Browsing by Author "Craig C. Brookins, Committee Chair"

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    Interest Group Psychological Sense of Community: Measurement and the Monolithic Fallacy
    (2009-04-28) Prohn, Seb MacKenzie; Craig C. Brookins, Committee Chair; Susan S. Jakes, Committee Member; Jason C Allaire, Committee Member
    Interest group psychological sense of community (PSOC) is understudied. As a result the extant literature on this phenomenon ranges from incomplete to unfounded. Therefore, the goal of this research is to investigate two assumptions posited by previous research. The first of which is the assumption that the Sense of Community Index (SCI) is measurement tool that best fits interest group PSOC data, and the second is the presumption that disparate interest groups conceptualize the PSOC construct similarly. To test the aforementioned assumptions of interest group PSOC, North American community gardens (N=110) and Australian Rules Football teams (N=107) completed an online survey assessing community perceptions. Through exploratory factor analysis newly designed PSOC items were allowed to freely compete with SCI items to create groups of observable measures best defined by PSOC’s four theoretical factors: membership, mutual influence, needs attainment and shared emotional connection. Confirmatory factor analysis was used showing a better fit of the new PSOC scale (AIC=274.51) than the SCI (AIC=281.51) test fit of model to PSOC data. An independent sample t test showed that community gardeners (M=5.32, SD=.82) experienced a less robust PSOC than USAFL players (M=5.63, SD=.91), t(216)= -2.66, p<.05, r2=.03). Then CFA was used once more to inspect factorial invariance between interest communities and the ‘generic interest community’. The results showed the change between configural and constrained models were non-significant for garden communities [∆[à ‡2(6)=12.50, p>.05] and Australian Rules football communities[∆[à ‡2(6)=7.90, p>.05]. The results of this study offer empirical support for a new interest group PSOC scale, the Interest Group Sense of Community Scale (IGPSOC), and offers insight on assumptions of conceptual plurality across distinctive interest groups.
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    The Processes that Moderate the Effect of Community Structural Factors on Neighborhood Child Maltreatment Rates.
    (2004-04-14) Fromm, Suzette Joyce; Craig C. Brookins, Committee Chair
    This study examined the processes that moderate the effect of community structural factors on neighborhood child maltreatment rates. It is hypothesized that social capital (intergenerational closure, reciprocal exchange) and collective efficacy for children (child-centered social control) moderate the relationship between community structural factors and neighborhood child maltreatment rates. This hypothesis was tested utilizing survey data from Harvard University's Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, the U.S. Census Bureau and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. A multiple regression was conducted indicating that community stability, the number of adults per child, concentrated disadvantage and child-centered social control predicted child maltreatment rates. Additional regression models indicate that intergenerational closure and reciprocal exchange help to buffer the effects of disadvantage on child maltreatment rates while increasing the rates in affluent communities. There was also indication that child-centered social control buffered the effect of concentrated disadvantage and density while increasing the effect of immigrant concentration on child maltreatment.