Norton Mike, Kellett Stephen, Huddy Vyv
University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust, Doncaster, UK.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Jul 2;25(1):2241. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-23440-6.
There is a lack of understanding of people that live in severe domestic squalor (i.e., when their dwelling is grossly unclean/disorganised/unhygienic) and how they might differ from community controls. This study therefore sought to compare people living in squalor in terms of potential differences in deprivation and well-being.
Data was extracted from the English Housing Survey. A sample of N = 298 people independently assessed as living in squalor from N = 43,222 household surveys were propensity score matched on seven demographic variables with N = 596 community controls. The two study groups were then compared on measures of deprivation and well-being and these variables were entered into regressions to predict living in squalor.
People living in squalor reside in significantly more deprived areas but are not significantly less satisfied/happy or significantly more anxious/worthless. An increase of 1 level on the deprivation scale decreased risk of living in squalor by 9%.
Local deprivation appears to play a significant role in living in squalor. This may create 'bi-directional causality' in that local deprivation increases risk of squalor, and living in squalor adds to local deprivation. There needs to be more controlled research regarding squalor, so that targets for intervention (that are malleable) can then be identified, implemented and evaluated.
人们对生活在严重家庭脏乱环境中的人群（即其住所极其不清洁/杂乱/不卫生）以及他们与社区对照人群可能存在的差异缺乏了解。因此，本研究旨在比较生活在脏乱环境中的人群在贫困程度和幸福感方面的潜在差异。
数据取自英国住房调查。在43222户家庭调查中，独立评估出298名生活在脏乱环境中的人员样本，并根据七个人口统计学变量，将其与596名社区对照人群进行倾向得分匹配。然后，对两个研究组在贫困程度和幸福感指标上进行比较，并将这些变量纳入回归分析，以预测生活在脏乱环境中的情况。
生活在脏乱环境中的人群居住在贫困程度显著更高的地区，但他们的满意度/幸福感并没有显著降低，焦虑感/无价值感也没有显著增加。贫困程度量表上每增加1个等级，生活在脏乱环境中的风险就降低9%。
当地的贫困状况似乎在生活在脏乱环境中起着重要作用。这可能会产生“双向因果关系”，即当地的贫困状况增加了生活在脏乱环境中的风险，而生活在脏乱环境中又加剧了当地的贫困。需要对脏乱环境进行更多的对照研究，以便确定、实施和评估（可调整的）干预目标。
