Abstract
What comes to mind when someone says the word “home?” The meanings for the term home are numerous. Everyone probably has a sense of what is meant by the phrase “going home” or what is meant by characterizing a place as “homey.” For example, when looking through a new house, a prospective buyer may say that it “feels like home.” In this chapter, we outline our scientific approach for understanding the concept of home. We provide empirical support for a brief measure that taps into the construct that we have labeled psychological home. In addition, we will summarize studies that have provided evidence for the reliability and validity of this measure (Sigmon, Boulard, & Snyder, 1998). Although research is in the early stages of development, we believe there are far-reaching implications for this construct.
It takes a heap o’ livin’ in a house t’ make it home. (Edgar A. Guest, Home)
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Sigmon, S.T., Whitcomb, S.R., Snyder, C.R. (2002). Psychological Home. In: Fisher, A.T., Sonn, C.C., Bishop, B.J. (eds) Psychological Sense of Community. The Plenum Series in Social/Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0719-2_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-0719-2_2
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