PSOC in community context: multi-level correlates of a measure of psychological sense of community in low-income, urban neighborhoods

Recent years have seen a steady increase in attention to communities as a source of both risk and protective factors for various individual outcomes. Psychological sense of community (PSOC) is one concept which can be important in describing the ways in which real and perceived aspects of community might mediate both individual and community outcomes. To understand the setting-specific interaction of individual and community, it is necessary to examine how individual and community level factors are simultaneously associated with psychological sense of community. As part of a larger study of community influence on health, we conducted a random household survey in three geographically defined low-income communities in Baltimore City. Nine hundred fourteen individuals were surveyed with a questionnaire that included a measure of psychological sense of community. This article describes the variability of PSOC in these communities and identifies individual- and community-level characteristics associated with varying levels of PSOC. Statistical methods of multi-level analysis were employed. Individuals in low-income communities showed heterogeneity for PSOC that is partially explained by variation in individual- and community-level characteristics. We suggest that this variability, as well as the promotion of positive PSOC within low-income communities, has implications for the development and implementation of community-based interventions.