Negative Psychological Sense of Community: Development of a measure and theoretical implications (original) (raw)

Development and Psychometric Analysis of the Sense of Community Descriptors Scale

Psychosocial Intervention

Sense of community is associated with a significant number of positive consequences for individuals and communities as well as society. Therefore, it has become a concept of increasing interest in recent decades. Some authors (Townley & Kloos, 2009) even consider it to be one of the most commonly investigated constructs in community psychology. For a deeper examination of the phenomenon, it is necessary to have sensitive and precise instruments for measuring sense of community within a community. Despite the relatively large number of instruments measuring the psychological sense of community nowadays, most draw on the theory of McMillan and Chavis (1986) or are not based on any theory at all. Furthermore, most are generated for a particular community context, which makes it difficult to examine various kinds of communities at once (e.g.

Sense of community: Advances in measurement and application

Journal of Community Psychology, 1999

s This article summarizes theoretical and methodological advances in the study and application of a SOC, and serves as the introduction to a special issue devoted to this subject. Four themes emerged from the review. The first was that there continues to be a search for additional measures, despite the popularity of the SOC Index (SCI). Current investigations have begun to look at individual and group level effects of a SOC. Research continues to find an important and complicated relationship between the neighborhood (as a residential community) and a SOC, contrary to the proliferation of communities that are not based on place. Research was also discovered investigating the relationship between a SOC and history, attachment, and identity. A SOC was found to be used as a catalyst for community justice and change in several national and local initiatives.

How many factors does the sense of community index assess?

Journal of Community Psychology, 2018

Studies of university students' sense of community (SOC) use various scales, one of which is the widely used Sense of Community Index (SCI), conceptualized as a 4-factor model: membership, influence, needs fulfillment, and shared emotional connection. Research has been unable to show a reliable 4-factor solution. One possible explanation may be that negatively worded items contribute to lack of model fit, which would be consistent with the claim that SOC was conceptualized as a unipolar positive construct. Data were collected using a positively worded SCI (N = 794). Four models were tested with confirmatory factor analysis in structural equation modeling: 1-factor, theorized four-factor, revised 3-factor, and revised 4-factor. None of the models showed good fit, though the fit of the 1-factor model was improved over the 4-factor. More studies are needed to attempt replication with a positively worded SCI.

Validation of A brief sense of community scale: Confirmation of the principal theory of sense of community

Journal of Community Psychology, 2008

First-order and second-order models of sense of community (SOC) were tested using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of data gathered from a random sample of community residents (n=293) located in the midwestern United States. An 8-item Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) was developed to represent the SOC dimensions of needs fulfillment, group membership, influence, and shared emotional connection. The CFA results for the BSCS supported both the scale's hypothesized first-order and second-order factor structure. The overall BSCS scale and its subscales were also found to be correlated as expected with community participation, psychological empowerment, mental health, and depression. Findings provide empirical support for the BSCS and its underlying multidimensional theory of SOC. Implications of the study are described and directions for future research discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Viewing community as responsibility as well as resource: deconstructing the theoretical roots of psychological sense of community

Journal of Community Psychology, 2010

The field of scholarship surrounding the construct of psychological sense of community (PSOC) has been dominated by first-order learning processes attending to issues of measurement and prediction of the four-dimensional framework proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1976). This article seeks to contribute to the conceptual development of PSOC by clarifying the second-order assumptions of PSOC as it is represented in prevailing conception and measurement. We introduce human needs theory as a macro framework for representing the definition and study of PSOC to date. Second, we illuminate the limitations of a purely needs theory perspective of PSOC and propose the value of exploring alternative theoretically grounded perspectives. Third, we offer an alternative theoretical base for PSOC-a sense of community as responsibility-and highlight how this alternative theoretical lens can suggest new models for understanding the dynamic between PSOC, psychological well-being, and community engagement. C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Measurement of Sense of Community

Journal of ASIAN behavioural studies, 2018

Sense of community (SOC) is one of the components or domains of community relationship in residential areas. The strength of community relationship believed to eliminate criminal activities at residential area. Hence, in the identification of SOC, it is crucial for the measurement dimension to ensure that the specified items are reliable to measure the dimension. The result shows all items of SOC achieved factor loadings of 0.62 to 0.94. The research discovered that the longer a respondent resides in a residential area, the higher the community ties they nurtured. However, this study found that age and gender do not influence community relationship.

Revisiting the Sense of Community Index: A confirmatory factor analysis

Journal of Community Psychology, 2004

The Sense of Community Index (SCI) is one of the most commonly used measures of Psychological Sense of Community (PSOC). There is much discussion in the literature as to the validity of the scale as a measure not only of overall PSOC, but of the dimensions (Membership, Influence, Needs Fulfillment and Emotional Connection) theorized by McMillan and Chavis (1986) to underlie the construct. The current paper examines the factor structure of the SCI in a study (N = 219) that examines multiple community memberships, including neighborhood, student and interest group communities. Data was analyzed via confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results showed that the SCI, in its original factor structure, did not adequately fit the data. The scale was revised, therefore, utilizing CFA indicators, to produce a new four-factor structure based on the same items. This revised model was tested and found to display adequate fit indices to the data in all three communities. The results of the study provide empirical support for retaining measures that encapsulate the four dimensions of PSOC.