Home and School Density Effects on Elementary School Children

School or classroom density is most often studied as social density, namely, the number of people in a space. The current study investigates classroom spatial density effects on elementary school children. Outcomes included a measure of academic achievement, social behavior/disturbance, and a self-reported measure of psychological stress. Second- and fourth-grade children in urban public schools were the participants. Findings indicate amount of space per child in the classroom may be just as important as the number of children in a classroom. Girls' academic achievement was negatively affected by less space per student; boys' classroom behavior was negatively affected by spatial density conditions. There was no interaction of school and home density on the outcome measures; however, children in crowded homes were more likely to report more psychological stress than their less crowded peers. Home density also negatively affected academic performance.