Bedroom and Bath

What are the bedroom and bathroom habits of the nation? In the interest of postwar housing design, the John B. Pierce Foundation of Manhattan, a housing research group, investigated this question. The Foundation made a study of 131 typical families (income: $2,000 to $3,000). Findings:

P: After getting into bed, 22% of husbands read, 12% talk to their wives, 7% listen to the radio, 3% pray, 2% smoke, 2% eat, 2% get up to close the window, 50% say they do nothing. Of the wives. 29% read, 11% talk, 8% listen to the radio, 5% pray, 3% think, 2% smoke, 1% eat, 1% get up to go to the bathroom, 40% do nothing. The average husband is ready for lights out after 19 minutes; the wife, after 14 minutes.

P: 87% of husbands and wives sleep in a double bed, but 42% of the wives think twin beds would be preferable.*

P: In summer, 70% of wives sleep in nightgowns, 24% in pajamas (10% more switch to pajamas in winter), 1% in shorts, 5% nude. Sixteen other women said they would like to sleep nude.

P: Favorite sleeping position: on the stomach. About half of the women said they slept with an arm or leg hanging over the edge of the bed.

P: 22% of women sleep with a hot-water bottle or heating pad in the winter.

P: Most wives complain that their bedroom is too small; 26 claustrophobic wives said it interfered with their sleep. A common bedroom complaint of husbands: stumbling over furniture.

P: 63% of wives usually dress and 72% undress in the presence of their husbands; 20% never do either. Of those who do, 6% are embarrassed.

P: More than half say that neighbors can see into their bedrooms, and most of them mind it. But 8% do not pull the shade down when dressing with the lights on. Only 15% close the bedroom door at night.

P: 80% of wives do not lock the bathroom door while bathing, but of those who do, nearly half lock it even when no one else is home.

P: Most women undress more slowly than they dress.

P: A common complaint against the bathroom: toilet noises can be heard in other parts of the house.

*The hoary attack on twin beds was repeated last week by Chicago Woman's Court Judge Frank E. Donoghue. Lecturing a quarreling, childless couple, the judge cried: "In [our parents'] day, no one ever heard of a husband and wife sleeping in different beds. Juvenile delinquency was hardly ever known. . . . Our parents trundled off to bed fairly early, and the children followed as a matter of course. [But] the unholy system of twin beds . . . worked a mighty revolution in the marital relationship . . . creating millions of childless homes . . . broken homes . divorces."

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