The dark side of home: Assessing possession ‘clutter’ on subjective well-being

Highlights

• This study models factors that contribute to and detract from a person's sense of psychological home.

• Place attachment positively contributes to psychological home.

• Self-extension tendencies toward possessions positively contribute to psychological home.

• Psychological home has a positive impact on perceived well-being.

• Possession clutter has a strong negative impact on psychological home and perceived well-being.

Abstract

This research investigates a “dark side of home,” created when the experiential quality of home is compromised by ‘clutter,’ defined as an overabundance of possessions that collectively create chaotic and disorderly living spaces. Based on relationships among constructs largely developed by phenomenologists, we conceptualize psychological home as a reflection of one's need to identify self with a physical environment. Clutter was proposed as an antagonist to the normally positive benefits and consequences of home for subjective well-being. An online survey was conducted with a population of U.S. and Canadian adults. A structural equation model was used to test hypotheses. Findings reveal that place attachment and self-extension tendencies toward possessions positively contribute to psychological home. Clutter had a negative impact on psychological home and subjective well-being. These findings contribute to a broader understanding of how meanings of home are both cultivated and undermined by individuals' place-making efforts.

Introduction

The existential experience of home as a universal, important reflection and source of self-identity for individuals has been established across multiple scholarly disciplines (e.g., Czikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, 1981, Mallett, 2004, Moore, 2000). Nevertheless, scholars have noted a number of deficiencies for understanding ‘home’ as a psychological construct. First, studies examining home have focused on a positive and often romanticized view of home as a source of comfort and security, while ignoring negative experiences that can detract from one's sense of psychological home (Deem, 1986, Donohoe, 2011, Manzo, 2005, Manzo, 2014). Second, studies that empirically model multi-dimensional facets of home and its interrelationships with other concepts, such as place attachment, are needed to advance the understanding of emotional bonds between humans and places (Hernández et al., 2014, Lewicka, 2011). And last, while conceptual frameworks have largely assumed a positive relationship between psychological home and a person's overall psychological well-being (Sigmon, Whitcomb, & Synder, 2002), this important connection has not been empirically tested, especially for negative factors that might disrupt this relationship.

The present study explored a “dark side of home,” created when the experiential quality of home is compromised by clutter. “Home” where italicized throughout this paper reflects our use of the word as not simply an individual's current physical dwelling, but rather the broader constellation of experiences, meanings, and situations that shape and are actively shaped by a person in the creation of his or her lifeworld (Seamon, 1979). Important to people's efforts at place-making are surrounding themselves with material objects that reflect self. Personal possessions strengthen the interconnectedness between self and home (Jacobs & Malpas, 2013), unless they threaten to overwhelm living spaces. Clutter is defined in this paper as an overabundance of material possessions that collectively create disorderly and chaotic home environments. When the volume of possessions becomes excessive, cluttered spaces can interfere with people's ability to execute normal life activities, such as cooking, cleaning, and moving safely through the home (Frost, Steketee, & Tolin, 2012). Instead of connectedness, clutter can create disconnectedness from important dimensions of at-homeness (Seamon, 2014). Excessive clutter is a hallmark of compulsive hoarding, a remarkably common but often hidden psychological disorder that can pose serious threats to the health, safety, and well-being of the affected person and those who live with or near them (Frost and Hartl, 1996, Frost et al., 2000). The objective of the present study is to verify empirically within a population affected with mild to severe clutter issues relationships among constructs largely developed by phenomenologists in order to describe the impact of clutter on one's sense of psychological home and quality of life. A primary consequence of clutter is that it can stifle the productive creation of self and ultimately detract from the most important positive benefit of psychological home, that being, a greater sense of psychological well-being (Belk, Seo, & Li, 2007).