No abstract

The function of sensory abilities in personal space research has been all but neglected. Elderly people experience a decline in sensory functioning as a result of the aging process or illness. Vision, hearing, and mobility were examined in relation to an elderly sample's perception of strength and aggression and established interpersonal distance. Results indicate that age, gender, and mobility play an important role in interpersonal distance. Methodological findings offer insights for future studies in personal space research.

This research enhances the understanding of cultural differences in the degree of territoriality in residence halls and how territorial behavior differs based on gender, culture, and knowing one's roommate previously. The present study was conducted in two distinct cultures: American, representing a noncontact culture, and Turkish, representing a contact culture. The sample was representative of male and female freshmen living in double-occupancy rooms at single-sex residence halls. Factor analysis yielded two dimensions of territorial experience: firmness of boundaries and personalization and claiming. In both cultures, men tended to exhibit more nonsharing behavior and less personalization of space than women. Regardless of culture and gender, students who knew their roommates tended to share their personal belongings and other features of the room to a greater extent than students who did not know their roommates previously. American students experienced their rooms as more personal and expressive of the self than did Turkish students.

Traditional models of residential mobility use sociodemographic characteristics, housing characteristics, and residential satisfaction to explain the desire to move. This study compared the traditional mobility model with one that incorporated psychological attachment‐to‐home as an additional variable. Data were analyzed for 198 subjects who responded to a mail questionnaire and in‐depth telephone interview. Correlation analysis revealed that two attachment‐to‐home factors, as well as the respondent's age and dwelling satisfaction, were significantly related to mobility intentions. Stepwise multiple regression was used to develop two models and indicated that the model incorporating attachment‐to‐homefactors explains more than twice as much of the variation in mobility intentions as the model using traditional variables alone.

The purpose of this study was to develop a residential quality index and to test its relationship to residential satisfaction. Factors representing 7 dimensions of residential quality were identified as indexes by using principal component factor analysis. Those factors included environmental safety, planning/landscaping, housing policy, sociocultural environment, public services, housing economics, and physical quality of housing. Of the 7 quality dimensions explored, 5 residential quality indexes‐environmental safety, planning/landscaping, housing policy, sociocultural environment, and physical quality of housing‐were indicated as significant factors in residential satisfaction.