The role of interior design elements in human responses to crowding.

The role of interior design elements in mitigating the negative relationship between residential crowding and psychological health was investigated. Residents of crowded homes with greater architectural depth (the number of spaces one must pass through to get from one room in the house to another) are less likely to socially withdraw or to be psychologically distressed than residents in crowded homes with relatively low depth. Additional analyses suggest that greater depth buffers the association between residential crowding and psychological distress because it reduces social withdrawal among residents of crowded homes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)