Privacy regulation and place attachment: Predicting attachments to a student family housing facility

Although similar processes and functions have been proposed for privacy regulation and place attachment, little theoretical or empirical work encompasses both constructs. In the present study, a theoretical model relates privacy regulation to place attachment in the home. According to this model, the home setting may either facilitate or inhibit privacy regulation with family. When regulation is facilitated, family functioning and feelings of control should be enhanced, promoting attachments to the home. Questionnaire data from student family apartment residents supported this model. Residents who reported greater ease in regulating privacy with family also reported greater apartment attachment. Analyses suggested that this relationship was mediated by family functioning and feelings of control. Similar relationships were found for three different types of attachment. By bridging across concepts often treated separately, the model supported in this study suggests new directions for theoretical and empirical study, and new applications for housing policy and design. (C) 1996 Academic Press Limited.