Sense of community referred to the whole town: Its relations with neighboring, loneliness, life satisfaction, and area of residence

The aim was to explore the relationships between sense of community and var ious factors with respect to a fairly broad area (town, city or large quart er of a metropolis). Degree of neighboring, life satisfaction, loneliness, and area of residence were also considered. Subjects included 630 men and w omen, aged 20-65 years, with different educational levels. They were indivi dually administered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Italian Sense of Community Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale the University of Califor nia Loneliness Scale, and a Neighborhood Relations Scale. The subjects all live in Central Italy. They were divided into six groups as follows: one gr oup living in a quarter of Rome, three groups living in three different are as of Grottaferrata (a hill town near Rome) and two groups living in two ar eas of Spoleto (the historical center and a working class suburb), a town i n the Umbria region. Multiple regression analysis revealed the following: N eighborhood relations are stronger for women, for members of large families , for those with less education, for those living in the community for many years and for members of groups or associations. The strongest predictor o f sense of community is neighborhood relations, although years of residence , being married, group participation, and area of residence are also signif icant factors. Sense of community is related to life satisfaction and lonel iness in both the large and small town and in the city Moreover although se nse of community is strongly associated with area of residence in Spoleto, this is not true for Grottaferrata. Overall, the results confirm the useful ness Of conceptualizing the sense of community construct separately from de gree of neighboring. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.