Privacy in the Preschool Environment

Gender Differences in Reaction to Crowding

Abstract

The preschool environment is of great value in the socialization of young children. Privacy is achieved through some degree of control over the physical environment. This research investigates the need for privacy of the preschool child. It is conducted with 3 to 5-year-olds in two campus child care facilities. Two types of privacy spaces are provided for the children. Each has an interior measure of 30" x 30". One structure furnishes enclosure and the other is more open in nature. The use by the children of these structures is observed with video camera during free play on three consecutive days in each facility. The variability in the use of the structures due to the degree of enclosure (open or closed), the gender of the children using each structure, and the type of social play (solitary or interactive) exhibited by the children is studied.

A pilot study is completed first to determine time sampling procedures. It is established that the state of the classroom is independent from one time period to another at periods that are two minutes apart. Thus the use of the structures in the classroom is also independent every two minutes.

T tests reveal a preference for solitary play in the more enclosed structure. This is indicated 31% (.05) of the time, p = .0007 [t = 3.2589 (df =1,154), n = 78], as compared to 10% (.03) of solitary play taking place in the open structure. The closed structure is used 25% (.05) of the time for interactive play, p = .0001 [t = 4.0084 (df = 1,105.8), n = 78] . This provides strong evidence for the value of the closed structure for both types of play.

In both centers, the girls preferred the structures more than the boys. In Center A, the girls preferred the closed structure for both solitary play and interactive play. In Center B, both the open and closed structures were used by the girls equally for both types of play. There is a trend for the boys to use the structures more in Center A where the density of the classroom is greater.