本研究的目的在於探究不同的宿舍形式是否會帶來學生心理成長上的差異。亦即住於男女混合宿舍的學生與住於男女分開居住的宿舍的學生在心理成長上是否有所不同。本研究的假設是住於混合宿舍的學生的心理成長比住於男女分開宿舍的學生的心理成長來得快。心理成長的定義為：較獨立、較能接納自己、較能生活於現在、較能表達自己的情感、較能有親近且有意義的人際關係。此研究以一百名學生為對象。採隨機取樣，取自佛羅里達大學1975年秋季入學住於Rawling Hall（男生宿舍），Mallory Hall（女生宿舍），Broward Hall（男女混合宿舍）的大一新生。此樣本包括了：25名的男生宿舍生 (宿舍全部住有200名男生)，25名的女生宿舍生（宿舍全部住有90名女生）及居住於男女混合宿舍的25名男生與25名女生 (此宿舍住有120名男生及120名女生)。 本研究所使用的測量工具是POI（Personal Orientation Inventory）。第一次測驗是在1975年秋季開學時舉行。第二次測驗則在秋季學期結束時舉行。研究結果發現住於男女混合居住的宿舍的學生比住於男生或女生單獨宿舍的學生在表達情感方面有較快的成長（P<.05），且女生的表達情感的成長速度比男生的顯著（P<.01）。在接納自己方面，住在男女混合居住宿舍的學生其心理成長速度上比住於男生或女生宿舍的學生的成長速度幾乎顯著的快（P<.10）。在其他方面，例如:獨立性，生活於現在以及良好人際關係，住在男女混合的宿舍的學生比住在男生或女生宿舍的學生有較快的成長，但其差別並不顯著。

　　　　　The purpose of the present study was to determine if residing in coed living units really helps to promote the psychological growth of students. The hypothesis was that the students who reside in coed living units would gain more psychological growth than the students who live in trandional single-sex residence halls. In the study, psychological growth was defined as becoming more independent, more accepting of one's self, more able to live in the present not the past, more able to express feelings spontaneously, and more able to have close & meaningful interpersonal relationships with other human beings. The study was conducted at the University of Florida during the Fall quarter of 1975. The students for the study were randomly selected from three resident halls as follows: 25 male freshmen living in a male single-sex hall, 25 female freshmen living in a female single-sex hall and 25 male and 25 female freshmen living in a coed hall. In the study, the six selected scales of POI (PersonalOrientation Inventory) were used to evaluate the students' psychological growth. These are; Time Competent, Inner-Directed, Spontaneity, Self-Regard, Self Acceptance, & Capacity for Intimate Contact. The pretest was administeredat the beginning of the Fall quarter of 1975. The post-test was administeredat the end of the Fall quarter of 1975. Analysis of covariance was used to analyze the difference between pretest & post-test mean scores of the groups. The results showed that the students living in the coed hall demonstrated more growth in expressing their feelings freely than non-coed students did. (P<.05) The females showed more growth in expressing their feelings than male students did. (p<.01) In addition, the results indicated that students living in the coed hall tend to be more able to accept themselves than the students living in non coed halls, but not reach a significant level, (p<-10) On the Inner-DirectedScale, Time Competent Scale, Self-Regard Scaled & Capacity for Intimate Contact, the male & female students from the coed hall showed generally more growth than the students of single-sex hall, however, the difference was not significant.