The aim was to explore the relationships between sense of community and various factors with respect to a fairly broad area (town, city, or large quarter of a metropolis). Degree of neighboring, life satisfaction, loneliness, and area of residence were also considered. Subjects included 630 men and women, aged 20‐65 years, with different educational levels. They were individually administered a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Italian Sense of Community Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the University of California Loneliness Scale, and a Neighborhood Relations Scale. The subjects all live in Central Italy. They were divided into six groups as follows: one group living in a quarter of Rome, three groups living in three different areas of Grottaferrata (a hill town near Rome) and two groups living in two areas of Spoleto (the historical center and a working class suburb), a town in the Umbria region. Multiple regression analysis revealed the following: Neighborhood relations are stronger for women, for members of large families, for those with less education, for those living in the community for many years and for members of groups or associations. The strongest predictor of sense of community is neighborhood relations, although years of residence, being married, group participation, and area of residence are also significant factors. Sense of community is related to life satisfaction and loneliness in both the large and small town and in the city. Moreover, although sense of community is strongly associated with area of residence in Spoleto, this is not true for Grottaferrata. Overall, the results confirm the usefulness of conceptualizing the sense of community construct separately }}}{{{� Journal of Community Psychology, January 2001 }}}{{{from degree of neighboring. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

The ®rst aim of this study was to investigate whether demographic characteristics of children (i.e. age, sex, birth order), mothers' psychosocial characteristics (i.e. fear of crime, neighbourhood relations, sense of community, perceived risk of traf®c) and environmental factors (i.e. living in a new/old neighbourhood, in a building with a condominium courtyard, near a park or in a private street) in¯uence the independent urban mobility of 7±12-year-old children. The second aim was to verify whether children who are more independent meet their peers more frequently for indoor and outdoor play. A semi-structured interview, the Italian Sense of Community Scale and a Neighbourhood Relations scale were administered to 251 mothers living in Rome. The results indicated that more independent children are older, male, live in apartment buildings with courtyards, near parks and in new neighbourhoods. Also, their mothers have more neighbourhood relations. Regarding the second aim, it emerged that children who are more independent play more often with their peers, both indoors and outdoors.

The aim of this study was to investigate relations between sense of community, life satisfaction, self-esteem, perceived social support and satisfaction with community services in three territorial communities of dierent sizes. Further, the relations between sense of community and socio-demographic variables (gender, age, marital status, education, children, working in one's own community, owning one's home and group participation) were also studied. The Italian version of the Sense of Community Scale, Rosenberg's Self-esteem Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, a scale on Satisfaction with Community Services and a questionnaire were administered to 336 subjects; selection was made in the three communities from 20±60 year-old individuals. Results con®rm that sense of community and life satisfaction are higher in the town than in the larger communities; also, sense of community relates to life satisfaction only in the town and the small city. # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A structural equation model was used to examine the role of autonomous mobility and play in public and semipublic places in childhood toOver the past few decades, great changes have characterized the physical and social environment of cities in the West. However, satisfaction with the general improvement of material conditions is associated with growing concern about the nature of our relationship to the city and our relationship with others in the city. This preoccupation mainly regards a decrease

No abstract