This study contributes to the debate on the meaning of community and sense of community, and attempts to clarify the relationship between sense of community and civic and political participation. The authors interviewed 76 participants about their views and feelings about community. Forty‐seven were active members of political parties, neighborhood and cultural associations, and volunteers helping disadvantaged people. Twenty‐nine had never been involved in any kind of social or political group. Results showed that (a) the experience of community emerging from participants' discourse is not remarkably different from the academic meaning of community, and (b) the way individuals perceive community is linked both to sense of community and to civic and political participation. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

In two studies we analyzed the predictors of participation in an Italian Lulu mobilization, rooted in the Susa Valley, a North-Western Italian valley where a high speed railway (HSR) should be sited. Based on the data of qualitative Study 1, performed interviewing 12 anti-HSR militants and 12 non anti-HSR militants, we hypothesized that Klandermans' (1997) model on participation (centered on group identification, sense of injustice, and collective efficacy) is suitable to predict the Lulu mobilization we studied, and that three contextual variables (community involvement, the perception of the existence of a vast majority in the community favoring the mobilization, and place attachment) may be added to Klandermans' to predict such a mobilization. We formally tested such hypotheses in quantitative Study 2 (representative sample of the people living in the Susa Valley, N = 250). Results supported the role of Klandermans ' (1997) variables and confirmed the influence exerted by our contextual variables, thus suggesting that an integration of the two models would be fruitful in the analysis of Lulu mobilizations. Limits and future developments of this research are discussed.

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The study is aimed at examining the relationship between emotional and self-regulated learning self-efficacy, subjective well-being (SWB) and positive coping among adolescents and youths, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. 485 Italian students (74% girls; mean age 19.3) filled in an online questionnaire during the lockdown period. The hypothesized model in which both the forms of self-efficacy were predictors of SWB and positive coping, and SWB partially mediated the relation between self-efficacy measures and positive coping was tested by means of Structural equation modeling. Results largely supported the hypothesized relationships and suggested paying special attention to adolescents’ self-efficacy in regulating basic negative emotions, in order to promote positive coping strategies to face challenges coming from everyday life and from non-normative events.

Purpose -The concept of alienation boasts a long history in the academic literature.However, their empirical relations are not clear. The present study aimed at testing a model of correlates of alienation. Since occupational status plays a key role in alienation processes, such model was tested with high and low-status workers.Design/Methodology/Approach -Participants were 340 workers holding high-status (N=98) and low-status (N=242) positions. Data was collected through a self-report questionnaire. We verified the hypothesized relationships by means of a structural equation modeling, simultaneously tested on high-and low-status workers.Findings -Results showed that individual determinants of alienation, i.e. locus of control, appear to play a more relevant role for high-status professionals, whereas organizational dimensions, i.e. perception of decision making, have an impact only for low-status workers. Relational variables, i.e. work-family conflict, fostered alienation, regardless the status. Concerning outcomes, alienation decreased both job satisfaction and job involvement. Research limitations/implications -The specificities of the cultural context have to be considered. Generalising our results to other cultural contexts requires caution.Practical implications -Work alienation has a negative influence on work attitudes that can be better managed by the knowledge of alienation's correlates and peculiarities.Originality/Value -The study confirms the relevance of alienation for workers' satisfaction and involvement highlighting the difference between high and low-status workers.