Keywords

1 Introduction

1.1 Significance of the Study

Social psychological problems accompany the development of human society. Depression is the most common mental illness in the world, and it is the leading cause of suicide in mental illness. With depression as the example. From 2005 to 2015, there was an 18-percent increase in the number of depression patients [1]. By 2015, the number of depression patients with depression alone reached 322 million [1], accounting for more than 4% of the global population. The incidence of depression was 23.8% higher in Chinese school students [2], and the detection rate of depressive symptoms in middle school students was 23.7%–54.4%, among which the detection rate of severe depressive symptoms was 3.3%–9.68%. The burden of mental illness continues to increase in all countries of the world, with significant health implications and significant social, human and economic consequences. And the existing health systems in present society are limited. As a result, scarcity has appeared, there is a great contradiction between the need for treatment and the limited supply of health systems. In developing countries, only 15%–24% of people with depression receive treatment of health systems [3]. However, in developed countries, 50%–65% of people with depression are in the same situation [3]. Are there any ways can help depressed people beside health care services? People spend almost 3/4 of their lives indoors. Can we improve people’s emotions by enhancing the use of space of architecture? Why can architecture affect people’s feelings? What kinds of design interventions can be made to help us to eliminate the sad emotions of daily life?

People shape architecture, and architecture also develops people. We’re always told what’s on the inside that counts. However, as architects, our responsibility is making a personal connection - not only people with the physical environment but also how it triggers people’s emotional responses. If we can use architecture space to solve psychology problems, we will balance these serious issues about limited medical resources and people with mental disorders provision alongside the social. We also will satisfy the needs of spiritual and emotional of people in daily life.

1.2 The Range of the Study

This paper mainly studies the potential impact of spatial user experience on emotion within two high schools, i.e., one international school in Shenzhen and one international school in Guangzhou, Greater Bay Area, China, and discusses how to optimize contemporary feelings of the high school students by improving the existing space environment. And mainly combines developmental psychology with actual data from the cognitive perspective of architectural designers, from the standpoint of the perception of architectural users, and from the perspective of environmental space to human psychology, to explore the chaos of human space versus vision and even subconscious.

Architectural Psychology.

Architectural psychology is a marginal subject that studies the interaction between the internal and external environment of a building and human psychology [4]. It is an interdisciplinary subject between psychology and architecture. The concepts and scientific knowledge provided by psychology about psychological phenomena, spiritual needs, and behavioral psychology help to build an architectural environment that meets people’s needs. It is a relevant field where findings reveal how we can design buildings better for occupants. By understanding more about how occupants experience built form and take on a more occupant-centered approach.

1.3 The Current Situation of the Study

In today’s academic world, scholars generally believe that the built environment can have a particular impact on the user’s psychological and self-emotional management. The architect Robert venturi thinks that the complexity and contradiction of architecture is a reflection of human psychology, complexity, and inconsistency in the real world [5]. Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg at the University of Heidelberg has shown that good design of architecture can change brain biology in some people, resulting in reduced gray matter in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the perigenual anterior cingulate cortex, two areas where changes have previously linked to early -life stressful experiences [6]. However, some scholars believe that emotional management and psychological state are determined by the internal state of the person, and have nothing to do with external factors such as the built environment [7]. Psychologist Li Hongfu believes that the leading cause of mental illness and emotional management confusion is the patient’s unhealthy psychology [8]. Many environmental problems that are considered important by patients may be just a representation of the patient, a point of projection, perhaps without this problem, and another. There is a few studies look into the phenomenon between spatial/architectural experience and emotional management, such as depression. Hence, this study focus on investigating the phenomenon in a case of high schools in Greater Bay Area, China.

2 Research Methods

2.1 Literature Review

Analytical tests are qualitative research methods that are common in research. The literature review method refers to the analysis method of the research object by analyzing the collected literature materials to find out the nature and condition of the research object. The researchers borrow books, newspapers, and periodicals from the library, and accesses news, self-media information, and videos from the highly trusted educational websites to collect information such as “architectural psychology,” “the status of depressed patients in high school students,” and “space and emotion management.” In the process, the author understands merely and selects the content of the literature through the abstract, and then effectively reads or intensively reads the novel, excerpts the keywords and phrases during reading, and summarizes the reading content. Finally, the researchers summarizes the literature review and sorts the cost times.

2.2 Questionnaire

The authors uses the questionnaire because it has many significant advantages: the results of the survey are easy to conduct statistics and analysis; the questionnaire survey is the fastest and most effective way to collect data (under the premise that the investigator can accurately understand the questions in the questionnaire); Appropriate wording and an excellent overall sense in the questionnaire allow the respondents to be free from negative emotions when filling out the questionnaire, and the credibility is increased; The written form can be spread more widely and widely, thus expanding the sample size and diversity; Questionnaires in writing can better protect the privacy of investigators [9].

The researchers distributed a questionnaire to a total of 1,250 high school students aged 15 to 19 years old in three high schools as experimental samples. The questionnaire is divided into two phases. The first phase aims to screen out subjects with depression and depression. In the second stage, the researchers designed a questionnaire about “Have them ever had negative emotions because of space in the school.” In further step, the researchers will use five senses graph devised by Lee [10]. Along the y-axis, it has a scale from 0 to 10, 10 is high intensity, 0 is no intensity. Along the x-axis, it has the five senses. Senses include sound, touch, sight, smell, taste. On this basis, the researchers devised six emotions graph, use six emotions instead of five senses along the x-axis. The feelings are happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger, and surprise, as shown in Fig. 4. And the researchers will ask students to record their user experiment in different school quarters on five senses graph and six emotions graph. Finally, the researchers collected the data and made the average s senses graph and normal six feelings.

2.3 Follow-up Interview

The follow-up interviews are in the form of one-on-one meetings. In a limited time and space, the researcher conducts a purposeful and natural conversational interview with high school students with depression and tendency. Through interviews, the researcher wants to understand their needs and the current state of the school and the sense of campus space experience. The researchers’ language ability, social ability, and improvisation ability need to be excellent. All respondents volunteered to participate in the focus interview and expressed great interest in the subject of this study. The researcher first sorts and summarizes the subjective views in the questionnaires of the participants, to list the interview outlines and interview questions. By analyzing the psychological characteristics of each subject, the researcher prepared a response strategy for emergencies.

After the focus interview, the researcher collects the data, organizes it into a form of the manuscript, classifies the respondents’ answers, captures the key points in the interview process, and makes a text report.

3 Results

3.1 Questionnaire

Shenzhen Mesa College.

In the high school of Shenzhen Mesa college, a total of 377 students participated in the questionnaire survey, including 198 male students and 179 female students. A total of 72 students, or 19%, as shown in Fig. 1, were either depressed or at risk of depression. Among them, 34 boys, accounting for 17% of the total number of boys, 38 girls, accounting for 21% of the total number of girls.

Fig. 1.
figure 1

Current depressed or at risk of depression students in terms of gender in Shenzhen Mesa College.

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Regarding age distribution, the 18-year-old high school student has the highest number of people with or with depression, up to 38, accounting for 44% of the total, as shown in Fig. 2. There are 21 people at the age of 17, accounting for 19% of the total number of people in that age group. Twelve people aged 16 years, accounting for 11% of the total number of people in that age group. Four people aged 15 years, accounting for 6% of the total number of people in this age group. There is one person at the age of 19, accounting for 50% of the total number of people in that age group.

Fig. 2.
figure 2

Current depressed or at risk of depression students in terms of age in Shenzhen Mesa College.

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Of the 72 people, 66 have had negative emotions in the existing campus environment. Among them, 48 people have attended regular junior high schools in China and 18 people have attended international junior high school, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.
figure 3

Students’ emotions in the existing campus environment in Shenzhen Mesa College.

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Regarding different spatial and emotional intensity of the campus, the results are compared with the ideal state. The living area has the most significant adverse impact on the user’s emotions, followed by the teaching area, as shown in Fig. 4. The aversion index of these two areas is as high as 6. In the multi-purpose zone, the joy index reached a relatively high of 7. Relative to other regions, the outdoor activity zone has a corresponding average of 2.5, but its fear index has reached a relatively high of 4. The landscape area has two relative highest values, the sadness index and the surprise index, which deserve research attention.

Fig. 4.
figure 4

Students’ emotional intensity to spatial areas in the existing campus environment in Shenzhen Mesa College.

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Guangzhou Ulink College.

In this school, a total of 103 students have or tend towards depression, accounting for 23% of the total number of participants, as shown in Fig. 5. Among them, 47 are boys, accounting for 19% of the total number of boys, and 56 are girls, accounting for 28% of the total number of girls.

Fig. 5.
figure 5

Current depressed or at risk of depression students in terms of gender in Guangzhou Ulink College.

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Regarding age distribution, 9 people aged 19, accounting for 27% of the total number of people in that age group. 20 people aged 18, accounting for 25% of the total number of people in this age group. 31 people aged 17 accounted for 22% of the total number of people in that age group. 27 people aged 16 years, accounting for 21% of the total number of people in this age group. 16 people aged 15 years, accounting for 23% of the total number of people in that age group, as shown in Fig. 6.

Fig. 6.
figure 6

Current depressed or at risk of depression students in terms of age in Guangzhou Ulink College.

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Of the 103 people, a total of 87 people have had negative emotions in the existing campus environment, of which 68 have attended regular junior high schools, and 19 have attended international junior high schools, as shown in Fig. 7. Sixteen people did not have negative emotions in the existing campus environment. Three of them had participated in regular junior high school, and 13 had participated in international junior high school.

Fig. 7.
figure 7

Students’ emotions in the existing campus environment in Guangzhou Ulink College.

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Regarding different campus spaces and emotional intensity, the school’s teaching area has the most negative impact on students, and the fear index have reached the maximum relative value of this figure, as shown in Fig. 8. The living area is the second most serious area, and its sadness index is as high as 7, which is the relative highest value in the figure. The index of the outdoor activity area and landscape area of the school is relatively similar to the ideal situation.

Fig. 8.
figure 8

Students’ emotional intensity to spatial areas in the existing campus environment in Guangzhou Ulink College.

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3.2 Follow-up Interview

From the six emotions graph, it is indicates that the negative impacts of the living areas and teaching areas of the two schools on the user’s emotions are relatively obvious, so the researchers decided to focus on the subject in the focus interview. The researcher streamlined and compiled the interviews of the two schools into a form. The content of the meeting is divided according to different functional areas of the campus, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Table 1.
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Question: In the subjective answer part of the questionnaire, you mentioned that you want to use warm colors in the teaching area. Why, how does the use of cool colors affect your mood?

Answer: …the interior of the teaching building is monotonous, with a lot of cold tones, which makes people depressed… The large white wall in the stairwell is desperate… the color of the light is crisp white and desperate…

Question: Have you mentioned that the public space in the teaching area is too narrow, which has a negative impact on your emotions. Is it convenient to explain it in detail?

Answer: …the corridor is too narrow, the lighting is insufficient, and it will be scared at night… The stairs are narrow…the traffic is heavy, crowded, and irritating… The teacher’s office area is away from student activities…the area is too close and constrained…

Question: You think that the design of the living area is very dull and lacks the atmosphere of life. Why?

Answer: …the lack of decoration…the structure and the teaching area are not much different, can’t relax…there is no partition in the dormitory, lack of private space…

Question: You think that the dormitory design is not good enough regarding sound insulation and lighting. What made you feel of this idea?

Answer: …I live in a dormitory facing north, where the lighting is abysmal, people feel that the cooling is not comfortable… The soundproofing is weak, and when I hear the noise of others, I feel lonely and affect my rest…

4 Discussion

By comparing the data, the students’ depression rates in the two international schools were 19.1% and 22.8%, respectively, which were higher than the 18.9% of the depression rate index of ordinary high school students in Guangdong Province announced by the Guangdong Provincial Education Bureau [11]. Why is the depression rate in international schools higher than that in regular junior high schools? This may be related to the type of school the school student was previously attending. According to data from two international schools, an average of 84.3% of students who have depression and have negative emotions due to the existing environment on campus have attended regular junior high school and started high school in high school. It is well known that there are vast differences between international schools and private teaching systems and methods. Hence, the process from a private junior high school to international high school may lead to emotion management problems.

The percentage of female students with the same psychological and emotional management problems is higher than that of male students in both international schools. In the personal answers to follow-up interviews and questionnaires, it indicates that girls’ responses are more emotional and emotional than boys. Therefore, in international schools in the Greater Bay Area, China, girls are more likely to have psychological and emotional management problems than boys, because girls are more delicate than boys and have more intimate activities and more emotional thinking. Regarding age distribution, students with psychological and emotional management problems are mostly between 16 and 18 years old. This may be related to the pressure of adulthood and academic strength.

From the results of the follow-up interviews, the students’ demand for the existing campus is mainly concentrated on the visual and auditory environment design. Vision plays the most fundamental and direct role in the student campus experience. Therefore, the arrangement of the light in the environment, the lighting arrangement, and the color arrangement will have a series of psychological effects on the user. Combined with the number of times the user mentioned in the interview, color and light are the most active factors for the user’s visual experience. The essential thing is often what the user cares about the most.

5 Conclusion

5.1 Contribution of This Study

After the above research results, which reveals that architecture does affect the psychological and emotional management of users. At the same time, the negative impact of the environment on user sentiment can be reduced by improving the existing building space. The psychological problems of domestic high school students have indeed become an urgent problem, and its seriousness needs the attention of all sectors of society.

The results of this study can be used as a sample for comparison with data from other schools. If the data is similar or the student experience is identical, it can indicate that there is a problem with the existing space environment of the school.

5.2 Introspection and Future of Study

Some errors and prejudices will inevitably appear in conclusion. This may include the objectivity caused by the researchers personal experience, and the end of the survey will be affected by the bias of the survey data. Some interference factors are inevitable, but there are many ways to reduce its impact. To reduce the results of the method of solving procrastination only in specific populations, in the next phase of the study, the researchers will extract people of different ages and backgrounds to test and ensure that the methods suitable for them are improved. To reduce the impact of data on the results, the researchers will expand the number of samples, generalized areas and so on. Use this method to cut some of the factors that affect the outcome. The limitations of the subjective and objective conditions, the accuracy of the investigation methods such as overcoming the method questionnaire are another limiting condition that should be considered. As everyone knows, many people will fill in the survey volume when they fill out the survey volume, but the researchers are also well prepared to deal with these restrictions. After the investigation, the above reasons are mainly due to external interference and objective factors such as time and mood. The solution is first to ensure the patience and professionalism of the attitude, to provide respondents with a relatively comfortable answer environment.