In spite of prophecies to the contrary, the urban neighbourhood continues to be an important locale for formal and informal social action. Attachment to neighbourhood is complex and the reasons for it are not captured simply by matching the attributes of the individual resident and his or her attitudes and behaviour, as previous studies have suggested. Characteristics of the neighbourhood itself need to be incorporated into an analysis of attachment. It is also argued that the existence or degree of attachment varies between individuals depending upon their resources, opportunities for extra-local links, personal needs and the place in which they live.
This study has three goals. The first is to see whether the opportunity to engage in volunteer work at church fosters friendships with co‐religionists. The second goal is to see whether the support these friends provide bolsters feelings of gratitude to God. The third goal is to see whether feelings of gratitude to God are associated with health and depressive symptoms. The following linkages in our conceptual model elaborate and extend these objectives: (1) people who go to church more often will be more likely to participate in volunteer work through their congregations; (2) individuals who perform volunteer work at church will have more friends among their co‐religionists; (3) people who have more friends where they worship will report receiving more emotional support from fellow congregants; (4) those who receive more support from co‐religionists will feel more grateful to God; and (5) individuals who are more grateful to God will rate their health in a more favorable manner and experience fewer symptoms of depression. Data from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey provide support for each of these relationships.
This study draws on data provided by 622 clergy (who completed the Leader Survey within the U.S. Congregational Life Survey) to examine the balanced affect model of work-related psychological health. These data generated a six-item measure of positive affect (Satisfaction in Ministerial Life Index, or SIMLI), generated a six-item measure of negative affect (Emotional Exhaustion in Ministerial Life Index, or EEMLI), and identified an independent indicator of burnout (the Likelihood of Leaving Ministry Index, or LOLMI). Crucially for supporting the construct validity of the notion of balanced affect, the data demonstrated a significant interaction effect between SIMLI and EEMLI scores on the independent measure of burnout LOLMI, showing that the mitigating effects of positive affect on burnout increased with increasing levels of negative affect.
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