Research article Special Issues

Sense of Community among Chinese Older Adults in the Greater Chicago Area: Findings from the PINE Study

  • Received: 07 May 2014 Accepted: 15 July 2014 Published: 04 August 2014
  • Background: Sense of community is a concept that has significant implications cross multiple disciplines, particularly in public health practice. However, there exists a knowledge gap in utilizing the sense of community in investigating the health of older immigrant populations. Objective: This study aimed to explore the perception of the sense of community among community-dwelling U.S. Chinese older adults. Methods: Data were from the PINE study, a population-based survey of U.S. Chinese older adults aged 60 years and above in the greater Chicago area. We administered the Sense of Community Index to measure the levels of sense of community. Socio-demographic information was also collected. Results: Our results suggest that Chinese older adults in this study sample reported a strong sense of community. In total, 86.7% of the participants reported satisfaction with the current neighborhood, and 78.4% expressed their desire to continue living in the community as long as possible. In addition, older age (r =0.11), having higher levels of income (r =0.08), being female (r =0.08), being unmarried (r =-0.06), living with fewer people (r =-0.22), having more children (r =0.11), having been in the U.S. for more years (r =0.12), longer residency in the community (r =0.15), higher overall health status (r =0.18), better quality of life (r =0.23), and improved health status in the past year (r =0.11) were significantly correlated with the higher levels of the sense of the community. Conclusions: The study investigation provided the basis for generating empirical knowledge for understanding the sense of community among U.S. Chinese older adults. Future research is needed to delineate the mechanisms underlying sense of community and health in the increasingly diverse aging population.

    Citation: Xinqi Dong, E-Shien Chang, Melissa A. Simon. Sense of Community among Chinese Older Adults in the Greater Chicago Area: Findings from the PINE Study[J]. AIMS Medical Science, 2014, 1(1): 28-39. doi: 10.3934/medsci.2014.1.28

    Related Papers:

  • Background: Sense of community is a concept that has significant implications cross multiple disciplines, particularly in public health practice. However, there exists a knowledge gap in utilizing the sense of community in investigating the health of older immigrant populations. Objective: This study aimed to explore the perception of the sense of community among community-dwelling U.S. Chinese older adults. Methods: Data were from the PINE study, a population-based survey of U.S. Chinese older adults aged 60 years and above in the greater Chicago area. We administered the Sense of Community Index to measure the levels of sense of community. Socio-demographic information was also collected. Results: Our results suggest that Chinese older adults in this study sample reported a strong sense of community. In total, 86.7% of the participants reported satisfaction with the current neighborhood, and 78.4% expressed their desire to continue living in the community as long as possible. In addition, older age (r =0.11), having higher levels of income (r =0.08), being female (r =0.08), being unmarried (r =-0.06), living with fewer people (r =-0.22), having more children (r =0.11), having been in the U.S. for more years (r =0.12), longer residency in the community (r =0.15), higher overall health status (r =0.18), better quality of life (r =0.23), and improved health status in the past year (r =0.11) were significantly correlated with the higher levels of the sense of the community. Conclusions: The study investigation provided the basis for generating empirical knowledge for understanding the sense of community among U.S. Chinese older adults. Future research is needed to delineate the mechanisms underlying sense of community and health in the increasingly diverse aging population.


    加载中
    [1] McMillan DW, Chavis DM (1986) Sense of commmunity: A definition and theory. Am J Commun Psychol 14: 6-23. doi: 10.1002/1520-6629(198601)14:1<6::AID-JCOP2290140103>3.0.CO;2-I
    [2] Chipur HM, Pretty GH (1999) A review of the sense of community index: current uses, factor structure, reliablity, and further development. J Commun Psychol 27(643): 658.
    [3] Chavis DM, Pretty GMH (1999) Sense of community: Advances in measurement and application. J Commun Psychol 27: 635-642. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199911)27:6<635::AID-JCOP1>3.0.CO;2-F
    [4] Puddifoot JE (1995) Dimensions of community identify. J Commun Appl Psychol 5: 357-370. doi: 10.1002/casp.2450050507
    [5] Kingston S, Mitchell R, Florin P, et al. (1999) Sense of community in neighborhoods as a multi-level construct. J Commun Psychol 27: 681-694. doi: 10.1002/(SICI)1520-6629(199911)27:6<681::AID-JCOP4>3.0.CO;2-W
    [6] Glynn TJ (1981) Psychological sense of community: Measurement and application. Human Relat 34: 780-818.
    [7] Chavis DM, Wandersman A (1990) A sense of community in the urban enviroment: A catalyst for participation and community development. Am J Commun Psychol 18: 55-81. doi: 10.1007/BF00922689
    [8] Prezza M, Amici M, Roberti T (2001) Sense of community referred to the whole town: Its relations with neighboring, loneliness, life satisfaction, and area of residence. J Commun Psychol29: 29-52.
    [9] Farrell SJ, Coulombe TAD (2004) Neighborhoods and neighbors: Do they contribute to personal well-being. J Commun Psychol 32: 9-25. doi: 10.1002/jcop.10082
    [10] Baldassare M, Rosenfield S, Rook KS (1984) The types of social relations predicting elderly well-being. Res Aging 6: 549-559. doi: 10.1177/0164027584006004006
    [11] Bromell L, Cagney KA (2014) Companionship in the neighborhood context: Older adults' living arrangments and perceptions of social cohesion. Res Aging 36(2): 228-243.
    [12] Cagney KA, Browning CR, Wen M (2005) Racial disparities in self-rated health at older ages: What difference does the neighborhood make? J Gerongol Psychol SCI 60: S181-S190. doi: 10.1093/geronb/60.4.S181
    [13] Basta NE, Matthews FE, Chatfield MD, et al. (2008) Community-level socio-economic status and cognitive and functional impairment in the older population. Eur J Public Health 18: 48-54. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckm076
    [14] Roh S, Jang Y, Chiriboga DA, et al. (2011) Perceived neighborhood enviroment affecting physical and mental health: A study with Korean American older adults in New York City. J Immigr Minor Health 13(6): 1005-1012.
    [15] Barnes JS, Bennett CE (2002) The Asian population: 2000. Washington D. C. : United State Census Report.
    [16] Bennett CE, Martin B (1995) The nation's Asian and Pacific islander population 1995. Washington D. C. : United State Census Report.
    [17] U. S. Census Bureau (2011) Census demographic profile: 2010. Washington D. C. : United State Census Report.
    [18] Dong X, Wong E, Simon MA (2014) Study design and implementation of the PINE Study. J Health Aging Mar 25. pii: 0898264314526620. [Epub ahead of print].
    [19] Simon M, Chang E, Rajan K, et al. (2014) Demographic characteristics of U. S. Chinese older adults in the greater Chicago area: Assessing the representativeness of the PINE study. J Aging Health In Press.
    [20] Perkins D, Florin P, Rich R, et al. (1990) Participation and the social and physical enviroment of residential blocks: crime and community context. Am J Commun Psychol 18: 83-115. doi: 10.1007/BF00922690
    [21] Riger C, Lavrakas P (1981) Community ties patterns of attachment and social interaction in urban neighborhoods. Am J Commun Psychol 9: 55-66. doi: 10.1007/BF00896360
    [22] Riger C, Lavrakas P. Community ties patterns of attachment and social interaction in urban neighborhoods. Am J Commun Psychol 9: 55-66.
    [23] Kwag KH, Jang Y, Rhew S, et al. (2001) Neighborhood effects on physical and mentl health: A study of Korean American older adults. Asian Am J Psychol 2(2): 91-100.
    [24] Robert SA, Lee KY (2002) Explaining race differences in health among older adults: The contribution of community socioeconomic contexts. Res Aging 24: 654-683. doi: 10.1177/016402702237186
    [25] Dong X, Chang ES, Wong E, et al. (2011) Working with culture: lessons learned from a community-engaged project in a Chinese aging population. Aging Health 7(4): 529-537.
    [26] Dong X, Chang E, Wong E, et al. (2011) Sustaining community-university partnerships: Lessons learned from a participatory research project with elderly Chinese. Gateways Int J Commun Res Engag 4: 31-47. doi: 10.5130/ijcre.v4i0.1767
  • Reader Comments
  • © 2014 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索

Metrics

Article views(4630) PDF downloads(1048) Cited by(2)

Article outline

Figures and Tables

Tables(4)

Other Articles By Authors

/

DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
Return
Return

Catalog