The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1 - 15

Privacy Acquisition Strategies of Roommates

and the stress and/or lack of sleep experienced
by some sexiled roommates may interfere
with their academic performance (Tang, 2011).
Being sexiled could certainly contribute to two
potential areas of dissatisfaction: feelings of
isolation and lowered academic performance
due to the stress or lack of sleep that could
result from being sexiled. Students' attitudes
and feelings about being sexiled may negatively impact their satisfaction with the college,
which, in turn, could negatively impact retention. Therefore, it is in a college or university's
best interest to help students learn to effectively deal with the problems associated with the
private use of shared living space.
As stated earlier, most of the self-help materials available to students emphasize the
importance of communication in negotiating
the use of shared living space, yet no empirical investigations have been offered to provide
information about how this communication
should be constructed. The current study,
which focuses on how roommates negotiate
the desire for privacy, is a ﬁrst step in providing insight into how college students in residence halls negotiate the use of shared space
when one or both of them desire privacy. Understanding what students are currently doing
(or not doing) to negotiate this process could
help residential life staff frame a discussion on
how to collaborate in the use of shared space.

SHARED LIVING SPACES
Double occupancy is the most common form
of residential living on college and university
campuses in the Unites States (Kaya & Weber,
2003), and at colleges with a four-year residency requirement, students are expected to
live on campus, often with a roommate, for

their entire undergraduate program. Negotiating the use of shared space is often a new skill
that students living in college residence halls
have to learn, and the process can lead to stress
(Cohen, 2007; Kurtz, 2003).
Sharing living space limits privacy, and
while individual needs for privacy vary (Kaya
& Weber, 2003), all people require a space
where they are free to act without observation
or judgment (Altman, 1977). Private space also
helps in coping with social pressure by providing a release from role demands and social
demands, as well as providing time for selfreﬂection (Margulis, 2003).
Differing schedules, extracurricular activities, and weekends away may provide some
privacy naturally. However, roommates may
ﬁnd themselves in a situation where they need
to make speciﬁc requests for privacy. Studies
that have examined privacy requests between
roommates tend to focus on general privacy
needs like time for studying or entertaining
friends (Amole, 2005). What is often overlooked
is privacy for sexual activity, and according to
most research, sexual activity (often referred
to as "hooking-up") is occurring regularly. In a
2007 study, 72% of respondents of both sexes
reported having at least one hookup by the time
they were seniors; the average was 9.7 for men
and 7.1 for women (England, Shafer, & Fogarty,
2007), and several other studies demonstrate
similar trends (Calzo, Epstein, Smiler, & Ward,
2009; Glenn & Marquardt, 2001; Lambert,
Kahn, & Apple, 2003; Paul, McManus, &
Hayes, 2000). Many students living in college
residence halls ﬁnd themselves in the unfamiliar situation of having increased sexual
freedom but in the context of sharing their
bedroom with a roommate.

15
The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 40, No. 2 & Volume 41, No. 1
