1. family and parenting
2. children

1995 World Cultures 9(2):3-12
Analytic Technologies
Sleeping Arrangements of Children and Adolescents: SCCS
Sample Codes
William Divale, Noelle Abrams, Jennifer Barzola, Estelle Harris, and Fred-Michael
Henry
Department of Social Sciences, York College of the City University of New York, Jamaica, NY 11451
[email protected]
1. INTRODUCTION
This paper contains codes on four variables concerning sleeping arrangements for infants, children,
and adolescents and teenagers. The data are presented in both World Cultures *.dat and *.cod format
files (ST80.dat and STDS80.cod) and in SPSS for Windows *.sav format (Sleep.sav). A partial
reliability test is made by comparing our variables with similar variables concerning infant and
adolescent segregation measured by Frayser (1988) and by Barry and Paxson (1971). Several tests of
concept validity were made by comparing these measures with selected measures concerning sexual
attitudes and practices measured by Broude and Greene (1976). Finally, a hypothesis that societies
with matrilocal residence should have greater sex segregation in sleeping for children than patrilocal
societies is tested.
2. SAMPLE
The sample used in this study is the overlap among the 186 societies in the Standard Cross-Cultural
Sample [SC-CS] (Murdock & White 1969) and the 360 societies in the Human Relations Area Files
[HRAF] (Ember and Ember 1988). We choose this sample because it has the benefits of both the SCCS and the HRAF. The SC-CS is one of the most widely used samples in cross-cultural research;
over fifteen hundred variables are measured and published for this sample. HRAF is also ideal for
cross-cultural research in that ethnographic observations and reports are easily retrievable, foreign
sources are translated into English, multiple authors cover each society, and historical depth is
available to observe culture change. There are 136 societies found in both samples and these form the
sample used here. The sample is listed in Ember and Ember 1988 showing the both the SCCR and the
HRAF numbers, and in (Divale and Seda 1996: Table 1).
3. SLEEPING VARIABLES
Following are the four sleeping arrangement variables. It is important to remember that for all these
variables only 136 of the 186 societies were examined. Therefore the “missing data” cell refers both
to the 50 societies in the SC-CS that were not examined and to those societies that were examined
and judged to lack data on the variable in question.
A few examples of the ethnographic data upon which the codes are based are given here to assist the
reader in understanding the data base underlying the codes. These were just selected at random.
Among the Masai, Leakey (1930:193) says:
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
3
The hut is not divided off into rooms in any way, and at one end of the hut is the bed upon
which the woman (mother of one of the warriors) to whom the hut belongs, sleeps with her
younger children. At the other end of the hut, not screened off in any way, is the bed upon which
the warriors and girls sleep.
For the Bambara, Henry (1910:171) writes “in the evening all young girls are shut in a communal hut
or dormitory under the supervision of an old woman.” Among the Ojibwa, Hilger (1939:135) writes,
“children often slept four, five even six in a bed or more often in two rows. Pre-adolescent boys and
girls often slept in the same bed, great care seemed to have been taken, however, not to allow
adolescent boys and girls to do so.” For the Inca, Rowe (1946:224) writes “Many Indians slept on the
dirt floor in a long blanket folded at the feet so that half was under the sleeper, half over him. The
whole family usually shared one bed.” For the Iban, Sisutlive (1973:18) says:
Married men and women sleep in bilik [house] along with their young children. Girls always
sleep in the bilik or sadu [loft] while boys begin to sleep on the ruai [porch] from age twelve,
nursing infants sleep with their mothers and fathers or, if space in bed is inadequate, fathers
sleep apart from the others, usually on the floor not far from them.
Roth (1892:129) also says that among the Iban “The young women slept apart from their parents,
sometimes in the same room, but more often in the loft. Young men and boys also sleep in lofts or
outside in the veranda.” For the Lau, Thompson (1940:59) says, “Up to the age of seven or eight
brother and sister sleep in the same house, but then avoidance begins and the brother moves into a
men’s house … while his sister usually remains (sleeps) in the house of the parents.”
1710. Person(s) Infants and Children Sleep with
N
CODE
DESCRIPTION
81
.
No data
28
1
Mother alone
0
2
Father alone
29
3
Mother and Father
6
4
Grandparents
4
5
Other Siblings
0
6
Other Relatives
26
7
Entire Family
12
8
Alone
1711. Where Adolescents Sleep
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
N
CODE
4
DESCRIPTION
90
.
No data
56
1
Entire Family Together
11
2
Separate Room in Parent’s House
5
3
Outside of Parent's House, but Near, e.g., porch
22
4
Separate Dwelling
2
5
Other Relatives
The next two variables concern sex segregation in sleeping areas. One concerns children. Boys and
girls sleeping in the same room or bed, e.g., are not separated, in a three to one ratio compared to
being separated. In only two cases did children sleep in separate houses by sex. Among adolescents
and teens the situation is reversed, sex segregation occurs on a two to one basis, e.g., they tend to
sleep in separate rooms or houses.
1712. Sex Segregation in Sleeping Areas of Children
N
CODE
DESCRIPTION
98
.
No data
63
1
Boys and Girls in Same Room or Bed
23
2
Boys and Girls in Separate Rooms or Separate Beds
2
3
Boys and Girls in Separate Houses
1713. Sex Segregation in Sleeping Areas of Adolescents and Teens
N
CODE
DESCRIPTION
95
.
No data
33
1
Boys and Girls in Same Room or Bed
31
2
Boys and Girls in Separate Rooms or Separate Beds
27
3
Boys and Girls in Separate Houses
4. CODING PROCEDURES
Initial research indicated that data on sleeping arrangements were likely to be found in HRAF OCM
(Outline of Cultural Materials) subject categories 513: Sleeping and 857: Childhood Activities. The
OCM is the subject indexing system that pages of ethnographic text in HRAF are grouped by
(Murdock, et. al 1982). Coding was done in two stages: first 81 undergraduates in a large
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
5
introductory anthropology class of 89 students (not all students participated) collected quotes relevant
to sleeping arrangements, and secondly the author and four anthropology majors trained in crosscultural research made final judgments based on the quotations collected.
Students were instructed on how to use the Human Relations Area Files and how to read OCM
categories 513 and 857. They were first given practice assignments and a section of several classes
was set aside for questions and problems that arose while learning to use the HRAF and with practice
coding. They were instructed to first read category 513: Sleeping, and then to read category 857:
Childhood Activities if sufficient information was not available in 513. Each student was assigned
three societies and given a code-book with instructions and examples of different ethnographic
comments on sleeping arrangements. Students were asked to look for text relevant to the above four
variables and also for evidence that men or boys slept in men’s houses or bachelor houses. We did
this not to measure the presence of men’s houses per se (this is planned in another paper), but we
used this to get more complete information as to where teens and older males slept.
When the coders came upon an instance of sleeping arrangements they were to make an exact quote
and provide the author’s name, year of publication and page number, and dates in the field. Part of
the assignment was for students to learn how to use the HRAF and to be exposed to raw ethnographic
data, as well as gain some experience working on actual research. If two of the three societies did not
have data on sleeping arrangements, the student coders were assigned three additional societies. Thus
for most of the sample each society was coded by from three to six students.
For the final phase of measurement the authors each took a geographical region and made the specific
ratings based on the ethnographic quotes collected. The senior author then rechecked the codes made
by the other raters and found only two or three cases of disagreement, which he then re-coded.
5. Reliability
In the context of survey research reliability refers to whether a respondent would give the same
answers repeatedly when asked the same question. In cross-cultural research reliability refers to the
consistency between coders, e.g., do different coders score the same data the same way. In measuring
this data set we have taken steps to limit systematic bias by having multiple researchers collect the
data, and by having each co-author rate a sub-set of the data. The only procedures for reliability taken
was having the senior author check the codes of the other co-authors.
However, the best test of reliability may be comparing one of our measures with similar measures
made by other researchers. Suzanne Frayser in her study of the Varieties of Sexual Experience (1985)
made two measures of sleeping arrangements: One was where married women sleep and the other
was “Sleeping Arrangements of Adolescent Females: where unmarried but sexually mature females
sleep in relation to sexually mature males in the living quarters.” The codes are ranked according to
the degree of segregation of female from male adolescents. Barry and Paxson (1971,1985) also made
measures of “Sleeping Proximity of Parents to Infants” (World Cultures variable 23). Our measure
refers to the Segregation in Sleeping Areas of Adolescents and Teens which more or less corresponds
to Frayser’s measure of segregation between adolescent girls from boys, and our measures of child
and adolescent sleeping arrangements more or less correspond to Barry and Paxson’s measure for
infants (v23).
Table 1 shows the Spearman Rho’s correlation between these variables. The Barry and Paxson
measure of parent to infant sleeping proximity does not correlate significantly with any of our
6
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
measures or with Frayser’s measure. This may be because the Barry and Paxson measure refers to
infant sleeping, while our measure is for both infants and children. On the other hand, Frayser’s
measure correlates significantly with three of our measures. With Child Sleeping Arrangements it is
-0.62, p =0.000; but more importantly, with Adolescent Sleeping it is 0.38, p = 0.02, and with
Adolescent Sex Segregation it is 0.39, p = 0.02. The significant associations between Frayser’s
variable and three of ours indicates there is some reliability in these measures.
Table 1.
Spearman’s Rho Correlations Between
Similar Measures of Adolescent Segregation In Sleeping
Child Sleeping
Arrangements
Adolescent
Sleeping
Arrangements
Child Sex
Sleep
Segregation
Adolescent
Sex Sleep
Segregation
V23
ρ = -0.0979
N = 101
p = 0.165
ρ = 0.0386
N = 93
p = 0.357
ρ = 0.1309
N = 85
p = 0.116
ρ = 0.0331
N = 87
p = 0.380
SF
ρ = -0.6194
N = 30
p = 0.000
ρ = 0.3761
N = 30
p = 0.020
ρ = -0.0138
N = 26
p = 0.473
ρ = 0.3895
N = 27
p = 0.022
V23
ρ = 0.2036
N = 54
p = 0.070
V23: Sleeping Proximity of Parents to Infants (Barry & Paxson 1971)
1. Mo & Fa in Different room than infant
2. Mo same room (not bed) as infant, Fa different room
3. Mo same room (not bed) as infant, Fa unspecified
4. Mo same room (not bed) as infant, Fa different bed
5. Mo, Fa same room as infant, beds not specified
6. Mo same bed as infant, Fa different room
7. Mo same bed as infant, Fa not specified
8. Mo same bed as infant, Fa same room
9. Mo and Fa in same bed as infant
SF: Sleeping Arrangements of Adolescent Females: Where unmarried but sexually mature females
sleep in relation to sexually mature males in the living quarters. Ranked according to the degree of
segregation of female from male adolescents (Frayser 1985)
1. Girls marry before or very soon after puberty and live in the dwelling of their prospective husband
2. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents and sibs no special section reported for them
3. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents but in a particular section or partitioned area for them and/or their
female siblings
4. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents but in a particular section for their mothers and female children.
Males sleep in a separate section
5. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents with no partition reported, but the adolescent males sleep in a
separate section
6. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents with no partition reported, but the adolescent males sleep in a men’s
house or somewhere other than the natal dwelling
7. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their parents. There is a special or partitioned area for them. The adolescent
males sleep elsewhere
8. Girls sleep in the same dwelling as their mother, but adolescent and other mature males sleep elsewhere
9. Girls sleep in their own hut or separate dwelling for adolescent girls. Adolescent boys sleep in a men’s house or
some dwelling other than the one in which their parents reside
7
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
6. Validity
Validity refers to whether or not the variable actually measures the concept it is supposed to
represent. This is always a problem when variables are indirect measurements or indicator concepts.
A good example of the difference between reliability and validity is a bathroom scale. If you
repeatedly step on a bathroom scale and each time it tells you that you weigh 150 pounds the scale is
reliable. However, if it says you weigh 150 pounds when you actually weigh 200 pounds, the scale
has a validity problem (Babbie and Halley 1995:13).
Validity is often difficult to assess. Sometimes the best indication of a variable’s validity is how it
performs in a hypothesis test (Spector 1992). Tables 2 through 4 represent the results of several
hypotheses concerning sleeping arrangements and sexual segregation in sleeping. One hypothesis
concerning post-marital residence and sleeping arrangements stems from Divale (1984). We suggest
that there will be greater segregation in sleeping for children in societies with matrilocal residence
than with patrilocal residence. The reason we suggest this is that in matrilocal societies males will
leave their natal household and sometimes their natal village at marriage, and greater separation of
infants and children from their parents and male and female siblings from each other will result in
weaker natal family bonds, making for easier separation at marriage. Table 2 shows a cross-tab
between matrilocal vs. patrilocal residence and sexual segregation of sleeping areas for children. The
distribution of societies in Table 2 shows a greater proportion of matrilocal societies have sexual
segregation than patrilocal ones (Gamma = -0.51 and Chi-Square probability = 0.01).
Table 2
Cross-Tab of Post-Marital Residence and Segregation of Sleeping Areas for Children
Segregation of Sleeping
Areas for Children
Post-Marital Residence
Matrilocal
Patrilocal
Total
Same Room or Bed
8
45
53
Separate Rooms or Beds
5
14
19
Separate Houses or Places
2
0
2
15
59
74
Total
Gamma = -0.51 Chi-square = 9.17, p = 0.01
Source for marital residence codes: Murdock and Wilson (1972)
In tables 3 and 4 several variables on sexual attitudes and practices (Broude and Greene 1976) are
compared with sleeping arrangements. Sleeping arrangements should have direct effects on sexual
behavior and attitudes since they reflect different types of intimate contacts for about one-third of the
time for each day. Table 3 lists correlations between the distance from the mother in sleeping
arrangements for both children and adolescents with several variables on sexual attitudes and
practices taken from Broude and Greene (1976). In societies where infants and children sleep further
from their mother, both males and females tend to wear clothing at an earlier age. We suggest that
this is because the early separation of children from the mother produces a greater sense of separation
8
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
of the self from others, e.g., a kind of alienation of the self from others. This sense of separation from
others would foster the need to cover the body earlier. In contrast, when the distance from the mother
occurs later, e.g., among adolescents and teens, then clothing begins to be worn at a later age (rho = 0.35, p = 0.038 for males, and rho = -0.38, p = 0.016 for females). By adolescence the sense of self is
developed and the need for clothing is perhaps less psychologically based. Sleeping distance from the
mother for adolescents and teens has other consequences for sexual behavior. In societies where
males sleep further away from the mother, males tend to be the initiators in premarital sex (rho =
0.54, p = 0.005), and rape tends to be absent or rare (rho = -0.45, p = 0.039).
Table 3
Correlation of Distance from Mother in Sleeping Arrangements with Sexual Attitudes and
Practices
Sleeping Arrangements
Broude and Green (1976) variables
Infant/Child
Adolescent/Teen
Age Clothing Begins to be Worn: Males
(1 = never to 6 = at birth)
ρ = 0.38
N = 30
p = 0.020
ρ = -0.35
N = 26
p = 0.038
Age Clothing Begins to be Worn: Females
(1 = never to 6 = at birth)
ρ = 0.42
N = 36
p = 0.006
ρ = -0.38
N = 32
p = 0.016
Initiator of Premarital Sex
(1 = women always to 5 = men always)
ns
ρ = 0.54
N = 22
p = 0.005
Frequency of Rape
(1 = absent, 2 = rare, 3 = common)
ns
ρ = -0.45
N = 16
p = 0.039
Table 4 shows some correlations with sexual segregation in sleeping for children and adolescents and
sexual attitudes and practices. Societies where children have sexual segregation in sleeping tend to
have less homosexuality (rho = -0.43, p = 0.004) and less impotence (rho = -0.41, p = 0.035).
Societies where adolescents and teens have sexual segregation in sleeping tend to believe that sex is
dangerous (rho = 0.42, p = 0.02), females wear clothing at a later age (rho = -0.31, p = 0.044), and
there is a greater frequency of extramarital sex for females (rho = -0.33, p = 0.036).
Table 4
Correlation of Sexual Segregation in Sleeping Arrangements with Sexual Attitudes and
Practices
Sleeping Arrangements
Broude and Green (1976) variables
Infant/Child
Adolescent/Teen
9
SLEEPING ARRANGEMENTS / Divale et al.
Belief that Sex is Dangerous
(1 = never to 5 = always)
ns
ρ = 0.42
N = 24
p = 0.020
Age Clothing Begins to be Worn: Females
(1=never to 6=at birth)
ns
ρ = -0.31
N = 31
p = 0.044
Frequency of Female Extramarital Sex
(1 = universal to 4 = rare)
ns
ρ = -0.33
N = 31
p = 0.036
ρ = -0.43
N = 37
p = 0.004
ns
ρ = -0.41
N = 20
p = 0.035
ns
Frequency of Homosexuality
(1 = absent/rare, 2 = present/not uncommon)
Impotence
(1 = absent, 2 = present)
The four sleeping variables were compared with 20 variables on sexual attitudes and practices. At the
0.05% level of statistical significance, one would expect to find four correlations with chance
probabilities of 0.05% or less by chance alone. However, eleven were found to be significant and the
Spearman rhos ranged from a low of 0.31 to a high of 0.54. Not only were almost three times the
expected number of significant correlations found, they were also moderately high. The fact that
these four sleeping arrangement variables behave in predictable and logical ways, suggests that these
measures also contain concept validity.
7. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was supported in part by NIH MARC Training Grant T34 GM08498-O2 (William
Divale), the 1993 NSF Summer Institute in Comparative Anthropology SBR-8911173 (C. Ember, M.
Burton, and R. Munroe), and the 1995 NSF Summer Institute in Quantitative Methods in
Anthropology (R. Bernard, P. Pelto, S. Borgatti). Divale would like to acknowledge the participation
of 81 students in his Spring 1996 Tuesday evening Introduction to Cultural Anthropology course for
assistance on collecting the initial quotations on sleeping arrangements.
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