Relation between Privacy and Place Attachment in Student Housing By Shirley Elprama
Master thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Human‐Technology Interaction at the faculty of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences Eindhoven, University of Technology April 2011 Supervisors Dr. ir. A. Haans Dr. ir. Y.A.W. de Kort
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Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 1 2. Theoretical background ...................................................................................................................... 3 2.1. Place attachment ......................................................................................................................... 3 2.1.1. What is place attachment? ................................................................................................... 3 2.1.2. Consequences of disruption of place attachment ................................................................ 3 2.1.4. Dimensions of place attachment .......................................................................................... 4 2.1.5. Measurement of place attachment ...................................................................................... 4 2.2. Privacy .......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.1. What is privacy? .................................................................................................................... 5 2.2.2. Functions of privacy .............................................................................................................. 6 2.2.3. How to regulate privacy ........................................................................................................ 7 2.2.4. Measurement of privacy ....................................................................................................... 7 2.2.5. Situational factors affecting privacy ..................................................................................... 8 2.2.6. Privacy, place attachment, and well‐being ........................................................................... 9 3. Research questions ........................................................................................................................... 11 4. Method ............................................................................................................................................. 13 4.1. Design ........................................................................................................................................ 13 4.1. Participants ................................................................................................................................ 13 4.2. Procedures ................................................................................................................................. 13 4.3. Measures ................................................................................................................................... 13 4.3.1. Place attachment ................................................................................................................ 13 4.3.2. Need for privacy and a need for socialization measures .................................................... 17 4.3.3. General need for privacy based on Kaya and Weber (2003) .............................................. 20 4.3.4. Attainment of privacy goals ................................................................................................ 20 4.3.5. Situational factors ............................................................................................................... 21 4.3.6. Well‐being ........................................................................................................................... 22 5. Results ............................................................................................................................................... 23 5.1. Place attachment ....................................................................................................................... 23 5.1.1. Place attachment to student house .................................................................................... 23 5.1.2. Place attachment to Eindhoven .......................................................................................... 23 5.1.3. Correlations between place attachment measure on student house and city level .......... 24 5.2. Place attachment and well‐being .............................................................................................. 24 5.3. Privacy ........................................................................................................................................ 25 iii
5.4. Relation between privacy and place attachment ...................................................................... 26 5.4.1. Privacy and place attachment to student house ................................................................ 26 5.4.2. Privacy and place attachment to Eindhoven ...................................................................... 26 5.5. Privacy, place attachment and attainment of privacy goals ...................................................... 27 5.6. Predicting privacy with person‐environment congruence and physical features ..................... 29 6. Discussion ......................................................................................................................................... 33 References ............................................................................................................................................ 37 Appendix A Survey in Dutch ................................................................................................................. 41 Appendix B E‐mail sent to respondents................................................................................................ 54 Appendix C Reminder e‐mail sent to respondents ............................................................................... 55
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Abstract Literature has suggested the existence of a relationship between privacy experience and place attachment; however, little research has investigated this relation. Therefore, the current study has examined this relationship for Dutch students living in student houses in Eindhoven. Data was collected using an online survey (N = 369). Place attachment, described as the affective bond or link between one individual and a specific place and/or the people living in that place, was measured with a general place attachment scale and a three‐dimensional place attachment scale: social bonding, place dependence, and place identity. As expected, dimensions of place attachment were positively related to well‐being (r > .12). Privacy, described as a personal experience pertaining to excessive amounts of social exchange (Haans, Kaiser, & de Kort, 2007), was measured with a need for privacy scale. Place attachment to the student house was negatively correlated with a need for privacy (r = ‐.27; p < .001), suggesting that, as expected, students who have a suboptimal level of privacy, are less able to develop place attachment. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that the attainment of privacy goals mediates this relationship between privacy experience and place attachment. Mediation analyses revealed that this relationship is partly mediated by the extent to which privacy goals are attained, especially autonomy and self‐reflection. In other words, optimal levels of privacy increase place attachment, because it offers opportunities for contemplating on past behavior (i.e., self‐reflection), and doing your own thing (i.e., autonomy). Finally, multiple regression analyses suggest that a match between a student and his or her housemates and/or house and the amount of shared facilities are important in predicting a need for privacy. In contrast, whether a certain facility (such as a kitchen or a toilet) was shared was less important in predicting this need.
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Voorwoord Na maandenlang hard gewerkt te hebben, presenteer ik hier mijn masterthesis ter afronding van mijn studie Human Technology Interaction (HTI) aan de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. Achteraf is doorstuderen na mijn bachelor in Grafimediatechnologie en het kiezen voor HTI een erg goede beslissing geweest. Ik vond mijn masterstudie erg interessant, ik heb mezelf beter leren kennen, ik heb erg veel geleerd en ik ben vooral intellectueel erg uitgedaagd. Toen ik op zoek was naar een onderwerp voor mijn thesis, ben ik met verschillende docenten gaan praten. Meerdere interessante onderwerpen kwamen aan bod, maar ik had nog niet ‘hét onderwerp’ gevonden. Nadat ik met Antal over straatverlichting had gesproken, kreeg ik een e‐mail van hem dat hij een idee had voor een onderzoek over privacy. Uiteindelijk heb ik besloten privacy te nemen als onderwerp voor mijn afstudeeronderzoek. Het proces van afstuderen verliep niet zonder drempels. Het opzetten van mijn afstudeeronderzoek en de laatste loodjes vond ik het zwaarste, maar over het algemeen heb ik mijn afstuderen als aangenaam en uitdagend ervaren. Hierbij wil ik mijn begeleiders Antal Haans en Yvonne de Kort bedanken voor hun enthousiasme, waardevolle feedback en de prettige samenwerking; ik heb veel geleerd over het opzetten, uitvoeren en rapporteren van onderzoek. Ook ben ik dank verschuldigd aan Harald Evers en Elly Bogers voor het faciliteren van het verspreiden van de vragenlijst naar huurders van Vestide. Tot slot wil ik mijn ouders en mijn zusje bedanken, omdat ze me gesteund hebben tijdens mijn studie. Shirley Elprama Eindhoven, april 2011
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1. Introduction
1. Introduction Each year students go to college in the Netherlands. Although a relatively small country (it takes three hours to drive from one side to the other side of the country), many students move to the town where their university is located. Leaving one’s parental home disrupts place attachment, described as the affective bond or link between one individual and a specific place and/or the people living in that place. In other words, because students move away from their parents, their friends and their hometown, their bonds with these people and their hometown are disrupted. Research suggests that place attachment positively affects well‐being (Harris, Brown, & Werner, 1995). Therefore, it is important that these new students develop new place attachment to their new hometown and their fellow students. As said before, moving disrupts place attachment to their hometown, but moving to a new city provides an opportunity for new students to develop new attachments, to both fellow students and the new home town. Students can develop new place attachments by connecting with other students and creating a shared history. For instance, they can meet new friends in class, join a student society or a sports club, or go out with their new housemates. Besides moving to a new city which is located away from family and friends, a new student usually moves into a student house. In general, each student has her own room, while sharing facilities in the new environment such as kitchen, living room, toilet, and bathroom. Sharing a house with others has consequences for someone’s privacy, which is described as a personal experience pertaining to excessive amounts of social exchange (Haans, et al., 2007). Even though most students used to share a house with their parents and siblings, when living with other students it is probably more difficult to regulate social interactions. However, being able to regulate these interactions is important (Altman, 1975), since it facilitates the attainment of privacy‐related goals, such as studying undisturbed, having friends over, or reflecting on one’s social relations and / or one’s own identity. In other words, being successful in regulating privacy makes it possible to achieve other goals. In turn, if people are successful in achieving these privacy goals, then it is hypothesized that people will become more attached to the place, which in turn is expected to lead to a subjective sense of well‐being. This can be explained by the following. When students are successful in regulating their privacy, it has been suggested that they will develop more place attachment (e.g. Harris, Brown, & Werner, 1996). In other words, when a student is able to achieve the desired amount of privacy, it is likely she will develop bonds with her housemates and become attached to her student house. In sum, being successful in regulating privacy provides the opportunity to achieve privacy related goals. In turn, achieving privacy goals possibly mediates the relationship between privacy and place attachment. In other words, obtaining an optimal amount of privacy facilitates the achievement of privacy goals such as thinking about past behavior. When a student is able to achieve these goals, this provides him an opportunity to develop bonds with other people and the house or city someone is living in (place attachment).
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1. Introduction In contrast with dormitories in the United States, where it is more common to share a room, students in the Netherlands do have their own private bedroom. For instance, Walden, Nelson, and Smith (1981) primarily focused on two or three students sharing a bedroom. In contrast, the current thesis investigates a different situation, namely experiences of Dutch students who each have their own room, while sharing facilities. This sharing of facilities could affect privacy. For example, having a shared toilet might increase a need for privacy, while a private toilet might decrease this need. Therefore, the physical features of the student housing are expected to influence a student’s privacy needs. By including physical properties of the student house (e.g. shared vs. private facilities) as variables, it can be investigated whether certain properties of the environment facilitate or prevent regulating privacy. This is particularly interesting for companies which offer student housing. At the same time, research suggests that person‐environment congruence, or the fit between the environment and the person, could be important in determining privacy needs. If a student believes that there is a match between the environment and the students, then they are, for example, more likely to regulate privacy successfully. Also, the match between the environment and a student facilitates the development of place attachment to her room or house (cf. Stokols & Shumaker, 1982). To date, little research has focused on the hypothesized relation between place attachment and privacy regulation, although the two have been studied frequently apart from each other. Investigating this relationship is important, however, especially in the context of student relocation to a new home, where privacy regulation is often more difficult. In sum, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the hypothesized relationship between privacy experience and place attachment and whether place attachment can predict well‐being. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether this relationship is mediated by the extent to which students are successful in achieving privacy goals, such as taking time to reflect on past behavior, but also doing their own thing in the privacy of their rooms. Finally, another goal is to research whether the fit between the person and the environment is important, or alternatively, whether sharing facilities is more important in predicting privacy experience and place attachment. The next chapter provides an overview of definitions, functions and measurement of the concepts privacy and place attachment. Chapter 3 summarizes the research questions. The methodology, the sample and the measures used are described in chapter 4. The results of this study are presented in chapter 5. Finally, in the last chapter findings are discussed and directions for future research are provided (chapter 6).
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2. Theoretical background
2. Theoretical background 2.1. Place attachment 2.1.1. What is place attachment? This study refers to place attachment as the affective bond or link between an individual and a specific place and/or the people living in that place. Place attachment is an important and often investigated concept in the field of environmental psychology. For instance, it has been suggested that place attachment positively affects well‐being (Harris et al., 1995). Also, place attachment has been linked to predicting intentions of pro‐environmental behaviors (Hallpenny, 2010). In addition, Manzo and Perkins (2006) argue that place attachment to community motivates people to invest effort to improve one’s community. At the same time, place attachment creates a feeling of security and bonding among community members, which in turn, results in less feelings of crime (Brown, Perkins, & Brown, 2003). In sum, these examples show that place attachment can motivate individuals and groups to engage in behavior and thereby illustrate the importance of development of place attachment. Place attachment, as defined here, assumes that social bonds with people play an important role in the development of place attachment. For instance, students who move to a new city can develop place attachment to their new home town, their student house, and develop bonds with fellow students and/or housemates. Furthermore, place attachment is not limited to a specific location. It can refer to a broad array of places, for instance, natural environments (e.g. Williams & Vaske, 2003; Raymond, Brown & Weber, 2010), neighborhood (Hidalgo & Hernandez, 2001), city (e.g. Scopelliti & Tiberio, 2010), island (Hernandez, Hidalgo, Salazar‐Laplace & Hess, 2007), and homes (e.g. Harris, et al., 1996). Note, that place attachment can also be measured on multiple levels at the same time. For instance, Hidalgo and Hernandez (2001) measured and compared place attachment on three levels: house, neighborhood, and city. 2.1.2. Consequences of disruption of place attachment Brown and Perkins (1992) developed a theoretical three‐phase model which describes the process people undergo when place attachment to a former home is disrupted. They assume that going to college, in spite of this being a voluntary disruption of place attachment, can lead to a stressful period. In other words, bonds with the students’ former parental home, friends and family are disrupted. Research (Holmes & Rahe, 1965; cited by Brown & Perkins, 1992) has suggested this relocation can be stressful. The model of disruption of place attachment consists of three phases: pre‐disruption, disruption (the actual relocation) and post‐disruption (Brown & Perkins, 1992). In the first phase, students prepare to make the transition to college, for instance, by throwing farewell parties. They loosen their obligations by for instance quitting their part time job. In the second phase, students move to their new student house and college town. During the final phase, due to disruption of place attachment to their parental home, family and friends, a number of consequences are possible: coping with loss, stress, formation of new place attachments and renegotiation of self (Brown & Perkins, 1992). In other words, on the one hand students may be coping with loss and stress, because they moved away from their parental home, family and friends. On the other hand, relocation to a student house provides an opportunity to develop new 3
2. Theoretical background attachments to both the new home and friends, and also to redefine themselves in their new identity as college students. In sum, moving to a new place is an opportunity to develop new place attachment, by meeting new people and creating a shared history with both the place and the people living in it. Developing new place attachment is important, since research suggests that this leads to more well‐being (Harris et al., 1995). 2.1.4. Dimensions of place attachment In general, place attachment is seen as a multidimensional construct. For instance, Raymond et al. (2010) measured place attachment of rural landholders using the dimensions place dependence, place identity, nature bonding and social bonding (family and friends bonding). Similarly, Williams and Vaske (2003) assessed place attachment by using items tapping into place identity and place dependence. Despite the general consensus, some researchers have attempted to measure place attachment as a unidimensional construct (e.g. Harris et al., 1995). The three dimensions: social bonding, place dependence and place identity are explained in more detail, because these dimensions seemed most relevant to the context of students and to the development of their place attachment to their student house and to the city of Eindhoven. Social bonding, described as having emotional connections based on a shared history with these people and feeling part of a group (Raymond et al., 2010), is considered an important aspect of place attachment. As the definition of place attachment also implies, a feeling of place attachment is strongly connected with the new bonds students will develop with their peers and their housemates. The second place attachment dimension referred to in this study is place dependence. Place dependence refers to the extent to which a place (e.g. a student house or city) provides a suitable environment to achieve goals and needs compared to other alternative places (Shumaker & Taylor, 1983). In other words, students make a judgment about the quality of their own student room and compare this with other student rooms available in Eindhoven (Shumaker & Taylor, 1983). The third and final dimension is place identity. This dimension is described by Proshansky (1979; cited by Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001) as a part of someone’s self‐identity and reflects the extent to which a place corresponds to one’s identity. In other words, when a student is looking for a place to live and he or she visits a student room which is very dark and without windows, it is very likely he or she will judge the room as “it’s just not me”. Place identity is particularly relevant, because it represents how well a room fits someone’s identity. 2.1.5. Measurement of place attachment Place attachment, being a central concept in environmental psychology, has frequently been researched and assessed in earlier investigations. This concept has been investigated by using both qualitative and quantitative methods. An example of investigating place attachment using qualitative methods is the following. Chow and Healey (2008) used semi‐structured interviews as a method to investigate the transition from first year students to the university. Topics include asking participants about the experience of going to university and how they established new social relationships. Other researchers have used quantitative methods. For instance, scholars have used unidimensional measures to assess place attachment (e.g. Harris et al., 1995). This measure by Harris et al. (1995) includes items such as asking the extent to which people feel attached to their 4
2. Theoretical background apartment and how satisfied and proud they are about their apartment. In other words, a unidimensional measure directly asks people about their place attachment. In contrast, other scholars (e.g. Williams & Vaske, 2003) have used questions tapping into multiple dimensions of place attachment (e.g. place dependence or place identity) and analyzed these items using factor analysis. So far, empirical research on place attachment has used either a unidimensional or a multidimensional measure. However, it is not clear to which extent these two ways of measuring correlate. Therefore, if a unidimensional measure correlates well with a multidimensional measure, and analyses with these different measures suggest the same result, fewer items could be used to measure place attachment. Place attachment has been linked to privacy (e.g. Harris et al., 1995). It has been assumed that privacy supports the attainment of personal goals, which in turn support the development of place attachment. Especially in the context of student housing, where students share facilities, it is assumed that regulating privacy is more difficult. This situation might be detrimental to the development of place attachment and consequently to the well‐being of students. Therefore, the next section introduces the concept of privacy, its functions, how it is regulated, consequences of not having privacy, and finally, how it is measured.
2.2. Privacy 2.2.1. What is privacy? Nowadays, people’s understanding of privacy is often based on control of personal information, such as in Dutch law. The Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (2001; protection of personal information act) has been established to protect people’s privacy. This act states that companies can only use your personal information for the purposes you have provided them with your personal information. For instance, an insurance company is only allowed to use your personal information from your medical history for health insurance reasons, but the company cannot use this information to decide whether to offer you a life insurance (e.g. Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens, 2001). In line with this definition, Westin (1967) put forward a definition of privacy with an emphasis on the control people have about the extent to which information about themselves is presented to others. Compared to privacy in the legal sense, which is objective, privacy in the psychological sense is always subjective (Kelvin, 1973). In environmental psychology, Altman (1975) defined privacy as “an interpersonal boundary‐control process, which paces and regulates interaction with others” (Altman, 1975, p 10). According to Altman (1975), privacy consists of two aspects: desired and achieved privacy. Desired privacy refers to the amount of social exchange or privacy one desires, while the latter refers to the actual amount of social exchange or privacy one has at that moment. Social exchange and privacy are on two ends of a continuum: more privacy is equal to less social exchange, while more social exchange is equal to less privacy. Therefore, privacy can be defined as a personal experience pertaining to excessive amounts of social exchange (Haans, Kaiser, & de Kort, 2007). Altman’s (1975) description of privacy as a regulation process emphasizes privacy as a dialectic process with more social exchange on one end of the continuum and little social exchange on the other end of the continuum. However, some researchers (e.g. Foddy, 1984; Haans et al., 2007) have argued against the dialectical process of privacy. For instance, Foddy (1984) suggests that multiple
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2. Theoretical background processes instead of a single process underlie the dialectic process. Firstly, Foddy (1984) argues that Altman (1981) does not explain how these two poles are dynamically related. In other words, it is unclear in what way the two opposites constitute a unity. Secondly, there can be other reasons for people to withdraw themselves from social interaction or engage in social interaction, such as being with others to compare themselves with others or being alone to rest (Foddy, 1984).While Foddy (1984) based his reasoning on theory, Haans et al. (2007) found empirical evidence that suggests that a need for privacy and a need for socialization are two distinct goals. 2.2.2. Functions of privacy Westin (1967) wrote that obtaining privacy is not an end in itself, but it serves as an instrument to achieve goals. Researchers on the topic of privacy have defined various functions of privacy, most of which are similar, but with a different name. Pedersen (1997) identified ten privacy functions: contemplation, autonomy, rejuvenation, confiding, creativity, disapproved consumptions, recovery, catharsis, and concealment. Contemplation as a privacy function refers to the extent people can think about who they want to be and reflect how they have approached situations. Autonomy describes the extent to which someone can be himself or herself and do their own thing. Rejuvenation describes how people can recover from social interactions and make plan for future social interactions. Confiding can be described as confiding in others and expressing emotions. Creativity refers primarily to being creative, but also to relaxing. Disapproved consumptions can be described as eating or drinking whatever someone wants to. The function recovery is very similar to rejuvenation, but it involves a greater sense of refuge and relaxation. Catharsis is also very similar to confiding. Concealment refers to doing things without having to take social norms into account. In sum, Pedersen (1997) identified ten functions, but a lot of them overlap. Altman (1975) described two functions of privacy: social comparison and self‐identity. Social comparison allows people to compare themselves with others and evaluate themselves without others present. Westin (1967) calls this function self‐evaluation. Self‐identity, the second function, allows one to reflect on one’s own identity when others are not present (Altman, 1975). Note, that this function is similar to what Pedersen (1997) calls autonomy. Note, that the functions discussed are not a complete overview of all privacy functions. For instance, studying or being together with friends or family (e.g. intimacy, Pedersen, 1997) are also privacy functions. These functions allow people to obtain a degree, but also to build and maintain relationships with others. It has been suggested that place attachment serves several functions such as having a sense of control and bonding with others (e.g. Altman & Low, 1992). In other words, when people develop place attachment they can develop a sense of control and they have the opportunity to develop bonds with others. Although privacy and place attachment are two different concepts, some researchers (e.g. Harris et al., 1995) have suggested that both concepts have similar functions. For instance, when people can regulate their social interactions successfully, this allows them to bond with others. Indeed, findings by Harris et al. (1995) suggest a link between privacy and place attachment. Their results suggest that people, who were better at regulating their privacy, developed more place attachment.
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2. Theoretical background 2.2.3. How to regulate privacy As mentioned before, people have a desired and an actual or achieved level of privacy. To reach the desired level of privacy people can engage in all kinds of privacy regulatory behaviors to obtain their desired level of privacy. For instance, one can withdraw themselves in their own room and close the door to obtain less social interaction, or visit a housemate in his or her room to engage in a conversation. However, these behaviors might not be immediately effective enough. As such, Altman (1975) describes two possible outcomes when one deviates from the optimal amount of privacy: too little or too much contact (see Figure 1). In other words, when one has a suboptimal amount of privacy one suffers from isolation or crowding. Indeed, Kaya and Weber (2003) found evidence for the latter; students living in dormitories felt crowded when their desired amount of privacy was lower than their actual amount of privacy. More importantly, the failure to regulate privacy presumably leads to the inability to profit from the functions that privacy provides (Margulis, 2003). For instance, if students living in dormitories would fail in regulating their privacy, this would give them insufficient opportunity to think about past actions, make plans for future behavior and compare themselves with other people. Eventually, this could thwart the development of their own identity. Social isolation: achieved privacy more than desired privacy
Desired privacy (ideal)
Privacy regulatory behaviors
Achieved privacy (outcome)
Optimum: (achieved privacy = desired privacy)
Crowding: achieved privacy less than desired privacy
Figure 1 Privacy regulation theory (adapted from Altman, 1975)
2.2.4. Measurement of privacy Privacy is measured in various ways. For instance, Kaya and Weber (2003) stayed close to Altman’s privacy regulation theory (1975) by measuring the amount of privacy someone has and subtracting this from the amount of privacy someone desires. The difference between these two scores resulted in a score indicating the extent to which someone deviates from their ideal level of privacy. The disadvantage of this method is that in daily life privacy has several meanings. In addition, it requires participants to use to use introspection. Another method to assess privacy which avoids introspection is by assessing behavioral measures. For instance, Weinstein (1982) measured privacy by installing privacy booths in a children’s classroom. Children were allowed go into one of four booths when they wanted to use 7
2. Theoretical background one. This method has as a disadvantage that only one single behavior is measured. In addition, motivations other than seeking privacy are possible (e.g. children can choose to sit in a booth, just because it is fun). Also, based on a single behavior, we cannot conclude that a person needs more privacy (cf. Greeve, 2001). Vinsel, Brown, Altman, and Foss (1980) developed a method to assess privacy using multiple behaviors. They formulated nine contact‐seeking and nine contact‐avoiding behaviors. Their participants were asked to indicate for each behavior whether they use it and to rate the effectiveness on a 4‐point scale. However, they only used this information to compare dropouts with stayins (people who did not drop out). Their results suggest that dropouts used less contact‐seeking and contact‐avoiding behaviors compared to stayins. Also, dropouts were less satisfied with the effectiveness of the behaviors. These findings are in line with Westin (1967)’s suggestion that privacy is necessary to achieve other goals such as self‐reflection and studying. In line with this method, Haans et al. (2007) developed another method to assess privacy by recording multiple behaviors. This method also distinguishes between behaviors to obtain privacy and behaviors to obtain more socialization. In addition, some researchers (e.g. Foddy, 1984) have suggested that a need for privacy and a need for socialization are two distinct goals; therefore Haans et al. (2007) developed two scales: a need for privacy and a need for socialization. Each scale consists of a range of behaviors people can use to obtain either privacy or social interaction. These scales were based on the theory of goal directed behavior (Kaiser & Wilson, 2004). This theory assumes that if someone wants to achieve a goal (e.g. more privacy), he will take actions to achieve this goal, for instance, by closing the door to one’s room or hanging up a do not disturb sign. If someone has a high need for privacy (and is therefore highly motivated to take action), it is likely he engages in behaviors that cost more effort. For instance, asking a house mate to be quiet might be a more difficult behavior to engage in than closing one’s own door. In turn, people who engage in behaviors that are more difficult are expected to have a higher need for privacy or socialization. The theory of goal directed behavior further predicts the probability that a person will act in a certain way is based on the need for privacy (or socialization) and the cost of the behavior. The relationship between the need for privacy and the cost of the behavior can be described with the Rasch model. In this model (e.g. Bond & Fox, 2007) the probability of a person (j) engaging in a behavior (i) is determined by a person’s need for privacy or need for socialization (θj), and the physical and psychological costs of engaging in the behavior (δi) (Haans, 2004; see Equation 1). The Rasch model uses logits, an interval scale in which the intervals between two items have a similar meaning of consistent value (Bond & Fox, 2007). In addition, the behaviors are assumed to be equally difficult for each person (e.g. Haans et al., 2007). (Equation 1) 1 2.2.5. Situational factors affecting privacy When living in a student house, privacy can be influenced by several factors. Most research on privacy focuses on a situation such as in the United States of America, where it is common to share a room with one or two others (e.g. Walden et al., 1981). Findings suggest that people who share a bedroom with two others feel more crowded than sharing a room with one person (Walden et al., 8
2. Theoretical background 1981). The situation in the Netherlands is different, since each student has his own room. However, they do share other facilities, such as a kitchen, with other students. When someone wants to cook dinner, it is sometimes not possible, since other housemates are currently using the kitchen. At other times a student wants to study quietly, but is disturbed by a housemate and his friends who are playing board games in the living room. In general, students living in the Netherlands have their own room, but they often share the living room, bathroom, toilet, and kitchen. It is likely that sharing these facilities influences a person’s privacy. In addition, the fit between person and environment might be a factor influencing privacy. Stokols (1979) describes person‐environment congruence as the fit between individuals and the environment. The environment can refer to both the social environment, such as the people living in the environment, and the physical environment, such as a house or a city. Living in a student house also implies living with other people. On the one hand, some of these people might become close friends suggesting a good fit between the person and the social environment. On the other hand, it is possible that housemates remain ‘annoying’ people with whom you have to share a house. At the physical level, there can be a bad fit too. For instance, imagine a student who likes to invite a lot of friends. Unfortunately, he does not have a living room and his own room is too small to invite a lot of friends. In other words, his room and/or house does not meet his needs and there is a bad fit between the student and the physical environment. 2.2.6. Privacy, place attachment, and wellbeing Research on the relationship between privacy and place attachment is scarce, although some researchers have investigated this relationship (e.g. Harris et al., 1995; Harris et al., 1996). For instance, Harris et al. (1996) found evidence that suggests that people, who rated greater ease in regulating privacy, also reported a higher attachment to place. In other words, people who are successful at regulating privacy are more likely to develop place attachment. In contrast, people who do not have a satisfactory level of privacy are expected to be less able to develop place attachment. Furthermore, both concepts have been linked to well‐being (e.g. Harris et al., 1995). Privacy has been suggested to be fundamental to well‐being (e.g. Vinsel et al., 1980). For instance, Vinsel et al. (1980) found that students, who rated their privacy regulation as ineffective and engaged in less privacy regulatory behaviors, were more likely to drop out. In addition, researchers (e.g. Stokols & Shumaker, 1982) have suggested that place attachment can contribute to well‐being. For instance, Harris et al. (1995) reported that tenants who scored higher on well‐being also reported higher levels of place attachment. As mentioned before, privacy is not an end in itself but it allows people to achieve other goals (Westin, 1967), such as doing you own thing (autonomy). Achieving these privacy related goals is assumed to mediate the relationship between privacy and place attachment. In other words, when goals such as thinking about past behavior (self‐reflection) can be successfully achieved, these can possibly explain place attachment. We expect that the relation between privacy and place attachment can be explained by the extent to which people are successful in obtaining their privacy related goals.
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3. Research questions
3. Research questions The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the hypothesized relationship between privacy experience and place attachment. Also, it is hypothesized that the development of place attachment results in well‐being. Furthermore, it will be investigated whether this relationship is mediated by the extent to which students are successful in achieving privacy goals, such as relaxing in their own rooms, but also doing their own thing in the privacy of their rooms. Finally, another goal is to research whether the fit between the person and the environment, or alternatively, whether sharing facilities is more important in predicting privacy experience. These goals are translated to the following research questions: • • • •
Is there indeed a relationship between the privacy experience of Dutch students living in student rooms and their place attachment? Can place attachment as hypothesized predict well‐being? Can the relationship between privacy experience and place attachment be explained by the extent to which people can achieve their privacy‐related goals (e.g., doing their own thing)? Are students’ privacy needs dependent on the physical configurations of typical student housing (e.g. a shared vs. private bathroom)? In other words, do the physical features of a student housing affect a students' need for privacy? Or, alternatively, is person‐environment congruence, rather than mere physical features, more important in explaining individual differences in privacy needs?
Figure 2 is a conceptual model of the research questions. It illustrates the hypothesized relationship between privacy experience and place attachment. This relationship is assumed to be mediated by the extent to which students are able to attain their privacy goals. Furthermore, the model shows that place attachment presumably results in well‐being. Finally, situational factors, such as whether students are sharing a living room or the fit between with student house and housemates (e.g. person‐environment congruence), are expected to predict privacy. Attainment of privacy functions Physical facilities Privacy experience
Place attachment
Well‐being
Person‐environment Congruence
Figure 2 Model of hypothesized relations between privacy experience, place attachment, situational factors (physical facilities and person‐environment congruence), the attainment of privacy functions, and well‐being.
11
12
4. Method
4. Method 4.1. Design Data was collected with a survey. This survey was distributed to tenants of Vestide, a local company that provides student housing to students in Eindhoven. The next sections describe the participants, the procedures and all measures in detail.
4.1. Participants The survey was distributed to 1218 students which were all tenants of Vestide. These students were selected, because they were living in housing with shared facilities. Namely, it was hypothesized that sharing facilities could play a role in predicting privacy needs. In addition, only Dutch students were selected to participate in the survey, because it is easier to fill out a survey in someone’s native language. The survey was filled out by 519 (43%) students, but only data from participants who filled out the survey completely (N = 369; 30%) was used for further analyses. The age of these participants ranged from 17 to 31 (M = 22.1; SD = 2.4). The population of tenants of Vestide consists of 74% male, 23% female, and 3% unknown. Therefore, the sample consisting of relatively many males (68.8%) was representative for this population. Sixty percent of the respondents studied at Eindhoven University of Technology, 1% at Design Academy, 14% at Fontys Hogescholen and 2% filled in ‘other’.
4.2. Procedures The survey was created using LimeSurvey (2011), open source software to create, manage and distribute surveys. The questionnaire was distributed via a link in an e‐mail sent by Vestide (see Appendix B) and it was available for a period of nine days. A reminder (see Appendix C) was sent to the participants on the seventh day. A financial incentive was offered to participants who filled in the whole survey; this incentive constituted the chance to win a gift certificate of € 50, ‐ (ten gift certificates were handed out).
4.3. Measures The following concepts were assessed to investigate the relationship between privacy and place attachment and its hypothesized link to well‐being (the order is the same as in the distributed survey): 1) place attachment to the student house and to the city Eindhoven; 2) need for privacy and need for socialization (based on Haans et al., 2007); 3) general need for privacy (cf. Kaya & Weber, 2003); 4) the fulfillment of privacy related functions; 5) situational factors influencing privacy such as whether students share facilities and person‐environment congruence; and finally, 6) well‐being. The survey consisted of 109 questions. Some additional questions not pertaining to the research question, but relevant to Vestide were included in the survey. The complete survey can be found in Appendix A. 4.3.1. Place attachment Place attachment was measured on two levels (student house and city) and in two ways (with a unidimensional and a three‐dimensional measure). From this point forward, the unidimensional scale is referred to as the general place attachment scale (GPA). 13
4. Method Two levels of place attachment Place attachment was measured on two levels: student house and city (Eindhoven). Therefore, each item of the general place attachment and the three‐dimensional scale was asked twice in the survey: once on student house level and once on Eindhoven level. For instance, “I feel connected to my house mates” was used to measure place attachment to student house and “I feel connected to my fellow students in Eindhoven” was used to assess place attachment to city. General place attachment scale The general place attachment scale was constructed to determine whether place attachment can be accurately assessed with as little as four items. These items ask people directly about being attached to a place and to people. An example of an item of this general place attachment scale is “I would not want to leave my student house / Eindhoven.” (See Table 1 for a description of all four items). People could answer the four items on 5‐point Likert scale ranging from disagree (1) to agree (5). This general place attachment scale showed a good internal consistency with Cronbach alpha coefficients of .811 for place attachment to student house (M = 3.9; SD = 0.9) and 0.879 for place attachment to Eindhoven (M = 3.3; SD = 1.0). The four items were summed up and divided by four for each scale to obtain two single scores to represent place attachment to student house and place attachment to Eindhoven for use in further analyses. Table 1 Items description of general place attachment scale
General place attachment scale Place attachment
Item description I’m attached to my student house / Eindhoven (based on Williams & Vaske, 2003). I have an emotional bond with my student house / Eindhoven. My student house / Eindhoven feels like home. I would not want to leave my student house / Eindhoven.
Note: Each item occurred twice in the survey; one item referring to place attachment to student house and another referring to place attachment to city (Eindhoven). The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A.
Three dimensional scale A three dimensional place attachment scale was constructed based on the descriptions of place identity, place dependence and social bonding. Again, place attachment was measured on both the scale of the student’s house and of the city of Eindhoven. The items were taken from or inspired by Williams and Vaske (2003) and Jorgenson and Stedman (2001). An item tapping into place identity is “My student room says a lot about who I am”. Place dependence was assessed with “Compared to other places, my student room is the best place for achieving my goals (for example studying and having friends over)”. Finally, an example of an item to measure social bonding is “I’m attached to my house mates”. Each dimension was represented with four items and people could answer on a 5‐ point Likert scale from disagree (1), to agree (5). Principal axis factoring on place attachment to student house Principal axis factoring (PAF) was used to verify that three related factors but empirical distinguishable dimensions of place attachment underlie the concept of place attachment to student house. It was set that the principal axis factoring should extract three dimensions. Oblique rotation 14
4. Method (direct oblimin) assisted in interpreting the factors, because it was expected that the three factors were correlated. Prior to analysis, suitability of PAF was tested. The correlation matrix showed many coefficients higher than .3. In addition, the Kaiser‐Meyer‐Olkin value was .881, exceeding the recommended value of .6 (Kaiser, 1970, 1974; cited by Pallant, 2001). Finally, the Bartlett’s test of sphericity (Bartlett, 1954; cited by Pallant, 2001) was significant (p > .0001) indicating that a factor analysis was appropriate. Principal axis factoring confirmed three empirical distinguishable dimensions of place attachment: place identity, social bonding and place dependence (see Table 2). These three factors together explained 77.5% of the variance. Two of the twelve place attachment items were excluded (“I identify strongly with my student room” and “I feel my student room is a part of me”). These items had cross loadings and the factor loadings were lower than .5. Although both items were supposed to load only highly on place identity, one item also loaded on social bonding, while the other also loaded on place identity. Finally, for each person a single score was calculated for each dimension (social bonding, place dependence, and place identity) by averaging the responses of the respective items (two place identity items were excluded). This resulted in a single score for each dimension social bonding, place dependence, and place identity on the level of place attachment to student house. These scores were used for further analyses. The three dimensions assessing place attachment to student house showed good internal consistencies with Cronbach alpha coefficients greater than .844 (calculated after discarding the two place identity items).
15
4. Method Table 2 Oblique rotation (direct oblimin) for place attachment to student house and place attachment to Eindhoven (three dimensional scale)
Place attachment to student Place attachment to Eindhoven house
Place dependence
Social bonding
Place Place identity dependence
Social bonding
Place identity
My student room / Eindhoven is better at enabling me to achieve my goals (for example having friends over and resting) compared to other places. Compared to other places, my student room / Eindhoven is the best place for achieving my goals (for example studying and having friends over). My student room / Eindhoven suits my needs and goals (for example resting and withdrawing myself) better than other places. No other place can compare with my student / Eindhoven room in enabling me to achieve my goals (for example withdrawing myself and having friends over.* I feel bonded with my house mates / my fellow students in Eindhoven. I’m attached to my house mates / my fellow students in Eindhoven. I feel connected to my house mates / my fellow students in Eindhoven. I’ve been through a lot with my house mates / my fellow students in Eindhoven. My student room / Eindhoven says a lot about who I am.* My student room / Eindhoven reflects the type of person I am. ** I identify strongly with my student room / Eindhoven.* I feel my student room /Eindhoven is a part of me.*
.922
.858
.881
.953
.712
.586
.707
.585
‐.932
.867
‐.915
.891
‐.864
.829
‐.807
.678
‐.955
‐.908
‐.390
‐.736 ‐.422
‐.856 ‐.648
.422
‐.370
‐.408
Cronbach α Mean Standard deviation
.882 3.5 1.0
.931 3.2 1.2
.843 3.4 1.0
.918 2.8 1.0
.889 3.6 1.0
.888 2.9 1.1
Note: Only loadings above .3 are presented. Extraction Method: Principal Axis Factoring. Rotation Method: Oblimin with Kaiser Normalization. The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A. * item based on Williams and Vaske (2003) ** item based on Jorgenson and Stedman (2001) Italic items were removed for further analyses.
Principal axis factoring on place attachment to Eindhoven A similar principal axis factoring (PAF) was performed to verify that three related factors but empirical distinguishable dimensions underlie the concept of place attachment to Eindhoven. Oblique rotation was used to aid in interpretation of the factors. Prior to analysis, suitability of PAF was tested. The correlation matrix showed many coefficients higher than .3. In addition, the Kaiser‐ Meyer‐Olkin value was .907, exceeding the recommended value of .6 (Kaiser, 1970, 1974; cited by 16
4. Method Pallant, 2001). Finally, the Bartlett’s test of sphericity (Bartlett, 1954; cited by Pallant, 2001) was significant (p > .0001) indicating that a factor analysis was appropriate. The PAF revealed three empirical distinguishable dimensions (place identity, social bonding and place dependence) of place attachment (see Table 2) and together explained 77.8% of the variance. The item “I feel my Eindhoven is a part of me” had a low factor loading (‐.408). Furthermore, even though the second item “I identify strongly with Eindhoven” loaded relatively high (‐.648), the other place identity factors had higher loadings (> ‐.86). Therefore, it was again decided to remove these two place attachment items for further analyses. Finally, for each person a single score was calculated for each dimension (social bonding, place dependence, and place identity) by averaging the responses of the respective items (two place identity items were excluded). This resulted in a single score for each dimension social bonding, place dependence, and place identity on the level of place attachment to city. These scores were used for further analyses. The three dimensions assessing place attachment to city showed good internal consistencies with Cronbach alpha coefficients greater than .888 (calculated after discarding the two place identity items). 4.3.2. Need for privacy and a need for socialization measures Haans et al. (2007) developed a scale to measure a need for privacy and a need for socialization of office workers based on the theory of goal‐directed behavior. For the current survey, similar scales were developed consisting of 39 different behaviors which can occur in a student house. Need for privacy The need for privacy (NFP) scale consists of 19 items (see Table 3), which reflect different behaviors students can use in their student house to fulfill their need for privacy. Items were based on Haans et al. (2007), Vinsel et al. (1980), and other items were made up to create a range of behaviors varying in difficulty. An example of such an item is “I go for a walk alone”. Respondents were asked to indicate how often they engage in these behaviors on a 5‐point rating scale. For ten behaviors, the possible answers were never (0), rarely (1), sometimes (2), often (3), and always (4). For the other nine behaviors responses (e.g. “I close my curtains.”) often and always were substituted by frequently and often. In addition to the five possible answers, a “Does not apply” answer was provided as a possible option. This option was picked in 0.3% of all answers and was treated as a missing value. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the NFP scale was .728 indicating a good internal consistency. Scale calibration need for privacy scale A Likert scale makes it easier for respondents to fill in than a dichotomous agree/disagree scale. However, using a Likert scale introduces measurement errors. By recoding items in a dichotomous format, these measurement errors are removed (Kaiser & Wilson, 2000). Furthermore, dichotomizing items makes interpretation of Rasch analysis easier (Linacre, 2009). Therefore, all items of the need for privacy (NFP) scale were recoded into a dichotomous format. The answer options never and rarely were recoded as 0 and the other three options (sometimes, often and always or sometimes, frequently and often) were recoded as 1. The need for privacy scale was assessed using the dichotomous Rasch model with Winsteps software (2011). The scale has a person separation reliability of .63. This represents the replicability of a person’s need for privacy if another set of items was used measuring the same construct (Wright & Masters, 1982; cited by Bond & Fox, 17
4. Method 2007). The item reliability index was .99 indicating the extent to which the difficulty and order of the items would be the same, if the same items were asked to a different sample of the same size (Bond & Fox, 2007). All items have mean square (MS) values smaller than 1.25. A MS value of 1.25 indicates that 25% extra variation exists between the observed and the expected responses (Bond & Fox, 2007). Bond and Fox (2007) suggest that a Likert scale should have mean square values between .6 and 1.4; items not adhering to this rule, could be badly written items or items that measure something else than the need for privacy. It can be concluded with MS values ranging from .79 to 1.24 that these items were well‐written and all measuring the same concept. The M(MS) and SD(MS) are .98 and .14. Bond and Fox (2007) suggest that the M(MS) should be close to 1. The mean of t‐values of MS is 0 and the SD is 2.4. When the observed data conforms to the model, M(t) is approximately equal to 0 and a SD(t) near 1 (Bond & Fox, 2007). Out of 369 participants 8 (2.2 %) fit poorly (t > 1.96). The fit statistics of the participants are M(MS) = 1.0, SD(MS) = .33, M(t) = 0, SD(t) = 1.0. Table 3 Need for privacy items (N = 369)
Need for privacy (NFP) 1 I attach a ‘do not disturb’ sign to my door.* 2 I turn off my mobile phone.* 3 I only leave my room when everybody is gone. 4 I pretend to not see a house mate when he or she walks past.* 5 I ask my house mates to not disturb me.* 6 I talk with a softer voice than usually.* 7 I ask house mates to be quieter.* 8 I avoid places in my student house where people are present.* 9 I go for a walk alone. * ** 10 I use headphones.* 11 I lock my bedroom door from the inside. 12 I prepare my meals at a different time than my house mates.* 13 I pretend to be very busy.* 14 I go to a different place outside my student house to study (for example to the library). 15 I have dinner alone.* 16 I keep my thoughts to myself and don’t share them with my house mates.* 17 I eat outside my student house. 18 I keep the door of my student room closed.* ** 19 I close my curtains.
MS .84 .97 .83 .90 1.05 1.00 1.14 .80 1.03 1.08 .98 .79 1.23 1.24
p .03 .16 .29 .32 .35 .47 .51 .52 .70 .84 .84 .89 .90 .90
.87 .91 1.12 .85 1.03
.91 .95 .96 .97 .98
Note: MS = mean square; a MS of 1.15 indicates that 15% extra variance exists between the observed and expected responses; p = indicates the chance that someone engages in this behavior. * item based on Haans et al. (2007) ** item based on Vinsel et al. (1980) The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A.
Need for socialization The need for socialization (NFS) scale consisted of 20 items describing behaviors students may engage in to meet their need for more socialization (see Table 4). These items were also based on Haans et al. (2007), Vinsel et al. (1980), and other items were made up. An example of an item on 18
4. Method this scale is “I invite my house mate(s) to my own room”. Items were rated on a similar scale as the NFP scale with five items having the options never, rarely, sometimes, often, and always and 15 items having the options never, rarely, sometimes, frequently and often. The “Does not apply” answer was chosen in 2.9% of all answers and was treated as a missing value. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of the NFS scale was .911 indicating a good internal consistency. Scale calibration need for socialization All items of the need for socialization (NFS) scale were recoded into a dichotomous format, for the same reasons mentioned earlier. The answer options never and rarely were recoded as 0 and the other three options (sometimes, often and always or sometimes, frequently and often) were recoded as 1. The need for socialization scale was assessed using the dichotomous Rasch model with Winsteps software (2011). The scale has a person separation reliability of .81. This represents the replicability of a person’s need for privacy if another set of items was used measuring the same construct (Wright & Masters, 1982; cited by Bond & Fox, 2007). The item reliability index was .98 indicating the extent to which the difficulty and order of the items would be the same, if the same items were asked to a different sample of the same size (Bond & Fox, 2007). The mean square (MS) values range from .71 to 1.52. Bond and Fox (2007) suggest that a Likert scale should have mean square values between .6 and 1.4; items not adhering to this rule, could be badly written items or items that measure something else than the need for socialization. Two items did not agree to Bond and Fox’s (2001) rule of thumb MS > 1.4, indicating that these items measure something else than a need for social interaction or that the items were badly written. If a more strict rule is applied, MS values should be lower than 1.2 (Bond & Fox, 2007). Seven items had a MS > 1.2. A principal component analysis confirmed the existence of two dimensions. The items with relatively high MS values seem to be influenced by a second latent variable. This variable, however, only explains minimal amount of variance (7.2%). The M(MS) and SD(MS) are 1.0 and .29. Bond and Fox (2007) suggest that the M(MS) should be close to 1. The mean of t‐values of MS is ‐.6 and the SD is 3.7. When the observed data conforms to the model, M(t) is approximately equal to 0 and a SD(t) near 1 (Bond & Fox, 2007). Out of 369 participants 5 (1.4 %) fit poorly (t > 1.96). The fit statistics of the participants are M(MS) = .98, SD(MS) = .26, M(t) = 0, SD(t) =.8. Table 4 Need for socialization items (N = 369)
Need for socialization (NFS) 1 I do something to grab my house mates’ attention.* 2 I have decorated my student room’s door with things that are a reflection of myself.* 3 I make tea/coffee for my house mates. 4 I invite my house mates to my room.** 5 I organize a meeting/party in my student house. 6 I tell my house mates they can visit me in my room.* 7 When I hear people talking in my student house, I leave my room to engage in their conversation. 8 I borrow something from my house mate.* 9 I visit my house mates in their rooms.** 10 I leave the door to my student room open.* ** 19
MS 1.04 1.35
p .13
.75 .71 1.32 .79 .78
.24 .35 .46 .51 .57 .64
.84 .72 .93
.67 .70 .75
4. Method Need for socialization (NFS) 11 I spend time in the shared living room. 12 I eat with my house mates. 13 I share my thoughts with my house mates.* 14 I contact someone via internet (for instance, via e‐mail or by chatting).* 15 I visit a student union/association/sports club.** 16 I make my room attractive for other people (for example, with music or decorations).* 17 I spend time in the common facilities (for example, kitchen, living room) when my house mates are there as well. 18 I invite friends to my room.* ** 19 I talk with my house mates just for fun. 20 I call someone.**
MS .78 .72 .77 1.52 1.39 1.36
p .76 .79 .80 .83 .86 .87
.76
.92
1.24 .75 1.42
.95 .95 .95
Note: MS = mean square; a MS of 1.15 indicates that 15% extra variance exists between the observed and expected responses. p = indicates the chance that someone engages in this behavior. * item based on Haans et al. (2007) ** item based on Vinsel et al. (1980) italic items constitute a second dimension ‘interaction with other outside student house’. bold items constitute two items from the second dimension and can be summarized as ‘decorating one’s room’. The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A.
4.3.3. General need for privacy based on Kaya and Weber (2003) Kaya and Weber (2003) assessed privacy by subtracting the amount of privacy one desires (M= 4.8; SD = 1.3) with the amount one actually has (M= 5.1; SD = 1.3). The former is measured by “How much privacy would you like to have in your student house?”, while the latter is assessed by “How much privacy do you usually have in your student house?”. In the current study, both items were measured using a 7‐point rating scale ranging from 1 (no privacy at all) to 7 (a lot of privacy). Subtracting the desired amount of privacy from the actual amount of privacy resulted in possible scores ranging from +6 (crowding) through 0 (optimal amount of privacy) to ‐6 (isolation). This need for privacy measure based on Kaya and Weber (2003) resulted in a mean of ‐0.3 and SD of 1.4. 4.3.4. Attainment of privacy goals It is not possible to ask questions about all privacy goals. Therefore, the items are limited to the next three functions: autonomy, rejuvenation, and self‐reflection. As both Pedersen (1997) and Altman (1975) described, autonomy allows people to do their own thing without others present. Rejuvenation is recovering from social interactions and making plans for future interactions. Finally, self‐reflection summarizes Pedersen’s (1997) contemplation and Altman’s (1975) self‐identity function and refers to the fact that people can think about themselves, who they want to be, and reflect on past behavior and others. Using three scales it was assessed to what extent respondents are able to attain privacy goals. These goals or functions (self‐reflection, rejuvenation and autonomy) were inspired by or based on Pedersen’s (1997) and Altman’s (1975) description of these functions (see 2.2.2. Functions of privacy). Self‐reflection (M = 3.9; SD = .8), rejuvenation (M = 4.4; SD = .7) and autonomy (M = 4.0; SD = .8) were assessed with four items each. One item of autonomy was reverse coded “I feel inhibited to do certain things in my student house”. Respondents could indicate to which extent they can engage in these functions on a 5‐point Likert scale ranging from disagree (1) to agree (5). Each scale had a good to excellent internal consistency with Cronbach alpha coefficients between .780 and .911 20
4. Method (see Table 5). All measures of each scale were summed and averaged to create a single score per function for use in further analyses. Table 5 Attainment of privacy goals: description of items (N = 369)
Function Self‐reflection Rejuvenation Autonomy
Item description In my student house I can think about who I want to be. In my student house, I am able to think carefully about how I have approached things. In my student house I can reflect well on how others think about me. In my student house I can compare my own behavior well with that of others. My student house is a place where I can relax. I can relax in my student house after a busy and stressful day. After I have had a bad day, I can relax in my student house. In my student house I can recharge myself. I feel inhibited to do certain things in my student house.* In my student house I can do my own thing. I can act crazy in my student house without others seeing it. I can just be myself in my student house.
Cronbach α .909 .911 .780
Note: * This item was reverse coded. Items are inspired or based on Pedersen’s (1997) and Altman’s (1975) privacy functions. The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A.
4.3.5. Situational factors Two factors were assessed to investigate its influence on privacy. The first factor is whether students share facilities such as a kitchen with other students. The second factor is the fit between the person and the environment, also called person‐environment congruence, was assessed. Housing characteristics Several questions in the survey assessed whether respondents shared facilities (e.g. toilet, living room, and bathroom) with their roommates by assigning a score of 0 (private) or 1 (shared) (see Table 6). In addition, the variables toilet, kitchen, living room, and bathroom were summed to obtain a single score ranging from 1 (sharing one facility) to 4 (sharing four facilities) indicating the amount of shared facilities (M = 3.3; SD = 1.0). Table 6 Distribution of shared and private facilities (N = 369)
Shared with others Private Not applicable
Living room 69.9% 6.2% 23.8%
Bathroom 73.7% 26.0% 0.3%
Toilet 73.4% 26.3% 0.3%
Kitchen 97.6% 2.4% 0.0%
Personenvironment congruence Person‐environment congruence was assessed by asking to which degree participants thought there was a match between themselves and their house mates or student house (four items; see Table 7). The respondents could answer on a 5‐point Likert scale ranging from disagree (1) to agree (5). The scale (M = 3.8; SD = 1.0) had good internal consistency with a Cronbach α coefficient of .861. For further analyses, a single score as a representation for person‐environment congruence was calculated by adding the four items and averaging them. 21
4. Method Table 7 Person environment congruence: description of items (N = 369)
Function Person environment congruence
Item description My student house suits me well. My student house is the ideal house for me. I can get along with my housemates. My housemates suit me well.
Cronbach α .861
Note: The original items in Dutch can be found in Appendix A.
4.3.6. Wellbeing Well‐being was measured using the subjective happiness scale (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999). This scale consists of four items on a 7‐point Likert scale and showed to have good internal consistency (Cronbach α = .837). Two items ask participants how happy there are and how happy they are relative to their peers. The other two items briefly describes unhappy and happy individuals and asks respondents to what extent this is a description of them. The fourth item was reverse coded, after which a single score was calculated by averaging all four scores (M = 5.2; SD = 1.0). This score was used in further analyses. The Dutch translation of the items can be found in Appendix A.
22
5. Results
5. Results This section describes the results in the following order. Firstly, the place attachment measures are tested by calculating correlations in order to establish which of these measures is most suitable for further analyses. Secondly, place attachment measures that have been found most suitable are used to investigate the relationship between place attachment and well‐being. Thirdly, the construct validation of two privacy measures are assessed by comparing them with a general need for privacy measure based on Kaya and Weber (2003). Fourthly, the relationship between privacy and place attachment measures is assessed to find out whether these two concepts are related as hypothesized. Fifthly, with a series of mediation analyses it was determined to what extent the attainment of privacy goals mediates between the relation between privacy and place attachment. Lastly, it is tested whether person‐environment congruence is a better of privacy than physical features of the environment (such as a shared kitchen).
5.1. Place attachment In this study a general place attachment scale and a three‐dimensional place attachment scale were used to assess place attachment to student house and place attachment to Eindhoven. The next two sections report correlations between these measures on both student house and city level with the purpose to establish which measure is most suitable for use in further analyses. 5.1.1. Place attachment to student house Table 8 shows that each of the three place attachment to student house dimensions correlate positively with the general place attachment scale (r > .515, N = 369, p < .01). The high correlations between general place attachment and the three place attachment dimensions suggest that there is convergent validity. In other words, general place attachment and the three place attachment dimensions are measuring something similar. However, it is unclear whether these measures will behave in the same way in relation to other measures such as privacy. Therefore, all place attachment measures are used in further analyses as a representation of place attachment to student house. Table 8 Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients of place attachment to student house measures (N = 369)
1. General place attachment SH 2. Social bonding SH 3. Place dependence SH 4. Place identity SH
N 369 369 369 369
M 3,9 3,2 3,5 3,4
SD 0,9 1,2 1,0 1,0
GPA SH 1
SB SH .603* 1
PD SH .515* .288* 1
PI SH .546* .410* .516* 1
Note: SH = student house; GPA = general place attachment; SB = social bonding; PD = place dependence; PI = place identity. * p > .01.
5.1.2. Place attachment to Eindhoven Table 9 shows that each of the three place attachment to Eindhoven dimensions correlate with the general place attachment to Eindhoven scale (r > .495, N = 369, p < .01). The high correlations between general place attachment and the three place attachment dimensions suggest that there is convergent validity. In other words, general place attachment and the three place attachment 23
5. Results dimensions are measuring something similar. However, it is unclear if these measures will behave in the same way in relation to other measures such as privacy. Therefore, all place attachment measures are used in further analyses as a representation of place attachment to Eindhoven. Table 9 Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients of place attachment to Eindhoven measures (N = 369)
N
M
SD
1. Place attachment to EHV 2. Social bonding with students in EHV 3. Place dependence to EHV 4. Place identity EHV
369 369 369 369
3,3 3,6 2,8 2,9
1,0 1,0 1,0 1,1
GPA EHV 1
SB EHV .495* 1
PD EHV .689* .476* 1
PI EHV .676* .522* .743* 1
Note: EHV = Eindhoven; GPA = general place attachment; SB = social bonding; PD = place dependence; PI = place identity. * p > .01.
5.1.3. Correlations between place attachment measure on student house and city level Correlations were calculated to investigate to what extent the place attachment measures on student house and city level measure something similar (see Table 10). Although the correlation between general place attachment to student house and general place attachment to Eindhoven is reasonable (r = .328; p < .01), the other correlations range between .085 and .266, suggesting that the three‐dimensional place attachment measures on level of student house and level of city correlate poorly. Table 10 Correlations between place attachment measures on student house and city level (N = 369)
GPA SH SB SH PD SH PI SH
GPA EHV .328** .194** .197** .147**
SB EHV .246** .146** .108* .161**
PD EHV .226** .085 .138** .155**
PI EHV .233** .094 .266** .155**
Note: GPA = general place attachment; SH = student house; EHV = Eindhoven; SB = social bonding; PD = place dependence; PI = place identity. *p < .05; ** p <.01.
5.2. Place attachment and wellbeing It was hypothesized that more place attachment results in more well‐being. In other words, well‐ being is assumed to be predicted by place attachment. Correlations were calculated between well‐ being and place attachment measures on level of student house and Eindhoven. Table 11 shows that there are modest correlations (r < .193) between well‐being and place attachment, suggesting that well‐being can partially be explained by place attachment. Table 11 Correlations between well‐being and place attachment measures (N = 369)
Well‐being
GPA SH .193**
SB SH .123*
PD SH .136**
PI SH .099
GPA EHV .171**
SB EHV .187**
PD EHV .085
PI EHV .163**
Note: GPA SH = place attachment to student house; SB SH = social bonding student house; PD SH = place dependence student house; PI SH = place identity student house; GPA EHV = general place attachment Eindhoven; SB EHV = social bonding Eindhoven; PD EHV = place dependence Eindhoven; PI EHV = place identity Eindhoven.. *p < .05; ** p <.01.
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5. Results
5.3. Privacy Privacy was measured using the need for privacy scale (NFP), the need for socialization scale (NFS), and a need for privacy measure based on Kaya and Weber (2003). Correlations between the privacy measures are reported in Table 12. The need for socialization and the need for privacy measure are modestly correlated (r = ‐.348, p > .01) indicating that these concepts are fairly distinct (R2 = 12%). Figure 3 aids in the interpretation of the Kaya and Weber (2003) measure. A high score indicates too little privacy (i.e., crowding), while a low score indicates too much privacy (i.e., isolation). The need for privacy measure correlates significantly with Kaya and Weber’s (2003) need for privacy measure (r = .313; p > .01). This correlation suggests that people with a high need for privacy (people who have less privacy than they would like to have), experience too little privacy and possibly crowding in line with our expectations. The need for socialization measure correlates very modest but significant (r = ‐.144) with Kaya and Weber’s (2003) need for privacy measure (r = ‐.144; p > .01). This correlation suggests that as expected people with a high need for social interaction, experience too little social interaction and might feel isolated. Table 12 Descriptive statistics and correlation coefficients of privacy measures (N = 369)
1. Need for privacy 2. Need for socialization 3. Need for privacy Kaya and Weber (2003)
N 369 369 369
M ‐1.0 1.0 ‐.3
SD 1.2 1.8 1.4
NFP 1
NFS ‐.348* 1
NFPKW .313* ‐.144* 1
Note: NFP = need for privacy; NFS = need for socialization; NFPKW = need for privacy measure based on Kaya and Weber (2003). * p > .01.
Need for privacy (Kaya & Weber, 2003)
‐6 Isolation
0 Optimal amount of privacy
+6 Crowding
Figure 3 Visualization of Kaya and Weber's (2003) privacy scores
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5. Results
5.4. Relation between privacy and place attachment It was hypothesized that there is a relationship between place attachment and privacy. Therefore, on both attachment to the student house and to Eindhoven level, correlations were calculated between the place attachment measures and two privacy scales. 5.4.1. Privacy and place attachment to student house On the level of place attachment to student house the relation between privacy and place attachment to student house was investigated by calculating correlations between the need for privacy scale (NFP), the need for socialization (NFS) scale, the general place attachment to student house scale, and the dimensions social bonding, place dependence, and place identity. Table 13 shows that the need for privacy measure correlates negatively with all place attachment scales, suggesting that students with a higher need for privacy have a lower score for place attachment to student house. In other words as expected, people who experience too little privacy developed less place attachment. Need for socializing unexpectedly correlates positively with all place attachment measures. For instance, a correlation (r =.468) between a need for socialization and social bonding suggests that students who have a high need for social interaction have also developed bonds with their housemates. In other words, in contrast with what was expected, students who experience a suboptimal level of social interaction, report to have bonded with their housemates. Similar correlations were found between the need for socialization scale and the other place attachment scales. Since this finding suggests that the need for socialization scale measures something else than was intended, only the need for privacy scale is used in further analyses. Table 13 Correlation matrix for the NFP and NFS scales, the general place attachment to student house scale, and three dimensional place attachment to student house scales (SB, PD, and PI) (N = 369)
NFP NFS GPA SH SB SH PD SH PI SH
N 369 369 369 369 369 369
M 1.0 ‐1.0 3.9 3.2 3.5 3.4
SD 1.8 1.2 0.9 1.2 1.0 1.0
NFP 1
NFS ‐.348* 1
GPA SH ‐.274* .468* 1
SB SH ‐.455* .698* .603* 1
PD SH ‐.192* .219* .515* .288* 1
PI SH ‐.154* .323* .546* .410* .516* 1
Note: NFP = need for privacy scale; NFS is the need for socialization scale; GPA SH = general place attachment to SH (student house) scale; SB SH = social bonding SH; PD SH = place dependence SH; PI SH = place identity SH. *p <.001.
5.4.2. Privacy and place attachment to Eindhoven To establish the strength of the relationship between privacy and place attachment to Eindhoven, correlations were calculated between the need for privacy and need for socialization scales, the general place attachment to Eindhoven scale and the three dimensions social bonding, place dependence, and place identity on the level of place attachment to Eindhoven. Table 14 shows that there are only weak (r < ‐.095) correlations between the NFS and the NFP scales and the place attachment scales.
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5. Results Although weak, the negative correlations between need for privacy and place attachment and the positive correlations between need for socialization and place attachment suggest the same pattern on place attachment to city level as on house level. On the one hand, students who have a high need for privacy are less attached to their fellow students or Eindhoven. On the other hand, students who have a high need for social interaction are more attached to their fellow students in Eindhoven or the city of Eindhoven. Since the correlations between the privacy and place attachment measures on the level of city in general are weak, these place attachment measures on the level of Eindhoven are not used for further analyses. Table 14 Correlation matrix for the general place attachment to Eindhoven, the three dimensional place attachment to Eindhoven scales, and the NFP and the NFS scales (N = 369)
NFP NFS GPA EHV SB EHV PD EHV PI EHV
N 369 369 369 369 369 369
M 1.0 ‐1.0 3.3 3.6 2.8 2.9
SD 1.8 1.2 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.1
NFP 1
NFS ‐.348** 1
GPA EHV ‐.085 .178** 1
SB EHV ‐.095 .171** .495** 1
PD EHV ‐.081 .109* .689** .476** 1
PI EHV ‐.075 .127* .676** .522** .743** 1
Note: NFP = need for privacy scale; NFS is the need for socialization scale; GPA EHV = general place attachment to EHV (Eindhoven) scale; SB EHV = social bonding EHV; PD EHV = place dependence EHV; PI EHV = place identity EHV. *p < .05; ** p <.01
5.5. Privacy, place attachment and attainment of privacy goals It was hypothesized that the relationship between privacy and place attachment can be explained by the extent to which students were able to achieve their privacy goals (self‐reflection, rejuvenation, and autonomy). In other words, do these three privacy goals mediate the relationship between privacy and place attachment? Preacher and Hayes’s (2008) method for conducting a mediation analysis was used to calculate whether these three privacy functions act as mediators. Figure 4 shows a schematic overview of the multiple mediator model. Need for privacy was used as the independent variable (IV). General place attachment to student house, social bonding, place dependence, and place identity were used as dependent variables (DV). Place attachment measures on the level of city were not included in this analysis, since the correlations between these measures and the privacy measures were weak. Finally, the three privacy functions rejuvenation, autonomy, and self‐reflection act as mediators between the independent variable (IV) and the dependent variable (DV). The relations between the variables and the mediators are indicated with a, b, c, and c’ as can be seen in Figure 4. Path c represents the total effect of the IV on the DV, whereas c’ represents the total effect of c that cannot be explained by the mediators (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). In other words, c’ represent the direct effect that can explain the effect of privacy on place attachment, while c represents the total effect of privacy on place attachment, including the effect of the mediators. The a path represents the effect of privacy (IV) on the attainment of privacy goals. The b path explains the effect of the attainment of privacy goals on place attachment. Note, c = c’ + Σab, since the effect of privacy on place attachment is equal to the sum of the direct effect (c’) and the product of the indirect effects (a and b) (Preacher & Hayes, 2008).
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5. Results The coefficients and significance of all four mediation analyses with respectively general place attachment, social bonding, place dependence, and place identity are reported in Table 15. The most important conclusions are summarized in the next paragraphs.
Rejuvenation
a
Autonomy
b
Self‐reflection
Independent variable Privacy regulation
c'
Dependent variable Place attachment
Independent variable Privacy regulation
c
Dependent variable Place attachment
Figure 4 Multiple mediator model (adapted from Preacher & Hayes, 2008)
To aid in the interpretation of Table 15, the results of the first analysis are discussed in detail. The first analysis was conducted with need for privacy as the independent variable and general place attachment as the DV. Self‐reflection, rejuvenation, and autonomy were used as mediators. The total effect (c) of need for privacy on general place attachment is ‐.22 (p < .001), while the direct effect (c’) is ‐.13 (p <.001). Note, c = c’ + ab. In other words ‐.2160 = ‐.1266 + (‐.007 ‐.0481 ‐.0343). The mediators autonomy (ab = ‐.0481; p < .001) and self‐reflection (ab = .0343; p < .05) are both significant. In other words, students who experience too little privacy develop less place attachment and this is partially explained by the extent to which they are able to attain the privacy goals autonomy and self‐reflection. In sum, it was hypothesized that the effect of privacy experience on place attachment is mediated by the extent to which students are able to attain privacy goals. Even though a different measure for place attachment was used in all four mediation analysis as the dependent variable, the same two privacy functions (autonomy and self‐reflection) significantly mediated the relationship between privacy experience and place attachment in all four analyses. In other words, optimal levels of privacy increase place attachment, because it offers the opportunity to do your own thing (autonomy) or it allows you to compare your own behavior with others (self‐reflection). In addition, in one mediation analysis, it was found that rejuvenation acted as a significant mediator when the dependent variable was place dependence. In other words, in this case optimal levels of privacy also increase place attachment, because it allows students to relax after a busy day (rejuvenation). Although correlations between the place attachment dimensions and general place attachment scale suggest that there is convergent validity (i.e., measure something similar), the findings of these mediation analyses suggest that general place attachment cannot simply represent the other place 28
5. Results attachment dimensions in analyses such as these. The reason for this is that these mediation analyses suggest that the outcomes are not similar for all place attachment measures. For instance, in the mediation analysis with place dependence as a dependent variable, it was found that rejuvenation contributes significantly to this mediation between a need for privacy and place dependence. In other words, when someone would only use the general place attachment scale, she might not discover possible interesting findings. Table 15 Multiple mediation test of the relationship between need for privacy as the IV and place attachment measures (general place attachment to student house, social bonding, place dependence, and place identity) as the DV. Rejuvenation, autonomy, and self‐reflection act as the mediators (M). (N = 369)
Independent variable (IV) NFP NFP NFP NFP
Mediating variable (M) Rejuvenation Autonomy Self‐reflection Rejuvenation Autonomy Self‐reflection Rejuvenation Autonomy Self‐reflection Rejuvenation Autonomy Self‐reflection
Dependent variable (DV) GPA SB PD PI
Total effect
Effect of IV on M (a) ‐.0634 ‐.1686** ‐.1133*
Effect of M on DV (b) .1111 .2854** .3026**
‐.4916**
‐.0634 ‐.1686** ‐.1133*
‐.0434 .2205* .3346**
‐.1576**
‐.0634 ‐.1686** ‐.1133*
.3376** .1365 .2588**
‐.1385*
‐.0634 ‐.1686** ‐.1133*
.0610 .2644* .3170**
(c) ‐.2160**
Direct effect (c’) ‐.1266** ‐.4193** ‐.0839* ‐.0541
Indirect effect (a x b) ‐.0070 ‐.0481** ‐.0343* .0028 ‐.0372* ‐.0379* ‐.0214* ‐.0230* ‐.0293* ‐.0039 ‐.0446* ‐.0359*
Note: NFP = need for privacy; GPA = general place attachment to student house; SB = social bonding with housemates; PD = place dependence; PI = place identity; IV = independent variable; DP = dependent variable; M = mediator. *p < .05; ** p <.001
5.6. Predicting privacy with personenvironment congruence and physical features It was investigated whether person‐environment congruence or the physical features of the environment (e.g. shared versus private facilities) are more important in explaining privacy. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to explore which of the two factors is more important in predicting privacy. In addition, a second hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to explore whether the amount of shared facilities or person‐environment congruence is more important in explaining privacy. Predicting need for privacy with physical features and personenvironment congruence Need for privacy (NFP) was the dependent variable in the analysis. The variables representing the physical features (toilet, kitchen, living room, and bathroom) were used as independent variables with the values of ‘0’ for a private facility and ‘1’ for a shared facility in the first model. The second model also included person‐environment congruence as an independent variable. The first model can significantly (p < .05; R2 = .028) predict the need for privacy with the physical features as the independent variables (see Table 16). However, the individual physical features do not significantly contribute to the model. The second model also significantly (p < .001; R2 = .166) 29
5. Results predicts need for privacy with the physical features and person‐environment congruence as the independent variables. Only person‐environment congruence makes a significant (p < .001) contribution to the second model. This analysis suggests that the extent to which there is a fit between the person and the environment is more important in than sharing facilities in predicting privacy. Table 16 Coefficients and beta values of two hierarchical multiple regression analyses with need for privacy as the dependent variable and shared facilities and person‐environment congruence as the independent variables (N = 369)
Dependent variable: Need for privacy Model 1 Constant Toilet Kitchen Living room Bathroom Model 2 Constant Toilet Kitchen Living room Bathroom Person‐environment congruence
b ‐1.186 ‐2.040 .325 .103 1.567 ‐.059 ‐.803 .896 .210 .349 ‐.469**
SE b .680 1.177 .730 .288 1.182 .651 1.105 .681 .268 1.109 .069
β ‐.797 .028 .023 .610 ‐.314 .078 .047 .136 ‐.384
Note: *p < .05; ** p <.001 2 2 model 1 R = .042*; model 2 R = .181**
Predicting need for privacy with the amount of physical features and personenvironment congruence To investigate whether the amount of shared facilities can predict a need for privacy a second hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted with the amount of shared facilities as the independent variable and need for privacy as the dependent variable in the first model. The second model also included person‐environment congruence as an independent variable. The coefficients and beta values of both models are reported in Table 17. Although the first model (p > .05; R2 = .176) was not significant, the amount of shared facilities did significantly contribute to the model (p < .01). The second model significantly (p < .001; R2 = .462) predicts need for privacy with the amount of shared physical features and person‐environment congruence as the independent variables. The amount of shared facilities (p < .01) and person‐ environment congruence (p < .001) both contribute significantly to the second model. This analysis suggests that both the amount of shared facilities and the extent to which there is a fit between the person and the environment can predict privacy. In other words, a higher amount of shared facilities results in a lower need for privacy. Also, a high fit between a person and her environment results in a lower need for privacy.
30
5. Results Table 17 Coefficients and beta values of two hierarchical multiple regression analyses with need for privacy as the dependent variable and the amount of shared facilities and person‐environment congruence as the independent variables (N = 369)
Dependent variable: Need for privacy Model 1 Constant Amount of shared facilities Model 2 Constant Amount of shared facilities Person‐environment congruence
b ‐.431 ‐.198* 1.4.46** ‐.174* ‐.508**
SE b .231 .067 .314 .060 .064
β ‐.176 ‐.154 ‐.427
Note: *p < .05; ** p <.001 2 2 model 1 R = .176*; model 2 R = .462**
In sum, the results of these two hierarchical multiple regression analyses suggest that the amount of shared facilities is a better predictor than adding each single shared facility as a separate predictor. In both models, person‐environment congruence is a good predictor of a need for privacy. A high score for both the amount of shared facilities and person‐environment congruence results in a lower need for privacy score. In other words, when a student shares more facilities with her housemates, she has a lower need for privacy. Also, when there is a good fit between a student, her student house and her housemates, she also has a lower need for privacy.
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32
6. Discussion
6. Discussion Although frequently studied apart from each other, the current study has investigated the relationship between privacy experience and place attachment. In line with the proposed hypotheses, it has been found that there is a relationship between these two concepts. This relationship is mediated by the attainment of privacy goals such as doing your own thing (autonomy). Furthermore, place attachment can predict well‐being, with more place attachment resulting in more well‐being. Finally, the results suggest that person‐environment congruence and the amount of shared facilities can predict privacy experience; however, which facilities students share with others does not play a significant role in predicting privacy experience. In contrast with previous research on place attachment, the current study used two place attachment scales (a general and a three‐dimensional). In addition, place attachment was measured on two levels of place attachment (student house and city). Principal axis factoring showed that in line with other research (e.g. Raymond et al., 2010), the three dimensions social bonding, place dependence, and place identity constitute empirical distinguishable dimensions of a general construct of place attachment. High correlations between the general place attachment scale and the three dimensions suggest convergent validity. In other words, the place attachment scales measure something similar. However, mediation analyses suggest that general place attachment cannot simply represent the three dimensions. Four mediation analyses were conducted with need for privacy as the independent variable and general place attachment, social bonding, place dependence, place identity as the dependent variables. In all mediation analyses except for one, the same two privacy functions (autonomy and self‐reflection) were significant in mediating the relationship between privacy and place attachment. However, when place dependence was used as the dependent variable rejuvenation, or the extent to which someone can relax in her room, was also a significant mediator. In conclusion, when only the general place attachment scale would be used in future research, it is possible certain interesting results will not be discovered. In sum, for the first time, it has been investigated whether a general place attachment or a multidimensional measure of place attachment is a better representative of place attachment. It can be concluded, that at least in analyses regarding privacy functions, a multidimensional measure is better. Literature has suggested that a link between place attachment and well‐being exists (Harris et al., 1995). In line with the findings of Harris et al. (1995) who found that quality of life is significantly correlated with apartment and court attachment, we found that place attachment to student house and to Eindhoven can partially subjective well‐being. This finding emphasizes the importance of development of place attachment for new students, since the results suggest that students who have developed bonds with others and their student house and/or Eindhoven, are happier. In addition, two privacy measures have been created: a need for privacy scale and a need for socialization scale. In contrast with Altman’s privacy regulation theory (1975), it has been found that these two measures are distinct (R2 = 12%) and do not reside on two opposite ends of one continuum. This finding is in line with other researchers (e.g. Foddy, 1984; Haans et al., 2007) who have argued that privacy regulation is not a dialectic process. In other words, we have found evidence that suggest that a need for privacy and a need for socialization are two distinct goals. 33
6. Discussion The need for privacy scale correlated negatively with place attachment in line with our expectations. In other words, people who have a high need for privacy (and by this engage in more difficult behaviors to obtain more privacy), have a lower score for place attachment. In contrast, the need for socialization score behaves differently from what was expected. More specifically, the correlations between this measure and the place attachment measures were positive. This suggests that people who have a high need for socialization and whose desired need deviates from their actual need, have a higher place attachment score. The finding that need for privacy correlates negatively with place attachment is in line with Altman’s (1975) privacy regulation theory, which assumes that people should have an optimal amount of privacy. When people do not have this optimal amount of privacy, they cannot achieve other goals, and therefore are less able at developing place attachment. On the contrary, Altman’s (1975) theory cannot explain the positive correlation between the need for socialization and place attachment. Altman (1975) would predict that there should be a negative correlation. Another theory is needed to explain this finding. Focusing on what is actually measured, it seems that people who engage in more social interaction are more attached to place. Students, who engage in many interactions with others, develop a shared history in the place itself and therefore develop more place attachment. This interpretation sounds reasonable, but suggests that not a need for social interaction has been measured, but a positive attitude towards social interaction. This reasoning is in line with Kaiser, Byrka, and Hartig (2010) who argue that an attitude can be derived from the difficulty of behaviors someone engages in. In other words, if students highly value social interaction with other students, they will invest more effort in behaviors to engage in social interaction. The same explanation could be applied to the need for privacy scale. It can be argued that need for privacy measures an attitude towards being alone or removing oneself from others. Students who have a high need for privacy might have a high need for being alone from others, and are therefore less interested in engaging in social interactions. In turn, these people will develop less place attachment, since an important part of place attachment is the development of social bonds, which are created by social interactions. For now, various explanations have been presented for the need for privacy and need for socialization scale. More research is needed to clarify the difference in interpretation and to investigate what is actually measured. Westin (1967) argued that privacy is not an end in itself but allows people to achieve other goals. It was hypothesized that the relation between privacy and place attachment would be mediated by the achievement of these goals. In line with this reasoning we found that the relation between privacy experience and place attachment was especially mediated by self‐reflection and autonomy. In other words, optimal levels of privacy increase place attachment, because it offers opportunities for contemplating on past behavior (i.e., self‐reflection), and doing your own thing (i.e., autonomy). Note that a whole range of functions (e.g. Pedersen, 1997) have been described in the literature, but only a few were chosen to conduct mediation analyses with. It is impossible and not practical to ask respondents about all functions described in the literature, therefore the current thesis has limited the functions to three which seemed most relevant. The findings have practical implications for housing companies. Person‐environment congruence has found to be a significant predictor for privacy. This suggests that the extent to which a student finds that his house and housemates match himself is a significant predictor for the need for privacy. 34
6. Discussion In other words, finding students that match well and a good fit between the student and his student house is important for having an optimal level of privacy. Note that the sample, all students and tenants of Vestide, in general did not have a choice which housemates they are living with. In most cases, students can opt for a room, visit the room, possibly meet the housemates, and choose whether they want this room or not. Future research could investigate if there are any difference regarding privacy experience, place attachment, and well‐being of students who were allowed to pick out their housemates, or students that are assigned housemates to live with such in the current study. Furthermore, whether students share facilities (e.g. bathroom, living room and other facilities) was not a significant predictor for a need for privacy. However, the amount of shared facilities was a significant predictor for a need for privacy. This suggests that students, who share more facilities, have a lower need for privacy. This is a possible confounding factor, since it might be possible that students who have a high need for privacy choose to live in a house where fewer facilities are shared. Vestide offers student housing in various sorts of combinations, such as a shared kitchen and private bathing facilities or the other way around. It was expected that since previous research (e.g. Walden et al., 1981) has suggested that sharing a bedroom with more people leads to more crowding, that sharing facilities such as a kitchen might influence someone’s need for privacy. However, the opposite was found to be true. Sharing facilities did not significantly influence a person’s need for privacy or need for socialization. This can possibly be explained by the fact that when students are sharing a bedroom, they do not have a private place to go when they feel crowded. In contrast, in Dutch student houses, where students each have their own private bedroom, students can withdraw themselves in their own private room, when they feel there are too many housemates present in the shared facilities. In sum, the findings suggest that with regard to privacy regulation, it is more important for students to have a match with the housemates and the student house, than having all private facilities. This study had a number of limitations. First of all, the findings cannot be generalized and only apply to students living in student houses, where each tenant has his own private rooms. Secondly, since the Eindhoven University of Technology is a technical university, a large proportion (69%) of the sample is male. Although this is representative for the population, the findings might not generalize to populations with an equal male‐female ratio. However, Raymond et al. (2010) argue that empirical research so far has not identified sex differences with regard to place attachment. Thirdly, only behaviors were included to measure privacy, while people also have other means available to increase or decrease privacy (cf. Haans et al., 2007) such as using cognitive means to change the desired amount of privacy. Despite these limitations, we have been able to answer the research questions, develop a measure for privacy and multiple measures for place attachment. In addition, we have examined the living situation of Dutch students, which differs from most research on privacy and crowding where students share a single bedroom.
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References Altman, I. (1975) The environment and social behavior: Privacy, personal space, territory, crowding. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole. Altman, I., Vinsel, A., Brown, B. B. (1981) Dialectic Conceptions in Social Psychology: An application to social penetration and privacy regulation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 14, 107‐159. Academic Press. Altman, I. & Low, S. (1992). Place Attachment. NY: Plenum Press. Brown, B. B. & Perkins, D. D. (1992) Disruptions in place attachment. In I. Altman, & S. Low (Eds.), Human behavior and environments: advances in theory and research. Volume 12: Place Attachment (pp. 279–304). New York: Plenum Press. Brown, B., Perkins, D. D., & Brown, G. (2003) Place attachment in a revitalizing neighborhood: Individual and block levels of analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 259‐271. Bond, C. & Fox, T. (2007). Applying the Rasch model: Fundamental measurement in the human sciences (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ; Erlbaum. Chow, K. & Healey, M. (2008) Place attachment and place identity: First‐year undergraduates making the transition from home to university. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 28, 362 ‐ 372. Foddy, W. H. (1984). A critical evaluation of Altman’s definition of privacy as a dialectical process. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 14, 297‐307. Greeve, W. (2001) Traps and gaps in action explanation: Theoretical problems of a psychology of human action. Psychological Review, 108(2), 435‐451. Haans, A. (2004) Need for Privacy & Socializing in the Office: Two Novel Behavior‐Based Privacy Measures. Unpublished master’s thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands. Haans, A., Kaiser, F. G., & Kort, de, A. W. (2007) Privacy needs in office environments: Development of two behavior‐based scales. European Psychologist, 12, 93 – 102. Hallpenny, E. A. (2010) Pro‐environmental behaviours and park visitors: The effect of place attachment. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30, 409 – 421. Harris, P. B., Brown, B. B. & Werner, C. M. (1996) Privacy regulation and place attachment: predicting attachments to a student family housing facility. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 16, 287‐301. Harris, P. B., Werner, C. M., Brown, B. B., & Ingebritsen, D. (1995) Relocation and privacy regulation: A cross cultural analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 15, 311‐320. Hernandez, B. Hidalgo, M. C., Salazar‐Laplace, M. E. & Hess, S. (2007) Place attachment and place identity in natives and non‐natives. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 27, 310‐319. Hidalgo, M. C. & Hernandez, B. (2001) Place attachment: Conceptual and empirical questions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 273‐281. 37
References Jorgensen, B. S. & Stedman, R. C. (2001) Sense of place as an attitude: Lakeshore owners’ attitudes toward their properties. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 21, 233‐248. Kaiser, F. G., & Wilson, B. (2000). Assessing people’s general ecological behavior: A cross‐cultural measure. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 952‐978. Kaiser, F. G., & Wilson, M. (2004). Goal‐directed conservation behavior: The specific composition of a general performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 1531‐1544. Kaiser, F. G., Byrka, K., & Hartig, T. (2010) Reviving Cambell’s Paradigm for Attitude Research. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 14, 351‐367. Kaya, N., & Weber, M. J. (2003). Cross‐cultural differences in the perception of crowding and privacy regulation: American and Turkish students. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 23, 301‐ 309. Kelvin, P. (1973). A social‐psychological examination of privacy. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 12, 248‐261. Limesurvey (2011) [Computer software] Available from http://www.limesurvey.org/ Linacre, J. M. (2009) Dichotomizing Rating Scales. Rasch Measurement Transactions, 23(3), 1228. Lyubomirsky, S. & Lepper, H. S. (1999) A measure of subjective happiness: preliminary reliability and construct validation. Social Indicators Research, 46, 137‐155. Manzo, L. C. & Perkins, D. D. (2006) Finding Common Ground: The importance of place attachment to community participation and planning. Journal of planning literature, 20, 335 ‐350. Margulis, S. T. (2003). Privacy as a social issue and behavioral concept. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 243‐261. Pallant, J. (2001) SPSS Survival Manual. Open University Press, McGraw‐Hill Education, Berkshire, UK. Pedersen, D. M. (1997). Psychological functions of privacy. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 17, 147‐156. Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Contemporary approaches to assessing mediation in communication research. In A. F. Hayes, M. D. Slater, & L. B. Snyder (Eds.), The Sage sourcebook of advanced data analysis methods for communication research (pp. 13‐54). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Raymond, C. M., Brown, G. & Weber, D. (2010) The measurement of place attachment: Personal, community, and environmental connections. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 30(4), 422‐434 Scopelliti, M. & Tiberio, L. (2010) Homesickness in university students: the role of multiple place attachment. Environment and Behavior, 42(3), 335‐350. Shumaker, S. A. & Taylor, R. B. (1983) Toward a clarification of people‐place relationships: a model of attachment to place. In N.R. Feimer and E. S. Geller (Eds), Environmental Psychology. New York: Praeger.
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References Stokols, D. (1979) A congruence analysis of human stress. In I. G. Sarason & C. D. Spielberger (Eds.), Stress and anxiety, Vol. 6. New York: John Wiley. Stokols, D. & Shumaker, S. A. (1982) The psychological context of residential mobility and well‐ being. Journal of Social Issues, 38, 149‐171. Vinsel, A., Brown, B. B., Altman, I., & Foss, C. (1980). Privacy regulation, territorial displays, and effectiveness of individual functioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 1104‐1115. Walden, T. A., Nelson, P. A., & Smith, D. E. (1981) Crowding, privacy, and coping. Environment and Behavior, 13(2), 205‐224. Weinstein, C. S. (1982) Privacy‐seeking behavior in an elementary classroom. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2, 23 – 35. Westin, A. W. (1967) Privacy and freedom. Atheneum Books, New York. Wet Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (2001) Retrieved 12 April, 2011 from http://www.cbpweb.nl/downloads_brochures/bro_WBP.pdf?refer=true&theme=purple Williams, D. R. & Vaske, J. J. (2003) The measurement of place attachment: Validity and Generalizability of a psychometric approach. Forest Science, 49(6), 830‐840. Winsteps (2011) [Computer software] Available from http://www.winsteps.com
39
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Appendix A Survey in Dutch
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Deze vragenlijst maakt deel uit van een onderzoek van Vestide en de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven naar studentenwoningen. Het onderzoek heeft als doel meer inzicht te krijgen in hoe studenten het ervaren om op kamers te wonen. We willen u vragen om ongeveer 15‐20 minuten de tijd te nemen om deze vragenlijst in te vullen. Deze vragenlijst gaat over hoe u de afgelopen maand op kamers wonen heeft ervaren. Onder deelnemers worden onder iedere 20 ingevulde vragenlijsten een cadeaubon van €50,‐ verloot, met een maximum van 10 cadeaubonnen t.w.v. €50, ‐.
A.1. Place attachment Selecteer het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Met "studentenwoning" wordt zowel de fysieke studentenwoning bedoeld als de mensen die erin wonen. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Algemene maat voor place attachment studentenhuis Mee Enigszins oneens mee Place attachment oneens Ik zou mijn studentenwoning niet willen verlaten. Ik heb een emotionele band met mijn studentenwoning. Ik ben gehecht aan mijn studentenwoning. Mijn studentenwoning voelt als thuis.
Niet mee Enigszins mee eens eens/ niet mee oneens O O
Mee eens
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
Driedimensionale maat voor place attachment studentenhuis Social bonding Ik heb het gevoel dat ik een band heb met mijn huisgenoten. Ik ben gehecht aan mijn huisgenoten. Ik voel me verbonden met mijn huisgenoten. Ik heb veel meegemaakt met mijn huisgenoten. Place identity Mijn studentenwoning reflecteert wat voor type persoon ik ben. Mijn studentenwoning zegt veel over wie ik ben. Ik identificeer me sterk met mijn studentenwoning. Voor mijn gevoel is mijn studentenwoning een deel van mij.
O
O
O
O
O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
41
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Place dependence
Beter dan andere plekken stelt mijn studentenwoning mij in staat om mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld vrienden ontvangen of uitrusten) te behalen. Vergeleken met andere plekken is mijn studentenwoning de beste plaats om mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld studeren of vrienden ontvangen) te behalen. Mijn studentenwoning sluit beter aan bij mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld uitrusten of mezelf terugtrekken) dan andere plekken. Geen andere plek is te vergelijken met mijn studentenwoning als het erom gaat mijn doelen te halen (bijvoorbeeld mezelf terugtrekken of vrienden ontvangen).
Niet mee Enigszins mee eens eens/ niet mee oneens O O
Mee eens
Mee oneens
Enigszins mee oneens
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Let op, de volgende vragen gaan niet meer over wonen in een studentenwoning, maar over wonen in Eindhoven. Selecteer het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Met Eindhoven wordt zowel de stad Eindhoven bedoeld als de mensen die erin wonen. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Algemene maat voor place attachment Eindhoven Ik zou Eindhoven niet willen verlaten. O Ik heb een emotionele band met Eindhoven. O Ik ben gehecht aan Eindhoven. O Eindhoven voelt als thuis. O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
Driedimensionale maat voor place attachment Eindhoven Social bonding Ik heb het gevoel dat ik een band heb met mijn medestudenten in Eindhoven. Ik ben gehecht aan met mijn medestudenten in Eindhoven. Ik voel me verbonden met mijn medestudenten in Eindhoven. Ik heb veel meegemaakt met mijn medestudenten in Eindhoven.
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
42
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Place identity
Niet mee Enigszins mee eens eens/ niet mee oneens O O
Mee eens
Mee oneens
Enigszins mee oneens
O
O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O O O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Eindhoven reflecteert wat voor type persoon ik ben. Eindhoven zegt veel over wie ik ben. Ik identificeer me sterk met Eindhoven. Voor mijn gevoel is Eindhoven een deel van mij. Place dependence Beter dan andere plekken stelt Eindhoven mij in staat om mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld vrienden ontvangen of uitrusten) te behalen. Vergeleken met andere plaatsen is Eindhoven de beste plaats om mijn doelen te behalen (bijvoorbeeld studeren of vrienden ontvangen) te behalen. Eindhoven sluit beter aan bij mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld uitrusten of mezelf terugtrekken) dan andere plaatsen. Geen andere plaats is te vergelijken met Eindhoven als het erom gaat mijn doelen (bijvoorbeeld jezelf terugtrekken of vrienden ontvangen) te halen.
O
A.2. Privacy maten Geef bij elke handeling aan hoe vaak je deze afgelopen maand hebt uitgevoerd. Geef steeds een eerlijk antwoord op elke vraag. Je kruist “niet van toepassing” aan, wanneer een vraag niet van toepassing is op de situatie in jouw huidige studentenwoning (je kunt bijvoorbeeld geen koptelefoon gebruiken als je er geen hebt). Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Behoefte aan privacy Ik doe alsof ik het erg druk heb. Ik doe net alsof ik een huisgenoot niet zie als hij of zij langs loopt. Ik eet ‘s avonds alleen. Ik eet buiten mijn studentenwoning. Ik hang een ‘niet storen’ bordje op aan mijn deur. Ik houd mijn eigen gedachten voor mezelf en ik deel ze niet met mijn huisgenoten. Ik kook op een ander tijdstip dan mijn huisgenoten. Ik vermijd plekken in mijn studentenwoning waar mensen zijn. Ik kom pas uit mijn kamer als iedereen weg is. Ik doe de deur van mijn kamer van binnen op slot.
Nooit O O
Zelden O O
Soms O O
Vaak O O
Altijd O O
N.V.T. O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O O O O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
O O
43
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Geef bij elke handeling aan hoe vaak je deze afgelopen maand hebt uitgevoerd. Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Let op, bij de volgende reeks vragen zijn de antwoordmogelijkheden veranderd. Geef steeds weer een eerlijk antwoord op elke vraag. Je kruist “niet van toepassing” aan, wanneer een vraag niet van toepassing is op de situatie in je studentenwoning. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Nooit Zelden Soms Regel Vaak N.V.T. matig Ik doe mijn gordijnen dicht. O O O O O O Ik ga een stukje alleen wandelen. O O O O O O Ik ga naar een andere plek buiten mijn O O O O O O studentenwoning om te studeren (bijvoorbeeld de bibliotheek). Ik gebruik een koptelefoon. O O O O O O Ik vraag mijn huisgenoten om me niet te storen. O O O O O O Ik houd de deur van mijn studentenkamer dicht. O O O O O O Ik praat zachter dan normaal. O O O O O O Ik vraag mijn huisgenoten om stiller te zijn. O O O O O O Ik zet mijn mobiele telefoon uit. O O O O O O Behoefte aan sociale interactie Geef bij elke handeling aan hoe vaak je deze afgelopen maand hebt uitgevoerd. Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Let op, bij de volgende reeks vragen zijn de antwoordmogelijkheden veranderd. Geef steeds weer een eerlijk antwoord op elke vraag. Je kruist “niet van toepassing” aan, wanneer een vraag niet van toepassing is op de situatie in jouw studentenwoning. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Nooit Zelden Soms Vaak Altijd N.V.T. Ik doe iets om de aandacht van mijn huisgenoten O O O O O O te trekken. Ik eet met mijn huisgenoten. O O O O O O Ik praat met mijn huisgenoten voor de O O O O O O gezelligheid. Ik zet thee/koffie voor mijn huisgenoten. O O O O O O Als ik mensen in mijn studentenwoning hoor O O O O O O praten, dan verlaat ik mijn kamer om me in hun gesprek te mengen.
44
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Geef bij elke handeling aan hoe vaak je deze afgelopen maand hebt uitgevoerd. Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Let op, bij de volgende reeks vragen zijn de antwoordmogelijkheden veranderd. Geef steeds weer een eerlijk antwoord op elke vraag. Je kruist “niet van toepassing” aan, wanneer een vraag niet van toepassing is op de situatie in je studentenwoning. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Nooit Zelden Soms Regel Vaak N.V.T. matig Ik bezoek mijn huisgenoten op hun kamer. O O O O O O Ik neem contact met iemand op via internet O O O O O O (bijvoorbeeld via e‐mail of chatten). Ik nodig vrienden uit op mijn kamer. O O O O O O Ik bel iemand op. O O O O O O Ik organiseer een bijeenkomt/feestje in mijn O O O O O O studentenwoning. Ik deel mijn eigen gedachten met mijn O O O O O O huisgenoten. Ik breng tijd door in de gezamenlijke ruimten O O O O O O (bijvoorbeeld keuken, woonkamer) wanneer mijn huisgenoten er ook zijn. O O O O O O Ik maak mijn kamer aantrekkelijk voor andere mensen (bijvoorbeeld met muziek of decoraties). Ik zit in de gezamenlijke woonkamer. O O O O O O O O O O O O Ik heb de deur van mijn studentenkamer gedecoreerd met dingen die een reflectie zijn van mezelf. Ik ga naar een studenten‐/studie‐/sportvereniging. O O O O O O Ik leen iets van mijn huisgenoot. O O O O O O Ik vertel mijn huisgenoten dat ze naar mijn kamer O O O O O O kunnen komen. Ik zet de deur van mijn studentenkamer open. O O O O O O Ik nodig mijn huisgenoten uit op mijn kamer. O O O O O O
A.3. Privacy maten gebaseerd op Kaya en Weber (2003) Behoefte aan privacy (Kaya & Weber, 2003) Bij de volgende twee vragen gaat het erom dat je aangeeft hoeveel privacy je normaliter zou willen hebben en hoeveel je normaal gesproken hebt. Je hebt steeds zeven antwoord mogelijkheden: van 1 (helemaal geen privacy) tot aan 7 (veel privacy). Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt.
45
Appendix A Survey in Dutch
Hoeveel behoefte aan privacy heb je in je studentenwoning? Hoeveel privacy heb je in je studentenwoning?
1 (Helemaal geen privacy) O
2
3
4
5
6
7 (Veel privacy)
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Behoefte aan sociale interactie (Kaya & Weber, 2003) Bij de volgende twee vragen gaat het erom dat je aangeeft hoeveel sociale interactie (omgang met bijvoorbeeld huisgenoten of vrienden) je normaliter zou willen hebben en hoeveel je normaal gesproken heeft. Je hebt steeds zeven antwoord mogelijkheden: van 1 (helemaal geen sociale interactie) tot aan 7 (veel sociale interactie). Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Veel 1 sociale (Helemaal interactie) geen sociale interactie) O O O O O O O Hoeveel behoefte aan sociale interactie heb je in je studentenwoning? O O O O O O O Hoeveel sociale interactie heb je in je studentenwoning?
A.4. Person environment congruence Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. Mee Mee Enigszins Niet mee Enigszins mee eens eens eens/ oneens mee oneens niet mee oneens Mijn studentenwoning past goed bij me. O O O O O Mijn huidige studentenwoning is de ideale O O O O O woning voor mij. Ik kan goed met mijn huisgenoten overweg. O O O O O Mijn huisgenoten passen goed bij mij. O O O O O
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Appendix A Survey in Dutch
A.5. Privacy functies Selfreflection
In mijn studentenwoning kan ik nadenken hoe goed ik iets gedaan heb in vergelijking met anderen. In mijn studentenwoning kan ik goed nadenken over hoe ik het sociaal gezien doe (bijvoorbeeld over mijn sociale eigenschappen) in vergelijking met anderen. In mijn studentenwoning kan ik goed nadenken over wie ik wil zijn. Ik kan in mijn studentenwoning goed nadenken over hoe ik dingen aangepakt heb. Autonomy Ik voel me geremd om dingen te doen in mijn studentenwoning. In mijn studentenwoning kan ik mijn eigen ding doen. Ik kan gewoon even gek doen in mijn studentenwoning zonder dat anderen het zien. In mijn studentenwoning kan ik helemaal mezelf zijn. Rejuvenation Mijn studentenwoning is een ruimte waarin ik tot rust kan komen. In mijn studentenwoning kan ik na een drukke, stressvolle dag ontspannen. Na een slechte dag, kan ik in mijn studentenwoning bijkomen. In mijn studentenkamer kan ik mezelf opladen.
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
47
Mee eens
Enigszins mee oneens
Niet mee Enigszins mee eens eens/ niet mee oneens O O
Mee oneens
O
Appendix A Survey in Dutch
A.6. Welzijn (Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) Kies steeds het antwoord dat het beste bij je past. Denk niet te lang na over afzonderlijke vragen, maar geef het antwoord dat spontaan in je opkomt. 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Een 1 (Niet gelukkig een erg persoon) gelukkig persoon) O O O O O O O Over het algemeen, beschouw ik mezelf als:
Vergeleken met mijn medestudenten, zie ik mezelf als:
1 (Minder gelukkig)
2
3
4
5
6
7 (Gelukkig‐ er) O
O
O
O
O
O
O
1 (Helemaal niet) O
2
3
4
5
6
7 (Heel erg)
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
O
Sommige mensen zijn over het algemeen erg gelukkig. Ze genieten van het leven ongeacht wat er aan de hand is en halen overal het meeste uit. In hoeverre komt deze beschrijving over met jou? Sommige mensen zijn over het algemeen niet gelukkig. Hoewel ze niet depressief zijn, lijken ze nooit zo gelukkig als ze zouden kunnen zijn. Tot hoeverre komt deze beschrijving overeen met jou?
48
Appendix A Survey in Dutch
A.7. Vragen voor Vestide Wat was voor jou de belangrijkste reden om op kamers te gaan in Eindhoven? Kies een van de volgende antwoorden
o Ik woonde te ver van Eindhoven om thuis te blijven wonen. o Ik vond het gewoon leuk om op kamers te gaan. o Allebei even belangrijk. o Anders:________________________________________ Welke redenen speelden ook een rol bij de beslissing om op kamers te gaan in Eindhoven? Selecteer de toepasselijke opties
□ Ik wilde graag leren zelfstandig te zijn. □ Ik woonde te ver van Eindhoven om thuis te blijven wonen. □ Mijn ouders vonden dat ik op kamers moest. □ Ik wilde meer vrijheid. □ Ik wilde echt van het studentenleven genieten. □ Eindhoven is een leukere stad dan de plek waar ik vandaan kom. □ Veel van mijn vrienden gingen ook op kamers. □ Anders:________________________________________ Wat is de belangrijkste reden dat je voor je huidige kamer gekozen hebt? Kies een van de volgende antwoorden
o De kwaliteit van de kamer (bijvoorbeeld oppervlakte, ligging, prijs etc.) o Ik had snel een kamer nodig. o Beide redenen waren even belangrijk. o Anders:________________________________________
49
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Welke redenen hebben een rol gespeeld voor de keuze van je huidige kamer? Selecteer de toepasselijke opties
□ Dit was de eerste kamer waarvoor ik was ingeloot. □ Ik had snel een kamer nodig. □ De huur is laag. □ De grootte van de kamer. □ Aardige huisgenoten. □ Gunstige locatie van de kamer ten opzichte van mijn universiteit/hogeschool/school. □ Omdat het in het centrum van Eindhoven ligt. □ De studentenwoning is schoon en goed onderhouden. □ De kamer ligt dichtbij het station. □ Anders:________________________________________
Zou je een andere kamer willen?
o Ja o Nee (Indien je op de vorige vraag ‘ja’ hebt geantwoord) Wat zijn redenen dat je een andere kamer zou willen hebben? Selecteer de toepasselijke opties
□ Ik kan niet goed met mijn huisgenoten overweg. □ Ik vind de kamer te ver weg van mijn universiteit/hogeschool/academie. □ Ik wil een grotere kamer. □ Ik vind de huur te hoog. □ Ik wil een appartement zonder gezamenlijke ruimtes. □ Ik wil graag samenwonen met mijn vriend(in). □ Anders:________________________________________
50
Appendix A Survey in Dutch In welke plaats heb je gewoond, voordat je in Eindhoven op kamers ging? __________________________________________________ Heb je een emotionele band met Eindhoven?
o Ja o Nee (Indien je op de vorige vraag ‘ja’ hebt geantwoord) Kunt u dan aangeven met welke aspecten van Eindhoven u zich verbonden voelt? Selecteer de toepasselijke opties
□ Mijn studentenwoning. □ Mijn familie woont hier. □ Mijn vrienden wonen hier. □ Mijn universiteit / hogeschool / academie. □ Mijn studie/studenten/sportvereniging. □ Ik vind het een gezellige stad. □ Anders:________________________________________ Ben je van plan om na het afronden van je studie in Eindhoven te blijven wonen? Kies een van de volgende antwoorden
o Ja o Nee o Weet ik nog niet (Indien je op de vorige vraag ‘ja’ of ‘weet ik nog niet’ hebt geantwoord) Kan je redenen aangeven waarom je in Eindhoven zou willen blijven? Selecteer de toepasselijke opties
□ Mijn familie woont hier. □ Mijn vrienden wonen hier. □ Ik vind het een leuke omgeving om in te wonen. □ Er zijn in regio Eindhoven veel relevante banen te vinden. □ Anders:________________________________________ 51
Appendix A Survey in Dutch
A.8. Demografische vragen Wat is je leeftijd? Ik ben ___ jaar. Wat is je geslacht?
o Vrouwelijk o Mannelijk Heb je in een andere studentenwoning gewoond, voordat je in je huidige studentenwoning woonde?
o Ja o Nee Hoelang woon je in je huidige studentenwoning? (in maanden) _____ maanden. Hoe groot is je studentenkamer ongeveer? _____ m² (vierkante meter) Hoeveel huisgenoten heb je? Ik heb ____ huisgenoten. Geef per faciliteit aan of je deze deelt met je huisgenoten. Woonkamer Douche WC Keuken
Deel ik met niemand O O O O
Deel ik met mijn huisgenoten O O O O
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Niet van toepassing O O O O
Appendix A Survey in Dutch Heb je dit studiejaar (2010 ‐ 2011) studiepunten behaald?
□ Ja □ Nee □ Dat wil ik niet zeggen. □ Dat kan ik niet inschatten. Hoeveel studiepunten heb je ongeveer tot nu toe behaald in dit studiejaar (2010‐2011)? ____ ECTS (studiepunten) Aan welke onderwijsinstelling ben je ingeschreven? Kies een van de volgende antwoorden
□ Design Academy Eindhoven □ Fontys Hogescholen □ Technische Universiteit Eindhoven □ Anders:________________________________________ Vragen / opmerkingen De onderstaande ruimte kan je gebruiken voor commentaar of opmerkingen met betrekking tot deze vragenlijst. Het is niet verplicht om hier iets in te vullen. Loting Onder deelnemers worden onder iedere 20 ingevulde vragenlijsten een cadeaubon van €50,‐ verloot, met een maximum van 10 cadeaubonnen t.w.v. €50,‐. Vul hier je e‐mailadres in als je kans wilt maken om een cadeaubon te winnen. Je e‐mail wordt alleen gebruikt om een winnaar te bepalen en zal daarna direct weggegooid worden. _________________________________________________________________
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Appendix B E‐mail sent to respondents
Appendix B Email sent to respondents Onderwerp: Enquête woonervaringen Beste huurder van Vestide, We vragen je medewerking aan een onderzoek van Vestide en de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven naar studentenwoningen. Dit onderzoek heeft als doel meer inzicht te krijgen in hoe studenten het ervaren om op kamers te wonen. Je kunt ons helpen door een vragenlijst in te vullen. De resultaten zullen vervolgens gebruikt worden om beter in te kunnen spelen op de wensen van studenten. We verzoeken je om ongeveer 15‐20 minuten de tijd te nemen om deze vragenlijst in te vullen. Onder de volledig ingevulde vragenlijsten wordt per 20 ingevulde vragenlijsten één cadeaubon van €50,‐ verloot (met een maximum van 10 cadeaubonnen t.w.v. €50,‐). De vragenlijst is hier te vinden: http://survey.humantechnologyinteraction.eu/index.php?sid=91555&lang=nl
Het is mogelijk om de enquête tot en met 12 februari 2011 in te vullen. Alvast bedankt voor je medewerking! Met vriendelijke groeten, Shirley Elprama, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Deze email wordt via Vestide onder haar huurders verspreid. Het verwerken van de resultaten gebeurt niet door Vestide. De vragenlijst is anoniem. De bewaarde gegevens bevatten geen identiteitsgegevens tenzij je deze bij een vraag hebt ingevuld.
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Appendix C Reminder e‐mail sent to respondents
Appendix C Reminder email sent to respondents Onderwerp: Enquête woonervaringen: herinnering Beste huurder van Vestide, Vorige week heb je een e‐mail ontvangen met een uitnodiging om deel te nemen aan een onderzoek van Vestide en de Technische Universiteit Eindhoven naar studentenwoningen. Hierbij willen we je deze vragenlijst nogmaals onder de aandacht brengen. Dit onderzoek heeft als doel meer inzicht te krijgen in hoe studenten het ervaren om op kamers te wonen. Je kunt ons helpen door een vragenlijst in te vullen. De resultaten zullen vervolgens gebruikt worden om beter in te kunnen spelen op de wensen van studenten. We verzoeken je om ongeveer 15‐20 minuten de tijd te nemen om deze vragenlijst in te vullen. Onder de volledig ingevulde vragenlijsten wordt per 20 ingevulde vragenlijsten één cadeaubon van €50,‐ verloot (met een maximum van 10 cadeaubonnen t.w.v. €50,‐). Mocht je al hebben deelgenomen, of geen prijs stellen op deze herinnering tot deelname, dan kan je deze e‐mail als niet verzonden beschouwen. De vragenlijst is hier te vinden: http://survey.humantechnologyinteraction.eu/index.php?sid=91555&lang=nl Het is mogelijk om de enquête tot en met a.s. zaterdag 12 februari 2011 in te vullen. Alvast bedankt voor je medewerking! Met vriendelijke groeten, Shirley Elprama, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven Deze email wordt via Vestide onder haar huurders verspreid. Het verwerken van de resultaten wordt niet door Vestide gedaan. De vragenlijst is anoniem. De bewaarde gegevens bevatten geen identiteitsgegevens tenzij je deze bij een vraag hebt ingevuld.
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