E. Raedene Combs

Predictors of Neighborhood and Community Satisfactions in Rural Communities

AbstractAn individual’s neighborhood and community affect the quality of life for that person. The purpose of this study was to examine factors associated with neighborhood and community satisfaction of rural families. Data for multiple regression analyses were collected during 1985 through personal interviews with 506 randomly selected rural respondents living in six Midwestem states. Findings indicate that neighborhood satisfaction can be significantly predicted by satisfaction with neighbors, with location of home, and with conditions of nearby housing. Community satisfaction can be significantly predicted by satisfaction with neighbors, with nearness to shopping, with condition of streets, and with nearness to friends and relatives. This information can be used by professionals and decision makers involved in improving the environments within rural communities so that they promote the well-being of individuals and families living there.

User Input in Housing Design: The Interdisciplinary Challenge

A consortium composed of home economists, architects, engineers, and horti culturists at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln undertook a project to develop housing designs that would respond to the current and future needs and desires of people living in Nebraska. The consortium hoped to reduce the considerable gap between the thinking of designers and that of the people for whom they design (users) by linking designers with professionals in social sciences. This article contains a discussion of the user evaluation of the designs and the impli cations of these and other findings. From the housing designs created in response to user input, two were selected for user evaluation. A third design (that of a manufactured modular home cur rently on the market in Nebraska) was also included. The results show that the two designs created in response to user input were not, in general, acceptable to these users and that the modular home currently on the market was more ac ceptable. The findings raise some important questions and challenges for hous ing and design professionals.

The importance of selected housing features at various stages of the life cycle

The spatial environment of the home is an important factor in the consideration of satisfactory housing for families. With the increasing demand for housing, it has become common to simply provide the basic structure without addressing the various wants and needs of individuals and families. It is the purpose of the study reported here to evaluate the importance of specific housing features based on stage in the family lifecycle. Results show that those features with the highest importance involve low maintenance, aesthetics, and environmental quality. Implications for home designers, educators, and consumers are discussed.

Compatibility of Solar Home Heating Systems With Values, Felt Needs, and Past Experiences of Households

A statewide survey was conducted to determine: 1. the perceived compatibility of solar systems to values, felt needs, and past experiences of households; 2. how perceptions of compatibility relate to the adoption of solar heating systems for the home; and 3. how various segments of the population differ in their evaluation of the compatibility of solar systems. Analysis of variance, with the Least Significant Difference Test, was used to analyze the responses from 912 households within the general population and 105 solar home owners. The findings show that people tend to find solar systems more compatible in meeting broad societal needs than their individual housing needs. A relationship between perceptions of compatibility of solar systems to the adoption of these systems was strongly indicated. Certain segments of the population (those who are younger, highly educated, work in managerial or professional positions, and live in a household of three or more memebers) find solar systems more compatible than others.

Housing affordability among elderly female heads of household in nonmetropolitan areas

This study investigates the extent and nature of housing affordability for elderly nonmetropolitan female heads of household using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. The results indicate that over one-third of elderly nonmetropolitan female heads of household experience housing poverty and that those who rent, who have fair to poor health, and who are minorities are particularly vulnerable. Housing affordability, measured by the concept of housing poverty, identifies households struggling to meet basic needs while the conventional 25% of income for housing expenditures ratio identifies a larger population. The findings suggest the need for multifaceted public policies to address the problem of housing poverty.

Housing Adjustments of Rural Households: Decisions and Consequences

AbstractTo obtain satisfactory housing throughout the human life cycle, it is often necessary for individuals and families to engage in some form of housing adjustment behavior. It is the purpose of this study to: 1) identify types of housing adjustments of rural households, 2) investigate factors related to housing adjustment decisions and 3) discover differences in satisfaction as a result of the type of adjustment decision made. Results show that the majority of households in the rural Midwest have made a housing adjustment in the past five years. The largest proportion have remodeled, while smaller numbers have moved, or have moved and remodeled. There are significant associations among age, occupation, income, education, number of bedrooms and the type of adjustment decision made. Those who have remodeled, moved and remodeled, or made no change in their housing have significantly higher levels of satisfaction with their neighborhood than those who have moved. Those who have moved and remodeled have s...

Differences in Housing Expenditure/Income and Utility Expenditure/Income Ratios by Selected Characteristics of Rural Home Owners

AbstractDifferences in housing expenditure-to-income and utility expenditure-to-income ratios are compared among groups of rural home owners by selected socioeconomic, household, and housing characteristics. Personal interviews were conducted with 506 rural households in communities of less than 20,000 in six midwestern states. Of the 506 households interviewed, 399 were home owners. The responses of the 399 rural home owners were examined using analysis of variance with the least significant difference test. The authors found that young home owners and low-income home owners pay a higher proportion of their income for housing than other groups. Lower-income households also pay a higher percentage of income for utility costs as do one-person households. This is true for those with less than a high-school degree and those living in older, less expensive housing. The findings suggest that housing and utility expenditure, in relation to income, should be analyzed separately since different segments of the po...

A Model of Energy-Efficient Housing and Propensity to Adjust

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to develop and test the structural model of energy-efficient housing and propensity to adjust. The hypothesized structural model was estimated by using LISREL 7 in terms of its latent-variable approach to model testing. The results showed an acceptable fit of the hypothesized model with the data. To better understand the relationships among the variables used in the model, the effects were decomposed into direct and indirect effects. Major hypotheses regarding effects on propensity to adjust were supported. The findings that (a) the absence/presence of energy-efficient features are related to housing dissatisfaction/satisfaction, but not directly to the propensity to make energy-related adjustments and (b) dissatisfaction/satisfaction is directly related to the propensity to make energy-related adjustments, have policy implications. If energy-related adjustments are desired, then policies that create dissatisfaction with inefficient energy features would be instituted.

Differences in Loan Officers’ Perceptions of Earth-Sheltered Housing

AbstractThis paper investigates the ways in which loan officers who favor the financing of earth-sheltered housing differ in perceptions and in support of institutional policy changes from those who do not favor the financing of earth-sheltered homes. During the fall of 1982, a ten-page questionnaire was mailed to a loan officer in each Savings and Loan office within Nebraska. Analyses of the data, using the Student t-test, indicate significant (p<.05) differences between the perceptions of loan officers favoring the financing of earth-sheltered homes and those not favoring the financing of such homes, for each of ten measures of financial risk, six measures of complexity, and six measures of relative advantage. In each case, loan officers favoring financing perceive less risk and complexity and greater relative advantage. Loan officers favorable toward financing are significantly more supportive of nine of 12 policies related to quality control, changes in institutional practices and educational/informat...

Solar Heating Systems: Differentiation Between Stages in the Innovation-Decision Process

Data, collected from a random sample of Nebraska residents and identified solar homeowners, were analyzed using discriminant analyses to identify attributes and dimensions of attributes of solar heating systems that differentiate among stages in the innovation-decision process. The findings indicate that different attributes and dimensions of attributes are important in differentiating among the stages, and thereby suggest that informational content presented by “change agents” should vary depending on the likely stage of adoption of their audience.