for psychological well-being. Psychological well-being is widely acknowledged to be a multidimensional concept. An important inverse indicator of psychological well-being is psychological distress. Psychological distress, as J. Mirowsky and C. Ross point out, has two major forms: depression and anxiety.
