In ancient times, primitive human's ability to adapt to the environment was relatively poor. Their social life was mainly trying their best to survive from the natural attack. In order to survive, they had to find shelter, a place to live or stay, which was considered as one kind of the basic human needs. At first, the primitive humans just lived in caves or other kinds of shelter. Long after that, humans learned to build better shelter using thatch, wood, mud and stone, which were still very simple and crude. At that time, they were living in the shelter together, and then residents formed tribes led by females that are called matriarchal societies. Due to the increase in interactions between each other, the disadvantages of living close together in a group became increasingly apparent. Living close together was able to increase the risk of the infection spreading. And a given food source had to support more individuals. Therefore, the competition and conflict within the tribes becoming more frequent as well as the wars between two or more tribes made the gregarious lifestyle begin to disintegrate. After a long and slow evolution, people switched to live in small families instead of big groups; at the same time, with the development of technology, humans have developed the skills of building better shelter. As a result, many kinds of solid shelter which were made of reinforced concrete became apparent. Meanwhile, due to the living way of small families, members have more responsibilities to support each other, take care of the elderly, children and satisfy the members' emotional needs; all of these also need to depend on their shelter. So the shelter is not only a place to provide the safety of environment to live and stay, but also a requirement for psychology fulfilling, where people place more emphasis on the internal and external environment, supporting facilities, and whom they live with. Therefore, whosoever they live with is a dilemma that leads them to choose either to live together or separately.
Facing the dilemma, people among 20-24 years old undoubtedly had different choices to live either separately or together due to several potential and conceivable reasons, which lead them to make such decisions. First of all, the percentage of females who chose to live together is higher than the one who chose to live separately. Indeed, 60% of female respondents preferred to live together. However, the choices were similar, the reasons were different. One third of them supported their perception by helping each other; meanwhile, Brown (1990) claimed "help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours." Obviously, people need others' help when necessary; for without it, life will be more or less rugged and incomplete. Besides, the rest of them mentioned having more fun as a reason. Commonly, it is convinced that living together is more diverting and entertaining in the respect of communication and cooperation. On the other hand, the rest 40% of them, who chose to live separately, represented the reasons followed by several causations. While one half of them, who did not like to be restricted, considered to have more freedom when living in this way; similarly, the rest were eager for independence acquired from living separately. Excerpted from Matovu's article in How to Live in Perfect (2009), "Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his own work and in that work does what he wants to do." Doubtless, it can be proved that freedom depends on individual psychological satisfaction. Therefore, they chose to live separately to a certain extent appearing the psychological satisfaction of their own lifestyle. In contrast, the situation was more inclined towards living together as 80% of the male respondents chose to live with others; whereas the reasons, which tempted them to make the determination, were various. Firstly, one half of this group indicated the reason for having more fun as mentioned before; secondly, another one quarter of them, who were fond of exchanging feelings, contented to share happiness and sorrow with others; finally, the last section made their choices based on lacking in self-control ability; in other words, they required to be forced to do things. As a result, these three reasons, which uphold the human nature of dependence as well as sharing with others, have made a clearly explanation on why the choices certainly inclined toward living together. And yet the rest 20% of them, who determined to live separately, in the same way, had their own sensible opinions. Therefore, the factors, which contribute to their choices toward living separately, consist of two general reasons, not being disturbed and having their own space. "Men are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them" (Epictetus, 135 A.C.) Therefore, conflicts happen when the views differ. And a disturbed mind never creates a life existing health and happiness. Consequently, young people at these ages naturally need love and admiration; on the other hand, they are interested in unlimited lives. So the two opposite choices both have their supporters.
Comparing with people among 20-24, the respondents among 25-29 had different percentage of choices as well as reasons on whether to live together or not. For females, the percentage of choosing to live together is higher than separately. 80% of the female chose to live together due to several reasons. First, three fourths of them chose to live together with the reason indicated that it will have more fun. When they live together, they can get more happiness from each other. Second, helping each other is another important reason, everybody needs help sometimes. Half of this group chose to live together because of this reason. Third, living together is cheaper; females can share the rent with their roommates and save their money. So one fourth of them chose to live together basing on this reason. Finally, many females wanted to discuss issues with others. Indeed, the rest of them chose to live together for this reason. In contrast, only 20% of females chose to live separately. Thus, half of them chose to live together because it has more freedom. While the rest came up with no disturbance as a reason. They wanted to have a peaceful place where they could stay and think deeply. As for males, the situation is different. 60% of them chose to live together. They mentioned that they wanted to share happiness with the people they lived with. Besides, one third of them chose to live together in order to get knowledge and experience from their roommates. And another one third of them considered living separated was boring, as a result, they chose to live together. Nevertheless, the percentage of males who chose to live separately is higher than females as 40% of males wanted to live alone. Similar reason with females, half of 40% chose to live separately because it has more freedom. As Patrick Henry (1775) claimed "Give me liberty, or give me death." Freedom is really important for human beings. And the rest of them who chose to live separately gave the reason that they did not want to be disturbed. To conclude, the amount of choices in this group was different, whereas the reasons were similar when compared with the first group of respondents. And these differences were caused by several factors which absolutely including the different ages.
Differing from people among 20-24 and 25-29, the vast majority of people among 30-34 chose to live together instead of living separately owing to respective reasons. Contrary to expectations, all females in this group chose to live together, but reasons were different. Firstly, half of the female made such decisions for helping each others. For instance, when someone suffering from a disease, others can take care of them and help them do something, such as housework. Secondly, one sixth of females indicated the reason for social interaction. It is true that social interaction is an essential part of human's social life; in reality, living with others exactly affords a condition of interaction. Thirdly, one sixth of the female preferred to live together because of being afraid alone. It is undeniable that human beings cannot be alone completely; fearing alone is a nature of human beings, especially females in these ages. Finally, another one sixth of females selected to live together to get more knowledge and experience. According to Plato (360 BC), "Knowledge is the food of the soul." Knowledge is absolutely necessary for human's spiritual life; living with others to learn is a crafty way to get more knowledge and experience. Contrasting with the female, the male among 30-34 had different choices. First of all, 60% of the male chose to live together for two reasons. On the one hand, two thirds of them made such decisions for helping each other. Undoubtedly, no one can do everything only by themselves, so help is necessary for humans. On the other hand, one third of the male made the determination to live together, on account of more fun. By way of illustration living together, they can watch matches, play games, threw parties or doing other things together. On the reverse side, 40% of the male were inclined to live separately. In addition, a half of them chose to live separately stem from requiring own space and independent to do their own things, which others cannot interfere with them. Similarly, the other half reached the decision focusing on freedom. In other words, they wish to do what they want. Everybody cannot totally separate from groups, meanwhile, everybody also is an independent individual. Therefore, having own independent space and freedom is a necessity. Ultimately, people among 30-34 had more considerations, in comparison with other groups, from several factors.
Considering the younger people, the people among 35-40 years old had the similar choices as well as the reasons. On the one hand, there are 60% of females choosing to live together because of three reasons. The first reason is feeling of happiness, all of them mentioned this point. Because sometimes it was convenient to dance, sing and drink together; as a result, they could enjoy the happy life of living together. The second reason is helping each other. One third of them held this opinion. Everyone has a lot of troubles in their life, so it is important to get through difficulties with others' help. The third reason is that they did not want to be alone; another one third of this group agreed that. "Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty." (Teresa, 1987) It is thus clear that because of terrible loneliness, many people preferred to live with others. However, there are 40% of the females choosing to live separately because of freedom. Obviously, living separately allowed them to do everything they wanted without counting in other people's feelings. On the other hand, the percentage of males who chose to live together is the same with the one of female group and the reasons are also similar. First, two thirds of 60% considered having more fun as the reason, which is similar to the first reason held by females who had the same choice. Second, one third of this group held the reason of helping each other as same as mentioned before. Third, another one third of this group supported that they could gain more knowledge when they lived with others. Actually, when people live together, they can share their own experience and discuss many issues with each other; thus, it is a terrific way to learn when living with others. At last, the percentage of males who chose to live separately is same with the female in this group as well as the reason, freedom. In short, 60% of people among 35-40 years old preferred to live together with various reasons, while 40% of this group chose to live separately because of freedom.
In conclusion, facing the dilemma, living together or separately, people would make different choices which are caused by different ages and genders; meanwhile, the various reasons are result in their decisions. Although the percentages of the choices, which based on ages, are similar; the reasons which respondents provided are multifarious. In brief, facing the dilemma, people among different ages and genders have variant considerations from various factors.
