Cross-cultural differences in tolerance for crowding: Fact or fiction?

It is widely believed that cultures vary in their tolerance for crowding. T here is, however, little evidence to substantiate this belief, coupled with serious shortcomings in the extant literature. Tolerance for crowding has been confused with cultural differences in personal space preferences along with perceived crowding. Furthermore, the few studies that have examined c ultural variability in reactions to crowding have compared subgroup correla tions, which is not equivalent to a statistical interaction. Although the a uthors found a statistical interaction indicating that Asian Americans and Latin Americans differ in the way they perceive crowding in comparison to t heir fellow Angle-American and African American citizens, all four ethnic g roups suffer similar, negative psychological distress sequelae of high-dens ity housing. These results hold independently of household income.