Sex and the Single Armrest:
Use of Personal Space During Air Travel
Dorothy Marcic Hai, Zahid Y. Khairullah and Nancy Coulmas
St. Bonaventure University¹
Originally Published in 1982
SUMMARY
Studies using a questionnaire and direct observation were designed co explore the correlation between sex and territorial space on air planes. Subjecrs were observed in the coach section of airplanes to determine whether men or women used the common armrest more, when seated in mixed sex arrangement. Other subjects responded co an interview questionnaire at a major airport. Results indicate that men, with or without control for size, had a much greater tendency to use the common armrest. Also those subjects accustomed to using the armrest felt angrier when denied this space.
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