Where the heart is : college students’ perceptions of transitional home spaces

The present study aims to address the ways in which college students who may be experiencing identity transformations characteristic of the emerging adulthood life stage experience and understand aspects of home, both lived in the past and present and imagined in the future. Home, in general, is often understood as a multidimensional concept that is comprised of physical, personal, social, and temporal qualities (Kenyon 1999; Mallett 2002). This thesis uses qualitative and quantitative data collected from Whitman College students to understand how students perceive of these home qualities as more or less prevalent in and relevant to the various homes they occupy throughout the college transition.