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Home and School Density Effects on Elementary School Children

The Role of Spatial Density

The Department of Design and Environmental Analysis in the New York State College of Human Ecology at Cornell University.

School or classroom density is most often studied as social density, namely, the number of people in a space. The current study investigates classroom spatial density effects on elementary school children. Outcomes included a measure of academic achievement, social behavior/disturbance, and a self-reported measure of psychological stress. Second- and fourth-grade children in urban public schools were the participants. Findings indicate amount of space per child in the classroom may be just as important as the number of children in a classroom. Girls' academic achievement was negatively affected by less space per student; boys' classroom behavior was negatively affected by spatial density conditions. There was no interaction of school and home density on the outcome measures; however, children in crowded homes were more likely to report more psychological stress than their less crowded peers. Home density also negatively affected academic performance.

Key Words: children • density • schools • home • gender differences

Environment and Behavior, Vol. 35, No. 4, 566-578 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0013916503035004007


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