Reported membership of voluntary organizations is taken as an index of community participation. Data derived from a Mental Health Survey in Canberra in 1971 are analysed and participation behaviour compared with information from American participation studies. A high participation rate was expected because of Canberra's high ranking on socio‐economic variables compared with Australia as a whole. However, nearly half of the adults sampled report belonging to no formal organizations. Sex, age and socio‐economic status are found to be related to joining behaviour and conform to well‐established findings in the United States.
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