Mazy, Anna-Maria (2009) Young people's sense of place and the use of place in self-regulation, with consideration of gender. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate adolescents’ sense of place in term of their use of public and private places for the support of emotional well-being. These aspects of sense of place were studied in terms of adolescent boys’ and girls’ choices and uses of public and private places, and whether this usage was related to emotional well-being. The participants were 298 students from grades 9 to 12 from two High Schools in Toowoomba, Queensland. These participants completed a survey that included the Sense of Place Scale (SOPS; Jorgensen & Stedman, 2001) and a series of questions relating to residency and favourite place. Following qualitative and thematic analysis of the answers to favourite place questions, four hypotheses were tested. The first hypothesis was not supported: that males would report higher levels for “sense of place” in residential communities than females. The second hypothesis was also not supported: that participants’ preference for public or private places could be discriminated by factors such as gender, length of residence in Toowoomba, birthplace, place identity, place attachment and reasons why places were chosen for support of emotional well-being. The third hypothesis that there would be gender differences in type of social place chosen for emotional regulation was also not supported: since males did not report more use of public places and females did not report more use of private places. There were gender differences however within the group which favoured public places and the group favouring private places. In terms of public place females preferred entertainment venues and outdoor locations, while males preferred the city and indoor sporting facilities. In terms of private place selection males preferred their home and females preferred their own bedroom or a friend’s house. The fourth hypothesis that there would be gender differences in why specific places were chosen for emotional regulation was supported. As expected, males reported a functional reason, and females reported an emotional reason for place selection. This study made some contribution to the field although there were some limitations to these findings, such as the participants being taken from only two schools in Toowoomba. The finding that there were some significant differences within sections of the group of participants is one area of interest for future research. It can be argued, then, that this research project did contribute to the understanding of how place can be used for the support of emotional well-being.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Grace Pretty |
| Qualification: | Master of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Dec 2025 00:49 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Dec 2025 00:49 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52545 |
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