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Validation of the Brief Sense of Community Scale among youth of color from an underserved urban community
Author(s) -
Lardier David T.,
Reid Robert J.,
GarciaReid Pauline
Publication year - 2018
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.22091
Subject(s) - intrapersonal communication , sense of community , structural equation modeling , psychology , scale (ratio) , empowerment , scholarship , sample (material) , developmental psychology , construct (python library) , social psychology , interpersonal communication , geography , political science , computer science , chemistry , cartography , chromatography , machine learning , law , programming language
Neighborhood sense of community (SOC) is a key construct in the community psychology literature. While the research on neighborhood SOC has progressed significantly, there is a need to further validate the Brief Sense of Community Scale (BSCS) among youth. A critical area of scholarship, therefore, is to examine the factor structure of the BSCS among a cohort of adolescents, particularly from the United States. This study tested the factor structure of the BSCS among a sample of urban youth of color ( N = 383) using SPSS AMOS, a structural equation modeling software. After testing the factor structure, we examined the relationships between each of the BSCS subscales and conceptually related variables (e.g., psychological empowerment, relational power, and school importance). Results from this study confirm the first‐ and second‐order factor structure of the BSCS among youth. BSCS and its underlying subscales were both correlated with one another and correlated with the intrapersonal component of psychological empowerment, relational power, and school importance. Our findings have critical implications for the field of community psychology and the development and use of the BSCS among adolescents.