Sense of Community, Social Participation, Empowerment and Psychosocial Wellbeing: a study on Italian adults

Community offers support and identity derived from those nearby or with whom there are meaningful ongoing interactions. This conceptualization extend beyond just social support, and it is similar to such lay ideas that also focus on the positive aspects of community. There are some empirical studies for the positive role of sense of community and social participation in increasing personal wellbeing, both in adult and adolescent populations. Psychological empowerment has been found to increase with greater levels of community participation, and to have protective mental health effects. Aim of the study was to assess the relationship between social participation, empowerment, sense of community in a sample of Italian adults, and the impact of such variables on psychosocial wellbeing. Of particular interest was the specific contribution of these social variables in affecting the emotional, psychological and social dimensions of wellbeing. Differences according to age and gender were also assessed. A self-report questionnaire was submitted to a sample of 1460 participants (51.8% female) from 18 to 91 years old (mean = 47.12 SD: 19.9). Results highlighted the higher social participation and personal and political empowerment of male compared to female. They also indicated people in midlife reported higher level of psychological and social well-being with respect for younger group. Young people, instead, reported higher level of social support and social participation with respect to the old group. The overall results showed a positive association between social participation, sense of community, empowerment and wellbeing in Italian adults. A separate series of structural equation modeling analyses confirmed that social wellbeing was positively affected by social participation and sense of community, whereas emotional wellbeing was influenced by empowerment, social participation and perceived social support, and psychological wellbeing was affected by empowerment, sense of community, and social support. Implications of these results will be discussed.