Perceived privacy of the dwelling and psychological restoration during the COVID-19 lockdown

Dwelling is a fundamental factor for mental health. Lockdowns, established to contain the spread of SARS-CoV-2, forced millions of people to take shelter in their homes, enhancing the need to understand the characteristics of the dwelling that promote psychological restoration. In this paper, we analyze the relationship between some perceived conditions of dwelling habitability (appreciation of the physical environment, visible nature, crowding, and privacy) and their effect on psychological restoration through the concept of the perceived restorativeness of dwelling. An online survey was carried out with the participation of 478 Mexican adults. Physical environment, visible nature, crowding, and privacy showed significant correlations with the perceived restorativeness of housing and psychological restoration itself. However, only privacy showed an effect on psychological restoration in structural modelling. We propose that privacy is fundamental to improving dwellings' restorativeness and restoring their inhabitants, and experts should consider it when designing housing spaces. However, more evidence is needed to generalize beyond the context of lockdowns.