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Privacy and environment

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Abstract

Orientations toward privacy were identified and individual differences in orientation assessed by means of the newly developed Privacy Preference Scale. Principal components analysis of the PPS revealed six major factors from which subscales were constructed, their content centering on orientations toward noninvolvement with neighbors, seclusion of the home, solitude, privacy with intimates, anonymity, and reserve. In a suburban adult sample (n = 101), these orientations toward privacy were related by means of correlation, multivariate analysis of variance, and canonical correlation to density of past and present environments and to features of the physical environment affecting potential privacy.

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This article is based in part on a doctoral dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and financed by Public Health Service Predoctoral Fellowship 4 F1 MH33979-04 from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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Marshall, N.J. Privacy and environment. Hum Ecol 1, 93–110 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531349

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531349

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