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Neighboring in an urban environment
Author(s) -
Unger Donald G.,
Wandersman Abraham
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
american journal of community psychology
Language(s) - Uncategorized
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.113
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1573-2770
pISSN - 0091-0562
DOI - 10.1007/bf00894140
Subject(s) - socioemotional selectivity theory , socioeconomic status , health psychology , city block , psychology , social psychology , block (permutation group theory) , developmental psychology , public health , geography , demography , sociology , mathematics , medicine , population , nursing , geometry , archaeology
Neighbors are an informal resource who may act individually to provide socioemotional support to each other as well as collectively to ameliorate problems in their residential environment. To explore when neighbors are likely to interact and provide aid and emotional support for each other, 702 residents living in a neighborhood in Nashville, Tennessee, were interviewed during 1978. Factor analysis was used to cluster several variables of individual characteristics of residents related to neighboring. Other indices assessed the block environment. Neighboring activities were found to be associated with an individual's psychological investment in his neighborhood as well as his rootedness and integration on his block, a positive sense of well-being, sex, and life stage. At the neighborhood block level, homogeneity of socioeconomic status (SES) contributed to neighbor relations along with indices of an individual's similarity to block residents. Implications are discussed for the development of neighboring activities and neighborhood organizations.