SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND LIFE SATISFACTION - INVESTIGATION IN 3 DIFFERENT TERRITORIAL CONTEXTS

The aim of this study was to investigate relations between sense of co mmunity, life satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived social support and satisfaction with community services in three territorial communities of different sizes. Further, the relations between sense of community and socio-demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, educatio n, children, working in one's own community, owning one's home and gro up participation) were also studied. The Italian version of the Sense of Community Scale, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, the Satisfaction wi th Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, a scale on Satisfaction with Community Services and a questionnaire w ere administered to 336 subjects; selection was made in the three comm unities from 20-60 year-old individuals. Results confirm that sense of community and life satisfaction are higher in the town than in the la rger communities; also, sense of community relates to life satisfactio n only in the town and the small city. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd .