Search results for "sense of community"

Imagined communities against the tide? The questioned political projection of nationalism

2017

This article deals with the validity of Anderson’s definition of imagined communities and the future of imagination typical of nationalism. It is based on bibliographic review and research on the case of Cerdanya. Three questions of Anderson’s definition are revised: the limitation of the nation, its supposedly inherent sovereignty and the sense of community among unknown people. In this last point, the text focuses also on the consequences that imagined community is embodied for known people every day. It concludes that the production of local identities and dynamics in global, local and regional level represents a challenge for the political projection of imagined communities. Nevertheles…

Life Satisfaction and Psychological Distress of African Immigrants in Italy and Spain: the protective role of social support and sense of community

2021

This article analyzes whether migrants’ distress factors are reduced, and life satisfaction increased by the sense of community and support from friendship or family networks, with age and length of residence serving as co-variables. Host country, gender, migration (economic/non-economic), employment (employed/unemployed) and legal status (regulated/unregulated) were all treated as moderating variables. We tested this theoretical model in two samples of African immigrants residing in Palermo (Italy) and Malaga (Spain), confirming the predictive capacity of the independent variables. Interesting results emerged relating to the effects of length of residence, employment status and support fro…

Social support provided by adolescents following a disaster and perceived social support, sense of community at school, and proactive coping.

2012

Heightened levels of support provision are systematically observed in adults immediately following natural disasters, yet knowledge about adolescents' social support provision is less extensive. This longitudinal study of 262 adolescents assessed their help-providing behaviors during and after a flood. It was hypothesized that social support provided by adolescents would relate to subsequent perceptions of their relationships with others and perceptions of the self. Descriptive analyses demonstrated that the majority of respondents reported that they provided tangible, emotional, and informational support to others in need. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated tha…

Educational Practitioners on Professional Community and Sense of Community

2011

Abstract The study aims to address two areas regarding preschool education: the participation of preschool practitioners in professional groups and communities and the views and understandings they hold on the ‘professional community’ concept. A survey was completed by teachers and specialists working with preschool children in all kindergartens of Sibiu (N=308) in July 2011. A quantitative and qualitative approach of the data was used, for processing a part of the survey’s items. Results show a high participation of practitioners in professional groups within their own institution, but less implication in national or international groups and communities. The respondents’ views on professio…

Pathological gambling. Chinese community in Southern Italy

2011

The Meaning of a “Sense of Community” in a Finnish Senior Co-Housing Community

2015

In the foreseeable future, alternative housing options will be needed to meet the needs of and answer to the wishes of older people. Co-housing schemes are developed to fulfill the need for a housing type that provides mutual support and social contacts while alleviating the isolation and loneliness often experienced in ordinary neighborhoods. This study on a senior co-housing community in Finland asked what a “sense of community” meant to the residents and how a sense of community becomes visible in daily life. For these residents, a sense of community meant not only living with like-minded people but also communal activities, doing things together, learning from each other, and having rec…

The influence of social support on the wellbeing of immigrants residing in Italy: Sources and functions as predictive factors for life satisfaction l…

2023

Moving from one country to another involves not only separation from the country of origin, but also the tiring process of integration into a new physical, institutional, and sociocultural context, which may expose migrants to acculturation stress. The loss of former support networks, or at the very least their transformation, presents immigrants with the need to rebuild their social support systems in the host country, involving an active search for support. Therefore, the aim of study is to analyze the structure of informal social support and its capacity to predict immigrants’ sense of community, resilience, and satisfaction with life. The results confirm that social support predicts sat…

The welfare of immigrants: Resilience and sense of community

2021

The accessibility to national health services by immigrants residing in our country has produced a widespread improve- ment of health indicators and health prevention for the entire population. The main goal of this study is to investigate the welfare conditions of immigrants, alongside two fundamental sources of psychological resources. In particular, the role of resilience and sense of community as protective factors against the risk of developing negative welfare outcomes, including life satisfaction and the perception of general health (physical and mental), were considered as indicators. The following self- report questionnaires were sent to a sample of 354 immi- grants, stratified by …

PREDICTORS OF THE SENSE OF BELONGING TO THE COUNTRY: EXPLORING A NEW MODEL

2017

This study explored new possibilities for measuring the sense of belonging to the country and investigated predictors of the sense of belonging to Latvia. Focusing on students’ sense of belonging to the country is explained by two reasons: 1) emigration is the main factor of depopulation in Latvia; 2) students’ intention to emigrate is the highest among other social groups. Studies in the field of community psychology present models of the sense of community and explore intentions to stay in a particular place. Within a new model, different levels of social systems (from meso- to macro-system) were included into the analysis of predictors of the sense of belonging to the country. The partic…

The role of sense of community in harnessing the wisdom of crowds and creating collaborative knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic

2021

Abstract This study investigates the role of sense of community in harnessing the wisdom of the crowd and creating collaborative knowledge during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also explores the impact of collaborative knowledge creation on the perceived value of social media crowdsourcing in such crises. PLS-SEM was used to analyze the data and test the research model. The results show that sense of community has a significant role in harnessing the wisdom of the crowd and creating collaborative knowledge. The results confirm a significant impact of sense of community, the wisdom of the crowd, and collaborative knowledge creation on the perceived value of social media crowdsourcing in respondin…