title: Disentangling measures of individual perceptions of community social dynamics: results of a community survey.
abstract: This study examined how different measures of individual perceptions of community social dynamics relate to each other and how these measures relate to self-reported general health and depressive symptoms. Results of a principal components analysis conducted to investigate the interrelationships between these individual measures suggest that these measures measure separate phenomena. In addition, in results of multiple-regression analyses conducted to examine associations between the various measures of individual perceptions of community social dynamics and the dependent variables of self-reported general health and depressive symptoms, sense of community, perceived neighborhood control, and neighborhood participation were all associated with the outcome variables in separate regression models. In a regression model with these three variables added to control variables, only sense of community was significantly, albeit modestly, associated with depressive symptoms and self-reported general health.
authors.affiliation: University of Michigan, School of Public Health, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Ann Arbor 48109-2029, USA. edithp@umich.edu
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: R L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Lichtenstein
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Schulz
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Israel
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Schork
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Steinman
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: James
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008824:Michigan / Q000453:epidemiology; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011593:Psychology, Social; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012951:Socialization; D014505:Urban Population