Premium
COLLEGE STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF COLLECTIVE EFFICACY: RESULTS FROM A NONURBAN SAMPLE
Author(s) -
Domoff Sarah E.,
Hayman Jennifer,
Tompsett Carolyn J.
Publication year - 2012
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/jcop.21498
Subject(s) - collective efficacy , disadvantage , perception , cohesion (chemistry) , psychology , sample (material) , immigration , population , social psychology , community cohesion , demographic economics , demography , sociology , geography , political science , chemistry , organic chemistry , archaeology , chromatography , neuroscience , law , economics
Although the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and collective efficacy is well established in urban populations with community samples, it is unclear if this relationship holds in rural areas. The current study fills this gap by assessing the perceptions of adolescents from nonurban areas to examine the relationships between neighborhood characteristics and collective efficacy in areas with lower population density. Our sample comprised 402 late adolescents attending a Midwestern university (average age 19.1 years). Consistent with previous studies using urban neighborhoods, we found that higher concentrated disadvantage was related to lower levels of social cohesion, regardless of population density. However, neither residential stability nor concentrated immigration was predictive of social cohesion. None of the neighborhood characteristics significantly predicted social control, after controlling for population density.