Explanation and comparison of Affecting Indices in Satisfaction of the Boys and Girls Aged 11 to 15 Years Old of Newly Built Residential Complexes (Case Study: Tonekabon Residential Townships)

Housing has various indices such as psychological, physical, personal, social, etc. These indices affect people's satisfaction with their residential complexes by two variables, age and gender. Nowadays, the construction of residential complexes that do not fit the conditions of the users has caused people to be dissatisfied with their place of residence, which occurs in children in the form of psychological problems. Therefore, in designing residential complexes, paying attention to children's satisfaction is essential. In the present study, the identification and comparison of effecting indices in children's satisfaction with residential complexes disaggregated by gender is considered.

This study is a developmental research which has been done using mixed (qualitative and quantitative), descriptive-correlational and causal-comparative method. The statistical population includes children aged 11-15 years living in residential complexes of Kaj, Karimabad and Aramesh newly built townships located in Tonekabon city. For a comparative evaluation, 100 girls and 100 boys were selected as the sample. After conducting theoretical studies and interviews with children, a theoretical framework was developed and two closed-ended and Likert scale questionnaires in the field of life satisfaction and important components of housing were used to collect information. Findings were analyzed using SPSS.19 software and Pearson, Friedman and T-Student correlation tests.    

Physical (neighboring unit and residential unit), environmental and individual indices based on the concrete and mental dimensions of the environment were identified with impact factors of 50.06, 6.9, 6.45 and 4.00, respectively. Boys and girls disagreed only in the components of recreational, sports and games and also the components of welfare, service, cultural and commercial with averages of 3.45, 3.36 and 2.66, 2.75, respectively.

According to the results, there are very slight differences between the opinions of children in two sexes and the concrete-neighboring unit index has the greatest impact on their satisfaction. Therefore, designing the factors such as: suitable facade, yard, green space and various vegetation, environmental elements and furniture, open spaces, friendly and collective spaces, etc. is recommended.