Perceived crowding in Indian classrooms: The effects of age, gender and household density

Ninety primary school students in a city in northern India, an equal number of boys and girls, participated in a simulation task in which they placed small figures in a model classroom that they were told to make, in counterbalanced order, crowded or non-crowded. The students, 30 from each of three age groups (6-7, 9-10 and 12-13), also rated conditions in their classroom and their home. Analyses revealed consistent age effects, such as that younger children were more likely to place the figure representing them farther from the front of the simulated classroom, and, with regard to their actual classroom, to think there were too many children. In terms of gender, boys, compared to girls, generally placed the figure representing them more centrally in the simulated classroom, although this difference disappeared when the simulated classroom was crowded.