A Qualitative Study on the Experience of Dormitory Life among Female Students with an Emphasis on their Problems

The purpose of this study was to investigate the social problems of female students focusing on a comparison between the dormitory lifestyle and living together with their family. Based on qualitative approach and through the grounded theory method and snowball sampling, 14 students were interviewed. Analysis of data started from the first case and collecting data continued until theoretical saturation was realized.  Analysis of data resulted in 8 categories: social tags in living place, controlling norms of family, environmental limits, lack of independence and freedom, contradiction of traditional norms with present social values, conflict of ideas with family members, distance from real self, normalization of social pathologies as social problems of dormitory life. The extracted concepts indicate that the dormitory lifestyle has some individual positive consequences for female students including more personal independence in the dormitory, management of economic costs, achieving more tolerance and improvement of social interactions. In sum, this research indicated that freedom and independence of the students in the dormitory are more than when they live with their family. Despite the difficulties in the dormitory, most students prefer dwelling life to family life.