An Ecological Study on Family and Home : Personal Space and Intimacy of the Student, the Middle-aged and the Elderly toward Their Family Members

The aim of this study was to compare the personal space and intimacy of the student, middle-aged and the elderly toward their family members. We also examined gender's and generation's differences, and compared to the two cases of the family who lived with son's family or daughter's one. Subjects from 56 families were 81 elderly persons (mean age 73.6), 110 middle aged (mean age 47.8) and 56 students (mean age 19.0). Interpersonal distances of elderly women toward to husband were far than elderly men toward to wives. Mothers in middle-age group and the elderly group were closer to daughter than son. Fathers in both groups were far from daughter and son. The elderly had greater feelings of warmth among family members, but they were distant from children-in-law. The degree of intimacy of the students who lived with mother's parent were greater to grandmother than the student living with father's parent.departmental bulletin pape