Social cohesion as perceived by community-dwelling older people: the role of individual and neighbourhood characteristics

Abstract

Social cohesion in neighbourhoods is critical to supporting the rising number of community-dwelling older people. Our aim was thus to identify individual and neighbourhood characteristics influencing social cohesion among older people. We employed a cross-sectional study of 945 (66% response rate) community-dwelling older residents (70') in Rotterdam. To account for the hierarchical structure of the study design, we fitted a hierarchical random-effects model comprising 804 older people (level 1) nested in 72 neighbourhoods (level 2). Multilevel analyses showed that both individual (age, ethnic background, years of residence, income and self-rated health) and neighbourhood characteristics (neighbourhood security) affect social cohesion among community-dwelling older people. Results suggest that policy makers should consider such factors in promoting social cohesion among community-dwelling older people. Policies aimed at improving neighbourhood security may lead to higher levels of social cohesion.

The effect of neighbourhood cohesion on mental health across sexual orientations: A longitudinal study

“…Despite these limitations, this study also had a number of methodological improvements compared to prior studies. While prior studies on neighbourhood cohesion suffered from limitations including small sample size 7,14,19,31 , convenience sampling 6,8,9,12,21,27 , and the overuse of cross-sectional design 2,3,6-29 , this study utilized a large, randomly-stratified, Region-level income (in £1000) 0.04 (0.01, 0.07) <0.01 Model 1 is predicted by: 1) individual fixed-effect, 2) year fixed-effect, 3) household fixed-effect, 4) region fixed-effect, 5) neighbourhood cohesion, 6) timevariant control variables (i.e. LGB density, physical health, residential relocation, region-level deprivation, age, marital status, and household income) Region-level income (in £1000) 0.06 (0.02, 0.10) <0.001 Model 2 is predicted by: 1) individual fixed-effect, 2) year fixed-effect, 3) household fixed-effect, 4) region fixed-effect, 5) neighbourhood cohesion, 6) timevariant control variables (i.e.…”

“…Neighbourhood social cohesion, often used interchangeably with neighbourhood cohesion or social cohesion, generally refers to a sense of belonging in one's neighbourhood and social connections shared with one's neighbours 6,49 . There has been increasing efforts to define neighbourhood cohesion with greater consistency and conceptual rigour, demonstrated by continuous refinement of validated instruments across multiple studies 4,9,10,[50][51][52][53] ;…”

“…Buckner's measure of neighbourhood cohesion has been validated and used in North America 50,51 , the UK 53,60 , Europe 9 , and Asia 10,52 . A validation analysis of Buckner's neighbourhood cohesion index showed adequate levels for homogeneity, with an internal consistency of α= 0.813; for test-retest reliability, the intra-class correlation coefficient was 0.701 (95% CI 0.497 to 0.832) 10 .…”

“…These LGB minorities stressors include family rejection 64 , social isolation from the LGB community 65 , social ostracization by members of certain religious and political groups 62,64 , and exposure to LGB hate-crimes 66 . While minority stress theory has helped to identify and quantify the effects of a number of unique LGB stressors [62][63][64][65][66] The current body of evidence examining the effect of neighbourhood cohesion on mental health is limited by small sample size 7,14,19,31 , convenience sampling 6,8,9,12,21,27 , the overuse of cross-sectional design 2,3, , and neglects to address the potential differential impact on sexual minorities. Using a large, nationally representative UK household longitudinal survey (UKHLS) 68 69 .…”

Celebrity Self-disclosure and Social Cohesion: Perspectives from Ghanaian Instagram Users

“…Relative to social presence, we adapted the measures from prior research [73]. Items for attachment to celebrities were adapted from Thomson (2006) while items for social cohesion were adapted from [74]. The second ambit of the questionnaire focused on the demographic data of the respondents (gender, age, education, number of years on Instagram, whether following a celebrity or not).…”