The influence of biological sex, sexuality and gender role on interpersonal distance.

This research reports on a conceptually and methodologically innovative study, which sought to measure the influence of gender on interpersonal distance. In so doing, we argue for an important distinction to be made between biological sex, gender role, and sexuality. To date, however, progress in the study of interpersonal distance (IPD) has been inhibited by poor operational definitions and inadequate measurement methodologies. For our own investigation, we innovated on methodology by devising the digital video-recording IPD method (DiVRID) that records interpersonal spatial relationships using high quality digital video equipment. The findings highlighted not only the validity of our innovative method of investigation, but also that a more sophisticated conceptualization of the impact of gender on IPD is warranted than can be accounted for by biological sex differences. In this study, we found that gender role accounts for more of the variation in IPD than the conventionally reported gender variable, sex.