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Sense of community in housing for the elderly
Author(s) -
Zaff Jonathan,
Devlin Ann Sloan
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1520-6629(199807)26:4<381::aid-jcop6>3.0.co;2-w
Subject(s) - apartment , sense of community , gerontology , psychology , psychosocial , cohesion (chemistry) , promotion (chess) , social psychology , scale (ratio) , sociology , medicine , geography , political science , psychiatry , chemistry , cartography , organic chemistry , politics , law
The promotion of a psychological sense of community by environmental factors was investigated in this study. Psychosocial factors in high‐rise and garden apartments in public housing for the elderly were compared using the Sheltered Care Environment Scale (SCES), the Sense of Community Index (SCI), and a structured interview. Residents of garden apartments were found to have a significantly greater overall sense of community than were those in high‐rise apartments as determined by the SCI. Garden apartment residents also indicated greater sense of membership, a factor related to community. Significant differences in cohesion among residents in the two high‐rise apartment buildings studied suggest that variables other than the physical environment may contribute to cohesive behavior. One such variable, the presence of a community leader, demands more research. Self‐disclosure was found to be the possible cause of conflict among residents in the high‐rises. The necessity of qualitative interviews in social research is discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.