EFFECTS OF PHYSICAL LIVING ENVIRONMENT ON THE SOCIAL INTERACTION AND PERCEIVED SENSE OF COMMUNITY AMONG STUDENTS IN UNIVERSITY DORMITORY

College students living in university dormitory continuously experience unique physical and social living conditions, being away from their hometown and loving families. Most college students has engaged in a very limited social activities in dormitory area. Studies have shown that sense of community(SOC) is closely related to students' social activities. However, few research have examined the relationship between physical environment and sense of community. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the effects of physical environment of dormitory on students' perceived sense of community and their social interaction. Extensive literature review found that developing social interaction and building a sense of student community improve students' overall residential satisfaction with dormitory and personal academic growth. Survey on A university dormitory and Chi square analysis (${\chi}^2$) indicated that each group's individual characteristics such as gender, grade, living period, and personality were statistically significant on the level of SOC at the level of p=.01. Individual analysis of SOC showed that sense of belonging was higher than shared emotional connection, which means certain level of intervention is needed. Pearson correlation analysis validated that there exists statistically significant relationship between physical environment and SOC. Further it also found that the most important predictor in facilitating social interaction were comfortable, quiet, and enough social space around the dormitory.