Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Jun;61(3-4):332-343.
doi: 10.1002/ajcp.12240. Epub 2018 Mar 25.

Ecological Networks and Community Attachment and Support Among Recently Resettled Refugees

Brian Soller  1 , Jessica R Goodkind  1 , R Neil Greene  1 , Christopher R Browning  2 , Cece Shantzek  1
Affiliations

Ecological Networks and Community Attachment and Support Among Recently Resettled Refugees

Brian Soller et al. Am J Community Psychol. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Interventions aimed at enhancing mental health are increasingly centered around promoting community attachment and support. However, few have examined and tested the specific ecological factors that give rise to these key community processes. Drawing from insights from the ecological network perspective, we tested whether spatial and social overlap in routine activity settings (e.g., work, school, childcare) with fellow ethnic community members is associated with individuals' attachment to their ethnic communities and access to social resources embedded in their communities. Data on routine activity locations drawn from the Refugee Well-Being Project (based in a city in the Southwestern United States) were used to reconstruct the ecological networks of recently resettled refugee communities, which were two-mode networks that comprise individuals and their routine activity locations. Results indicated that respondents' community attachment and support increased with their ecological network extensity-which taps the extent to which respondents share routine activity locations with other community members. Our study highlights a key ecological process that potentially enhances individuals' ethnic community attachment that extends beyond residential neighborhoods.

Keywords: Community attachment; Ecological networks; Mental health; Refugee; Sense of community.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

There are no conflicts of interest to report.

References

    1. Bech P, Bille J, Moller SB, Hellstrom LC, and Ostergaard SD (2014). Psychometric validation of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-90) subscales for depression, anxiety, and interpersonal sensitivity.” Journal of Affective Disorders, 160, 98–103. - PubMed
    1. Behnia B (2004). Trust building from the perspective of survivors of war and torture. Social Service Review, 78(1), 26–40.
    1. Birman D, Trickett EJ, & Vinokurov A (2002). Acculturation and adaptation of Soviet Jewish refugee adolescents: Predictors of adjustment across life domains. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30, 585–607. - PubMed
    1. Boessen A, Hipp JR, Smith EJ, Butts CT, Nagle NN, & Almquist Z (2014). Networks, Space, and Residents’ Perception of Cohesion. American Journal of Community Psychology, 53(3–4), 447–461. - PubMed
    1. Breton R (1964). Institutional Completeness of Ethnic Communities and the Personal Relations of Immigrants. American Journal of Sociology, 70(2), 193–205.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources