A Gender Analysis of Attitudes to Students Residences in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines gender differences in responses to different aspects of students’ housing in two identical single-sex halls of residence in a Nigerian university. A questionnaire survey was used to elicit data from 150 students about their attitudes towards their accommodation, the design, social densities, choices and preferences, use of facilities and coping strategies. Gender differences were found to be most significant with respect to the use of domestic facilities, social densities, and design issues. The paper confirms previous studies about gender differences, identifies directions for future research and discusses the implications for the design of students’ residence halls. Keywords: Students’ housing; Gender; Crowding, Behavior, Halls of Residence, Attitudes. © 2017. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.