Sense of Place and Health in Hamilton, Ontario: A Case Study

The concept of sense of place has received considerable attention by social scientists in recent years. Research has indicated that a person's sense of place is influenced by a number of factors including the built environment, socio-economic status (SES), well-being and health. Relatively few studies have examined sense of place at the neighbourhood level, particularly among communities exhibiting different levels of SES. This article investigates sense of place among three neighbourhood groups in Hamilton, Ontario representing areas of low, mixed and high SES. It analyses data from a 16-point sense of place scale derived from the Hamilton Household Quality of Life Survey carried out in 2010-2011 among 1,002 respondents. The paper found that sense of place was highest among residents of the high SES neighbourhood group as well as among home owners, people residing in single-detached homes, retired residents and those living in their neighbourhood for more than 10?years. From a health perspective, the paper found that a strong association existed between sense of place and self-perceived mental health across the three neighbourhood groups. Furthermore, by way of regression modeling, the paper examined the factors influencing health-related sense of place. Among the sample of respondents, a strong connection was found between housing, particularly home ownership, and high levels of health-related sense of place.     

Are Theories About Social Capital Empirically Supported? Evidence from the Farming Sector

Social capital is the bond that links societies together and without which there is little opportunity for economic growth or individual well-being. Thus, this paper aims to contribute to the literature by providing an analytically reliable concept of social capital and a methodological tool for empirically testing a theoretical model of how social capital is built. Based upon a decomposition of the concept of social capital characterising three main dimensions (i.e., structural, relational and cognitive), for each specific group of individuals under study the structural equation model allows us: (1) to confirm the multidimensional construct of social capital; (2) to measure the interrelation between its different attributes and; (3) to set a solid basis for additional research on the effects of social capital. This approach has been empirically applied to Andalusian (southern Spain) farmers as case study. We believe this research to be a fundamental starting point for informing social capital policymakers and helping them implement the necessary tools to facilitate sustainable development processes at different moments in time as it takes into account the multidimensional, contextual and dynamic nature of the concept.     

A Gender Lens on Quality of Life: The Role of Sense of Community,Perceived Social Support,Self-Reported Health and Income

Quality of life (QoL) refers to a subjective evaluation that is embedded in a cultural, social and environmental context. It is a multidimensional concept and its assessment covers four domains: physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and environment. Although many studies report on QoL, literature rarely addressed the question of the QoL predictors from a gender perspective. Present study aimed at investigating gender differences in the determinants of QoL. Specifically, gender was considered as a moderator in the relationship between predictors of QoL (i.e. socio-demographic characteristics, perceived health, income, social support and sense of community) and each dimension of QoL. 654 Italian adults participated in the study. Results show that men outscore women on the physical, the psychological and the environmental domains of QoL. Considering determinants of QoL, sense of community and self-reported health operate in a similar fashion for both genders. On the contrary, social support is more predictive for women’s QoL, whereas the income level is more significant for men’s QoL. Implications are discussed.     

Sense of Community and Individual Well-Being: A Research on Fulfillment of Needs and Social Capital in the Turkish Community

In this research, the relationship between fulfillment of needs, social capital, and sense of community and individual well-being has been explored by testing the perception of sense of community by means of residential satisfaction. The study involves the participations of 677 adults from Mersin, Turkey. A model in which social capital mediates the relationship of fulfillment of needs with sense of community and individual well-being has been validated by path analysis. Accordingly, fulfillment of needs and variables of social capital significantly predict sense of community and individual well-being. The results have been discussed in detail with regard to socio-cultural aspects.     

Sense of Belonging and Mental Health in Hamilton, Ontario: An Intra-Urban Analysis

This paper examines geographic variations in sense of community belonging in Hamilton, Ontario. It also identifies the most significant health and social factors associated with belonging in the city. The research employs data from the 2007/08 Canadian Community Health Survey for respondents aged 18 or over living in the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. The primary unit of geography is the forward sortation area (FSA), which correspond with the boundaries comprising the first three digits of the postal code. The paper found that, overall, residents of Hamilton enjoy a strong sense of belonging to their community, one of the highest rates in Canada. Consistent with research at the national level, the paper revealed a strong and clear association between lower sense of belonging and lower self-perceived mental health. Age (45?C64) and household type (couples with children) were associated with higher sense of belonging. The mapping analysis revealed that sense of belonging was generally strongest among residents of rural Hamilton and became weaker moving towards the city centre, with particularly low levels evident in the Lower City. The presence of lower sense of belonging and lower mental health was clearly visible in three FSAs comprising the central portion of the Lower City.     

Developing a Measure of Community Well-Being Based on Perceptions of Impact in Various Life Domains

A new measure of community well-being is developed based on the notion that community residents perceive the quality-of-life (QOL) impact of community services and conditions in various life domains (e.g., family, social, leisure, health, financial, cultural, consumer, work, spiritual, and environmental domains). These perceptions influence residents’ overall perception of community well-being, their commitment to the community, and their overall life satisfaction. Survey data were collected in the Flint area (Michigan, USA) in four waves (1978, 1990, 2001, and 2006). The data supported the nomological validity of the measure.     

A Comparative Analysis of the Validity of US State- and County-Level Social Capital Measures and Their Associations with Population Health

The goals of this study were to validate a number of available collective social capital measures at the US state and county levels, and to examine the relative extent to which these social capital measures are associated with population health outcomes. Measures of social capital at the US state level included aggregate indices based on the Annenberg National Health Communication Survey and the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Petris Social Capital Index (PSCI), Putnam’s index, and Kim et al.’s scales. County-level measures consisted of PSCI, Rupasingha et al.’s social capital index, and a BRFSS-derived measure. These measures, except for the PSCI, showed evidence of acceptable validity. Moreover, we observed differences across the social capital measures in their associations with population health outcomes. The implications of the findings for future research in this area were discussed.     

Developing a Measure of Internet Well-Being: Nomological (Predictive) Validation

This paper reports on an effort to develop an Internet well-being measure for possible use by government agencies and industry associations that are directly involved with the promulgation of the Internet. Such measures can help officials gauge the social health of those Internet-related industries and institutional sectors, which in turn can guide the development of policies to enhance the quality-of-life impact of the Internet. The Internet well-being measure is based on the theoretical notion that the perception of the overall impact of the Internet on users of the Internet is determined by their perceptions of the impact of the Internet in their life domains such as consumer life, work life, leisure life, social life, community life, sensual life, among others. In turn, the perception of impact of the Internet in a given life domain (e.g., consumer life, work life) is determined by perceptions of benefits and costs of the Internet within that domain. We conducted a focus group to identify all the perceived benefits and costs within salient life domains of college students. We also conducted a thorough literature search to identify studies that examined the quality-of-life impact of the Internet in a variety of life domains. We then tested the nomological validity of the measure through two surveys at two major universities (one in the USA and the other in Korea). The statistical analysis allowed us to identify those measurement items that are most predictive, and therefore considered as nomologically valid. Policy implications of the study are discussed along with future research avenues.     

矿山社区人口与社会变迁的动力分析——以美国“鬼镇”为例

19世纪下半期美国西部因矿产资源枯竭而被遗弃的矿山社区,谓之“鬼镇”。本文以社区理论为视角,指出其形成的外动力是流动人口高度聚集加速了矿产资源枯竭,以及非矿产业的缺乏;内动力是社区制度和组织的缺席导致社会失范,冲突频繁和归属感降低。最后从社区整合角度引发我国当前矿山社区发展的思考。     

Exploring Community Cohesion in Rural Canada Post-Extreme Weather: Planning Ahead for Unknown Stresses

As social capital evolves, we need to better address how we assess it in terms of community connection and involvement. This research presents a longitudinal study of Goderich, Ontario’s post-tornado community connection and involvement in relation to the Capacities and Vulnerabilities Analysis (CVA) model’s social, physical, and motivational factors. We first address literature around rural communities, extreme stresses related to capacity and vulnerability, the window of opportunity, and current uses for the CVA model before continuing with a brief synopsis of the study community and our research methods of surveys and interviews. Our results highlight three key findings: (a) there was a reduction in perceptions of connection and satisfaction with rebuild from 2012 to 2016; (b) in 2016, employed individuals experience a stronger sense of connection to community; and (c) five years after the tornado, the more satisfaction with involvement the higher the sense of community connection. Concluding our discussion of these findings, we propose a modification to extend the CVA model’s usefulness to a wider range of situations. We argue a pre-emptive, motivationally focused CVA model can be a useful tool for rural communities in multi-level income locations to address their community’s capacities and vulnerabilities prior to an extreme stress and build their connection and involvement levels.     

邻里社会资本、城市医疗卫生服务体系与自评健康 ——基于中国劳动力动态调查的实证研究

从仅依靠卫生健康系统转向社会整体联动,实现将健康融入所有政策,是健康中国战略实施的重点.本研究基于中国劳动力动态调查数据和多层次随机截距模型,探讨邻里社会资本、城市医疗卫生服务体系对城市居民健康状况的影响效应,以及健康促进的多层次作用机理.研究发现,个人层次和社区层次的邻里社会资本都有利于提高城市居民的健康水平.邻里社...     

The Value of Community Cohesion Among Vietnamese Students in Era of Urbanisation and Globalisation

The concept of community cohesion as applied in social research is about more than tackling social exclusion and also involves sustaining relationships of trust and neighbourly interaction. Community cohesion is a function of connections and relations maintained between individuals, groups and associations. It can be fostered through measures that build feelings of trust, safety and belonging between people and can form a basis for shared values and norms of behaviour. This concept originates from Emile Durkheim, who identified the interdependence between members of a social group who share solidarity, loyalties and responsibilities. In Vietnam, various idioms and proverbs about social solidarity and social cohesion express the significant role of community in the lives of individuals as well as an individual’s responsibilities towards the community. Recent public debates suggest that social cohesion is changing or fraying, especially among youth, owing to the social, economic and cultural impacts of globalisation and urbanisation. However, there is lack of research focusing on community cohesion among young people in general and students in particular in the Vietnamese context. This paper reports on a research project on student life conducted in twelve Hanoi universities, and with 484 research participants, utilizing surveys, interviews and focus groups. This paper aims to identify the current situation and trends in student values with regards to community, particularly their views on community participation, and their responsibilities to communities, friends and society in general. The findings suggest that in spite of significant changes associated with urban life and globalisation, students still positively value community cohesion and engage in practices that maintain solidarity, trust and interdependencies with a range of consociates.     

Playground Accessibility and Neighbourhood Social Interaction Among Parents

While the positive association between social interaction and access to green space is well accepted, little research has sought to understand the role of children??s playgrounds in facilitating social interaction within a community. Playgrounds are spaces designed to facilitate play and the interaction of children, but may also be important places of interaction between parents. In this paper we examine how access to playground spaces is related to social interaction between parents. We use two measures of accessibility (1) walking distance to the closest playground and (2) playground service area, a measure of the number of potential users of a playground based on population density. We use generalized estimating equations, an extension of generalized linear models, to control for the confounding effects of socio-economic status (income, education), neighbourhood dynamics (neighbourhood location, years in neighbourhood) and free time (daily outdoor activity, marital status, number of children) on the independent relationship between social interaction and access to playground spaces. Our results suggest that while accessibility to playgrounds is associated with social interaction among parents, the direction of the effect is opposite to existing literature on green space and social interaction; parents with low accessibility to playgrounds are more likely to interact socially with their neighbours than parents with high accessibility. Our results suggest a pattern of spatial behaviour in which the burden of poor access to some resources may actually encourage greater neighbourhood engagement. Future research studying the relationship between health and green space may benefit from studying the specific role of playground spaces.     

Sense of Community Belonging and Health in Canada: A Regional Analysis

This article investigates the association between sense of community belonging and health among settlements of different size and across the urban to rural continuum in Canada. Using data from the recent 2007/08 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), the objective is to identify the major health, social and geographic determinants of sense of community belonging and to consider policy options aimed at improving sense of belonging among certain segments of the population. The research found a significant and consistent association between sense of belonging and health, particularly mental health, even when controlling for geography and socio-economic status. At the same time, sense of community belonging improved progressively across the urban to rural continuum with remarkably high levels of belonging evident in the outer most regions of Canada. Despite the health deficit that exists in rural and small-town Canada, the paper postulates that these communities are able to overcome health challenges to create conditions conducive to a positive sense of belonging. Overall, sense of belonging was also found to be highest among seniors, people residing in single-detached homes and among couples with children and was lowest among youth, residents of high-rise apartments and among single-parents. Finally, in the context of addressing deficiencies in sense of belonging, the paper examines several recent policy developments aimed at improving mental health services in Canada.     

Relationships Between Population Density and the Perceived Quality of Neighbourhood

Two overseas survey-based scales measuring perceived quality of neighbourhood were adapted and replicated in a New Zealand context. An Italian study (Bonaiuto, Fornara, and Bonnes. (2003). Landscape and Urban Planning, 65, 41–52) measuring Perceived Residential Environmental Quality (PREQ) and an American study (Carp and Carp. (1982). Journal of Environmental Psychology, 2, 295–312) using the Perceived Environmental Quality Indices (PEQI) were applied to a sample of Auckland residents, separated into low, medium, and high population density areas. The surveys measured attitudes towards subjects such as noise, neighbours, accessibility, green areas, welfare services, recreational services, safety, maintenance, environmental health, transport services, and characteristics of an ideal neighbourhood, and were completed by 369 respondents. Primary analyses examined differences in perception across the three density groups. The factor structures of both scales were replicated with the Auckland sample, and differences across densities were found for subscales of the PREQ. The results are discussed in relation to the cross-cultural similarities of perceived environmental quality, and the concept that environmental satisfaction is based on balancing aspects of the residential environment is proposed. This research was conducted for the Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology under contract OPSX401.     

How Does Leisure Time Affect Production Efficiency? Evidence from China,Japan, and the US

Labor efficiency is a central concept in economics. Although investigators have studied the influence of some variables (e.g., education time and physical capital) on labor efficiency, most studies overlook the impact of leisure time. This investigation examines the relationship between leisure time and labor efficiency in the world’s three largest economies: China, the US and Japan. Results revealed a significant correlation between leisure time and labor efficiency, and demonstrate that active leisure participation can improve productivity. The findings also demonstrate that, in contrast to the US and Japan, China, as a typical developing country, has seldom seen an apparent positive effect of leisure time on efficiency, which may partially explained by the type of leisure participation (active or passive).     

Sense of belonging and depressive symptoms among GLB adolescents

Research has indicated that gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) adolescents are at an increased risk of mental health problems. Research has also indicated that experiencing a sense of belonging is important for one's mental health. This study investigated sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to a GLB specific youth group (Minus18) as predictors of depressive symptoms among self-identified GLB adolescents (N = 99). Participants completed the Sense of Belonging Instrument and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results showed that although sense of belonging to the general community and sense of belonging to the Minus18 community were both directly related to depression, only sense of belonging to the general community contributed significantly to the prediction of depression when they were entered simultaneously in a regression analysis. Results also showed that sense of belonging to the general community mediated the relation between sense of belonging to the Minus18 community and depression. These findings suggest that interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to a GLB-specific community are likely to be of indirect benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents, whereas interventions aimed at increasing sense of belonging to the general community are likely to be of direct benefit to the mental health of GLB adolescents.     

Child Health-Related Quality of Life and Parental Social Capital in Greece: An Exploratory Study

In this paper, we examined dimensions of child health-related quality of life in Greece in relation to parental assessments of neighbourhood social capital and social support networks. For the analysis, two main measures were used: (1) child self-reported health-related quality of life in ten dimensions, as measured by the KIDSCREEN questionnaire; (2) subjective measures of parental neighbourhood social capital and social support. Parental assessments of neighbourhood social capital and social support were both independently and positively associated with child self-reported health-related quality of life. However, they were not associated with the same dimensions of child well being, nor were they associated with all dimensions of child well being. These results suggest that greater attention in future research needs to be paid to the differential associations between the various dimensions of social capital and child health-related quality of life, with clear focus implications for social and health policies.     

Social Economic Accounts System (SEAS): Toward a comprehensive,community-level assessment procedure

While most research on social and economic indicators has been developed from the national perspective, this article presents a comprehensive community-level Social Economic Accounts System (SEAS). The system is designed to enable social scientists, program developers, and public policy officials to better understand the effects of various types of public investments upon the quality of life of individuals, the relative social position of groups of people, and the social well-being of the community. In order to be useful for such diverse purposes as development of community theory, program evaluation, and policy formulation, the SEAS is: community-wide, covering most aspects of community life which may influence or be influenced by investment projects; systematic in its approach to causal factors behind the patterns of stability and change in key variables; sensitive to distinguishing features of communities which indicate special needs and which may affect the operation and success of investment projects; applicable to time series analyses for recording and evaluating change; and, oriented toward the comparison of communities receiving investment projects and to other communities and norms. The SEAS builds upon community social and economic theory, the program perspectives of federal and state categorical programs (e.g. health care, education), and the public policy orientations of community and national development. Data have been specified for 15 sectors of community life (e.g. education, economic base, health), and organized under three generic sets of items: state variables (i.e., data describing the lives of people in the community), system variables (i.e., data describing the operations of institutions which affect people's lives), and relevant condition variables (i.e., data describing system external variables which have an effect upon the state and system characteristics). More than 400 items are included in the SEAS.     

Community-Level Social Capital and Household Strategies for Coping with Global Crisis in Transitional Countries

This study examines the ways in which the fabric of community-level social capital has affected the ex-post strategies of households in dealing with the 2007–2008 crisis in the transitional economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. The data has been derived from nationally-representative surveys conducted in 28 transitional countries. The findings reveal that choices made with respect to survival strategies during the crisis were strongly dependent on community-level social capital. Higher levels of social capital within a community are associated with an increase in the utilization of active and safety net coping strategies. It was also found that most households were forced to employ depleting coping strategies, and that few households applied to safety net strategies.