Community resilience and continuous challenges: A qualitative analysis of the functioning of communities in the aftermath of persistent and ordinary stressors.

The study aimed at investigating the functioning of communities in the aftermath of continuous challenges and identifying standards for describing resilient paths based on the perspective of community members. A qualitative investigation was carried out in 11 territorial communities of Salento, in southern Italy. Fifty-two key informants were interviewed and interview transcripts were submitted to thematic content analysis through Atlas.Ti. Overall, the interviewees reported that their communities suffer from a varied set of complex and interrelated adverse circumstances that have increased their vulnerability. The respondents have a clear idea about the community strengths and weaknesses that either allow or impede adaptive responses, though they did not understand the latter in separation from the slow-onset events that have contributed to causing them. On the basis of findings, resilient paths facing continuous challenges can be described as trajectories of functioning allowing the communities to survive and progress through adaptive and maladaptive responses.

An Integrated Model of Compliance with COVID-19 Prescriptions: Instrumental, Normative, and Affective Factors Associated with Health-Protective Behaviors.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of public measures for reducing the transmission of the COVID-19 infection relies on citizens' voluntary adherence with prescribed actions. Drawing on prior literature about compliant behavior, this study aimed to identify factors associated with people engagement in health-protective behaviors by including a conjoint complement of instrumental/self-oriented, normative/community-based, and affective variables. METHOD: A cross-sectional study involving a non-representative sample of 4045 Italian citizens was carried out during the first stage of the pandemic (April-May 2020). Variables associated with health-protective behaviors were perceived personal and societal concerns and perceived effectiveness of the institutional response to the outbreak (instrumental dimensions), and family and friends perceived norms and sense of community responsibility (normative dimensions). Two negative emotions (anxiety and fear) were included as mediators between personal and societal concerns and outcome behaviors. RESULTS: Results showed the importance of both self-interest and community-based factors. Indeed, self-interest concerns, family perceived norms, and sense of community responsibility were significant predictors of people's decisions to engage in health-protective behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: The research findings show that compliance with public health prescriptions is a multimodal phenomenon and integrating self-interest and community-based factors can offer a better understanding of people's decision to engage in health-protective behaviors. Further, this study unveils that a shared sense of community is effective in encouraging adherence to recommended behaviors so as behavioral changes can be sustained by targeting the recommendations not only on risk minimization for oneself but also on the allocation of personal responsibility toward the belonging community.

The potential of psychological connectedness: Mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 through sense of community and community resilience.

The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of relationships connecting sense of community (SOC) and community resilience with psychological wellbeing, via the mediation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) impacts on life domains. Survey data were collected from an international sample of adults (n = 824) during the COVID-19 outbreak (June-September 2020). Using a structural equation model, we tested a mediation model to identify the associations between SOC and community resilience with the perceived impacts of the emergency situation and with psychological wellbeing. Results revealed that SOC mitigated the impacts of COVID-19 on multiple life domains, and it was also positively associated with wellbeing. Community resilience was correlated with SOC and wellbeing but showed no significant relationship with COVID-19 impacts. The findings support that SOC has a protective function and can contribute to mitigating the impacts of difficult life situations. SOC can also be leveraged as an intervention aimed at protecting the wellbeing of people and communities, particularly in times of crisiss.

COVID-19 in our lives: Sense of community, sense of community responsibility, and reflexivity in present concerns and perception of the future.

The aim of this study is to examine the association between citizens' perceptions of the effectiveness of the institutional response, their connection and responsibility to their community (Sense of Community-SoC; Sense of Community Responsibility-SoC-R), and their personal and social concerns about the current emergency and their perceptions of a postpandemic future during the first COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Another variable considered was the personal reflexivity about the COVID-19 pandemic. 3925 Italian adults completed an online questionnaire during the first COVID-19 lockdown. A structural equation model with mediation was tested. Institutional effectiveness was associated with SoC, SoC-R, current social concerns, and perceptions of a postpandemic future. SoC and SoC-R were associated with current personal and social concerns, and perceptions of a postpandemic future. Reflexivity was negatively associated with SoC and positively associated with SoC-R, mediating the relationships between SoC, SoC-R and current personal and social concerns and perceptions of a postpandemic future. Findings indicate the need to adopt a perspective that considers individual and socio-political levels and their interaction to better understand the impact of the pandemic during a national lockdown.

Emergency online school learning during COVID-19 lockdown: A qualitative study of adolescents' experiences in Italy.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused abrupt and profound changes to teaching and learning. The present study seeks to understand adolescents' experiences of the emergency adoption of online school learning (OSL) during the first national lockdown in Italy. Sixty-four students in their final two years of high school were interviewed and content analysis was performed. The findings describe students' views of the changes related to OSL according to structural, individual and relational dimensions. Schools' lack of organization, overwhelming demands, as well as experience of difficulties in concentration, stress and inhibited relationships with teachers and classmates were among the challenges evidenced in the transition. OSL, however, has also made it possible to experience a new flexibility and autonomy in the organization of learning. The study stresses the importance of fostering adaptation of teacher-student relationships and collaborative learning in order to improve schools' preparedness for digital transitions in and out of emergencies.

Community resilience and the acculturation expectations of the receiving community.

The study addressed how communities cope with multiculturalism by exploring the relationship between community resilience (CR) and acculturation expectations held by a sample of Italian-born. Specifically, the study aimed at detecting whether the perception of living in a community endowed with social (CR-connection and caring) and material (CR-resources) resources, along with the availability of individual assets (i.e., psychological resilience) encourage positive acculturation expectations (i.e., multiculturalism). Further, it also tested whether the perceived competitiveness of immigrants mediates the relationship between CR-resources and acculturation expectations. A survey involving 619 participants living in the south of Italy completed a self-report questionnaire. Results showed that competitiveness mediated the effects of CR-resources on acculturation expectations. CR-resources were related to increased perception of the competitiveness of immigrants, which, in turn, was associated with a reduced endorsement for multiculturalism and increased support for melting pot (i.e., assimilation) and exclusion, while CR-connection and caring was unrelated to all acculturation expectations. Implications and limitations of the study are finally discussed.

Individual and perceived community determinants of sense of community: The role of universalistic values.

Research on the determinants of the psychological sense of community (PSoC) is of particular importance to community interventions. A cross-sectional study involving 778 residents in an Italian local community explored through a mediation model the effects on PSoC of an individual cultural variable that has been scarcely investigated in PSoC research, that is, values-specifically, universalism-, and a perceived contextual variable, that is, the assessment of community services (a component of residential satisfaction). Results showed that universalism increased PSoC both directly and indirectly, having an effect also on the evaluation of community services, which, in comparison to values, showed a greater direct impact on PSoC. Limitations and implications for community interventions are discussed.

Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the sense of community responsibility scale.

The central aim of the present research was to examine the psychometric properties of adapted versions of the sense of community (SOC) responsibility scale in three Italian samples. We examined the psychometric properties of three modified versions of the sense of community responsibility (SOC-R) scale. Consistent with the original scale, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated that the scale was unidimensional and exhibited excellent internal consistency. In addition, factor analyses revealed that SOC responsibility and SOC are two separate, albeit related, constructs. The results also provided evidence of the discriminant validity of SOC and SOC-R on key outcomes. Taken together, these results provide support for the Community Experience Model, which posits that community experiences are a function of resource and responsibility components, as well as for the adaptable nature of the SOC-R scale to the Italian context.

Shared Communities: A Multinational Qualitative Study of Immigrant and Receiving Community Members.

Community psychology is central to understanding how immigrants and more established residents of their new settings join together to develop a shared sense of community and membership. In our present study, we explored how newer (i.e., first- and second-generation immigrants) and more established community members form multiple positive psychological sense of community (PSOC) with one another. We conducted a multinational, qualitative study of PSOC through interviews with 201 first- and second-generation immigrants and third generation or more "receiving community members" in three contexts (Baltimore-Washington corridor of the U.S.; Torino, Italy; Lecce, Italy). Results indicated numerous similarities among the ways in which participants constructed PSOC in shared and nonshared communities, regardless of immigration/citizenship status, length of community residence, city, country, age, or gender. Small, proximal, and salient communities were often particularly important to building positive PSOC, which was formed around diverse membership boundaries. As intersectional beings, members converged and diverged on many characteristics, providing multiple opportunities for members to bring diversity to their communities while sharing other characteristics deemed essential to membership. Nonetheless, findings point to significant, structural challenges rooted in power and privilege that must be confronted to bridge the community-diversity dialectic and build strong, shared sense of community.

What is the role of sense of community in multiracial societies? A contribution to the community-diversity dialectic: A genetic psychology approach.

Interconnecting the construct of sense of community (SOC), elaborated by McMillan and Chavis, with the notion of social representations, elaborated by Moscovici, this article aims to contribute to advancing an understanding of the relationship between SOC and respect for diversity. Utilizing a genetic psychology approach and the intergroup contact theory, the article articulates 3 levels through which the social representation of community and SOC can be formed and transformed (i.e., microgenetic, ontogenetic, and sociogenetic) to enhance the investigation of the relationship between the 2 phenomena beyond the intraindividual and interindividual levels that tend to emphasize homophily, or preference for similarity. In particular, the article elaborates on the sociogenetic formation of SOC by examining the macro-level forces that participate in establishing what a community should be and who is entitled to be part of it. Examples from 2 previous studies are discussed.

How socio-institutional contexts and cultural worldviews relate to COVID-19 acceptance rates: A representative study in Italy.

RATIONALE: Despite its importance to counter the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination has raised hesitation in large segments of the population. This hesitation makes it important to understand the mechanisms underlying vaccine acceptance. To this end, the study adopts the Semiotic Cultural Psychology Theory, holding that social behaviors - and therefore, vaccination acceptance - depend on the cultural meanings in terms of which people interpret the social world. OBJECTIVE: The study aims at estimating the impact a) of the way people interpret the socio-institutional context of the pandemic and b) of the underlying cultural worldviews on vaccine acceptance. More particularly, the study tested the three following hypotheses. a) The meanings grounding the interpretation of the socio-institutional framework - that is, trust in institutions and political values - are an antecedent of vaccination acceptance. b) The impact of these meanings is moderated by the cultural worldviews (operationalized as symbolic universes). And c), the magnitude of the symbolic universes' moderator effect depends on the uncertainty to which the respondent is exposed. The exposure to uncertainty was estimated in terms of socioeconomic status - the lower the status, the high the exposure to uncertainty. METHODS: An Italian representative sample (N = 3020) completed a questionnaire, measuring vaccination acceptance, the meanings attributed to the socio-institutional context - that is, political values and trust in institutions - and symbolic universes. RESULTS: The findings were consistent with the hypotheses. a) Structural equation modelling proved that vaccine acceptance was predicted by trust in institutions. b) Multigroup analysis revealed that symbolic universes moderated the correlation between trust in institutions and vaccine acceptance. And c), the moderation effect of symbolic universes proved to occur only in the segment of lower socio-economic status (i.e., the group exposed to higher uncertainty). CONCLUSIONS: Vaccination acceptance is not only a medical issue; it is also dependent upon the rationalization of the socio-institutional context. Implications for the promotion of vaccination acceptance are discussed.

Resilience and empowerment in immigrant experiences: A look through the transconceptual model of empowerment and resilience.

Resilience and empowerment are both strengths-based processes, which, while sharing commonalities, describe different goals, actions, and outcomes-one aimed at status quo; the other at status quake. The Transconceptual Model of Empowerment and Resilience (TMER; Brodsky & Cattaneo, 2013) outlines these similarities and differences in order to uncover the circumstances that lead to one or the other process. This study utilized TMER to explore resilience and empowerment in qualitative interviews of 99 first- and second-generation Latinx, Moroccan, and Albanian immigrants in the U.S. and Italy. Setting-based, macrolevel political and social issues, along with generational and locale variations, provided contextual counterpoints in participants' reported risks, resources, goals, actions, and outcomes. Individually held resources were the most common and were found to support resilience and empowerment actions. All participants, regardless of generation, locale, or context, reported more individually focused resilient actions than empowering ones. This study illustrates the difference between goals and actions that are resilient, thus maintaining the status quo, and empowerment goals and actions, which disrupt the status quo and thus are "status quake." It also adds to the evidence of TMER's contribution to understanding the processes by which immigrants' experiences, resources, and goals lead to resilience and empowering actions. Findings suggest how stronger coalitions might be built across community membership, which could use shared resources to address common concerns to benefit all. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The selective effect of lockdown experience on citizens' perspectives: A multilevel, multiple informant approach to personal and community resilience during COVID-19 pandemic.

In the face of the first wave of COVID-19 contagion, citizens all over the world experienced concerns for their safety and health, as well as prolonged lockdowns - which brought about limitations but also unforeseen opportunities for personal growth. Broad variability in these psychological responses to such unprecedented experiences emerged. This study addresses this variability by investigating the role of personal and community resilience. Personal resilience, collective resilience, community disaster management ability, provided information by local authorities, and citizens' focus on COVID-19-related personal concerns and lockdown-related opportunities for personal growth were detected through an online questionnaire. Multilevel modelling was run with data from 3,745 Italian citizens. The potential of personal resilience as a driver for individuals to overcome adverse situations with positive outcomes was confirmed. Differently, the components of community resilience showed more complex paths, highlighting the need to pay more attention to its role in the face of far-reaching adverse events which hardly test individuals' as well as communities' adaptability and agency skills. The complexities linked to the multi-component and system-specific nature of resilience, as well as potential paths towards making the most out of citizens' and communities' ones, emerge. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

What Do We Talk About When We Talk About Participation? Sense of Community and Social Representations of Participation.

The relationship between sense of community (SOC) and citizen participation has been extensively studied in community psychology. Connecting Social Representations and SOC theory, this study explored the lay meanings of citizen participation and its association with SOC. A word association task and a measure of territorial SOC were administered to 390 participants, and data analyzed to explore the contents of the social representations of citizen participation conveyed by the interviewees and their salience. Results revealed that different levels of SOC were associated with variations in the social representation of citizen participation. Specifically, among high-SOC participants the notion of formal political participation prevailed, while among low-SOC participants a more articulated vision emerged, encompassing social and community participation, and also conventional and non conventional types of participatory behaviors.

Acculturation in the discourse of immigrants and receiving community members: Results from a cross-national qualitative study.

This study explores the bidirectional and interactional process of acculturation from the perspectives of immigrants and receiving community members (RCMs). Our aim was to understand the experiences and interactions of different ethno-cultural groups and their impact on the functioning and dynamics of multicultural communities. We conducted a cross-national, cross-cultural study of acculturation processes, using interviews collected across two countries (Italy: urban regions of Torino and Lecce; U.S.: Baltimore/Washington corridor) and three distinct groups of immigrants-Moroccans and Albanians in Italy and Latin Americans in the United States-and RCMs in Italy and the United States. Findings show that acculturation is a complex, situated, and dynamic process, and is generally conceived as an unbalanced and individual process of accommodation, which expects the immigrant alone to adapt to the new context. The boundaries among traditionally explored acculturation strategies were blurred and while integration was the most frequently discussed strategy, it often referenced a "soft" assimilation, limited mostly to public domains. Some differences emerged between ethnic groups and generation of immigration as well as among RCMs who differed by level of contact with immigrants. The need for more flexible models and for a critical perspective on acculturation is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Symbolic universes between present and future of Europe. First results of the map of European societies' cultural milieu.

This paper reports the framework, method and main findings of an analysis of cultural milieus in 4 European countries (Estonia, Greece, Italy, and UK). The analysis is based on a questionnaire applied to a sample built through a two-step procedure of post-hoc random selection from a broader dataset based on an online survey. Responses to the questionnaire were subjected to multidimensional analysis-a combination of Multiple Correspondence Analysis and Cluster Analysis. We identified 5 symbolic universes, that correspond to basic, embodied, affect-laden, generalized worldviews. People in this study see the world as either a) an ordered universe; b) a matter of interpersonal bond; c) a caring society; d) consisting of a niche of belongingness; e) a hostile place (others' world). These symbolic universes were also interpreted as semiotic capital: they reflect the capacity of a place to foster social and civic development. Moreover, the distribution of the symbolic universes, and therefore social and civic engagement, is demonstrated to be variable across the 4 countries in the analysis. Finally, we develop a retrospective reconstruction of the distribution of symbolic universes as well as the interplay between their current state and past, present and future socio-institutional scenarios.

Correction: Symbolic universes between present and future of Europe. First results of the map of European societies' cultural milieu.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0189885.].

Common sense of experts: Social representations of justice amongst professionals.

The dialectics between different modes of knowledge is at the very core of social sciences. In particular, the theory of social representations looks at expert and lay modes as they were not peculiar of specific domains but rather as they were mutually interdependent. Based on the conceptual distinction between reified and consensual universes, this article explores the interplay between these two sources of knowledge through the analysis of the social representations of justice produced by justice professionals. In particular, the exploration of the social representations of justice amongst experts offers intriguing clues to overtake the idea that the lay understanding of justice is somehow opposed to the expert viewpoint and to accept the polyphasic understanding of this complex object. The article reports the findings of a qualitative investigation of the social representations of justice amongst professionals. The staff members of the Youth Social Services (YSS) and the Juvenile Classification Home and Residential Community (JCHRC) were interviewed, and transcriptions were content analysed. The findings indicated that professionals generate multiple theories of justice with each presenting a particular articulation of the basic interplay between expert and lay viewpoints. Most important, findings indicate that the context of everyday working practice has a significant symbolic valence that goes beyond the boundaries of the reified context of institutional justice system.