Heather M. Chipuer

A review of the sense of community index: Current uses, factor structure, reliability, and further development

The short form of the Sense of Community Index (SCI) (Chavis, Hogge, McMillan, & Wandersman, 1986) was assessed in terms of the four dimensions of psychological sense of community (PSC) proposed by McMillan and Chavis (1986). Four sets of data were used. They measured PSC in the neighborhood for adults and adolescents, and workplace PSC for adults, using true/false and three-point response formats. Reliabilities for the total SCI scores ranged from .64 to .69. Most subscale reliabilities were below acceptable levels, ranging from a low of .16 to a high of .72. Factor analyses showed some support for the existence of the four dimensions of the McMillan and Chavis PSC model in the SCI. However, they were not consistent across data sets. Further work to develop the SCI as a measure representative of the PSC model is outlined, with implications for adult and adolescent populations.

Sense of place amongst adolescents and adults in two rural Australian towns: The discriminating features of place attachment, sense of community and place dependence in relation to place identity

This study investigates whether dimensions of sense of place can discriminate those residents who identify with their rural town, and prefer to stay, from those who do not, and whether patterns of association between these dimensions differ between adolescent and adult residents. Participants were 246 adults and 365 adolescents in two remote rural towns in Australia. Place identity was determined from residents’ responses on a single item, ‘I would really rather live in a different town. This one is not the place for me.’ Three groups were classified: those agreeing, undecided and disagreeing with the statement. Discriminating variables were place attachment (emotional bonding and behavioural commitment), sense of community (affiliation and belonging) and place dependence (available activities, quality and quality comparison with alternative communities). A direct discriminant function analysis showed 76.4 per cent of adults were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 92 per cent of the variance. Indicators of dependence, belonging, behavioural commitment and emotional bonding, loaded above 0.45. Sixty-two per cent of adolescents were correctly classified from one discriminant function accounting for 93.6 per cent of the variance. Indicators of dependence and belonging loaded 0.45 and above. Discussion considers distinguishing dimensions of sense of place and identifying associations amongst them as ways to explore the experience of community in everyday life.

Unravelling Subjective Quality of Life: An Investigation of Individual and Community Determinants

Subjective quality of life is a popular measureof outcomes across fields as disparate asmedical research, community and healthpsychology and sociology. Its widespread usehas led to recent calls for a betterunderstanding of the psychological determinantsof the construct, emphasising the need to builda substantial body of knowledge around whatdetermines and impacts on perceptions of lifequality if it is to live up to currentexpectations as an outcome variable. This studyused two likely determinants of quality oflife, an individual level variable, loneliness,and a community level variable, aspects ofsense of community, and investigated theirassociation with subjective quality of life.Confidence in the results of the study wasstrengthened by repeating it in two separatetowns, matched on fundamental demographicvariables. The results revealed that subjectivequality of life was consistently associatedwith the individual level variable, loneliness,in both towns. Lonely people consistentlyreported significantly lower quality of life,particularly in the domains of intimacy,community involvement and emotional well-being.Once loneliness had been accounted for, thecommunity level variables showed much weaker,and generally no association with reportedquality of life. The importance of continuingto empirically identify variables that impactupon subjective quality of life is discussed.

Australian children's understanding of loneliness

The purpose of the present paper was to explore childrens conceptualisation of loneliness and to examine the link between childrens reports of loneliness, being alone, and their conceptualisation of loneliness. Children (N = 61) in middle childhood (9 - 11 years) responded to a question about their experience of loneliness and completed the Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction scale. Results showed that the majority of children explained loneliness by referring to both social deficits and distressing emotions. New to this area of research were childrens references to self-attributions (e.g., having no courage to talk about their situation). As hypothesised, few children made references to being alone when describing loneliness, and there was no difference in childrens reports of loneliness depending on whether or not children referred to being alone. Surprisingly, childrens reports of loneliness did not differ depending on their ability to conceptualise it. The subjective nature of loneliness and th...