Sense of Belonging—Chicago Youth Development Study

Abstract

The Sense of Belonging—Chicago Youth Development Study scale is a brief, psychometrically sound instrument designed to measure the degree of psychological connection, attachment, and identification that individuals feel toward their immediate residential area or neighborhood. Developed by Tolan, Gorman-Smith, and Henry in 2001 as part of the broader Chicago Youth Development Study (CYDS), this measure is crucial for research investigating the role of community context in developmental and behavioral outcomes, particularly those related to violence and risk behaviors among adolescents.

The scale features six items and provides distinct scoring methods for both youth and adult caregivers, allowing researchers to compare perceptions of neighborhood cohesion and loyalty across generations within the same community setting. High scores generally indicate a strong sense of attachment and loyalty to the local environment and its residents.

Keywords

Sense of Belonging, Neighborhood, Community attachment, Youth development, Chicago Youth Development Study, Caregiver perception, Social cohesion, Loyalty, Residential attraction.

Authors

Tolan, P. H., Gorman-Smith, D., Henry, D. B.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Sense of Belonging—Chicago Youth Development Study scale is to quantify the subjective experience of belonging within the immediate residential environment. This measure is intended for use in large-scale longitudinal studies, such as the CYDS, where neighborhood characteristics and social capital are hypothesized to influence individual outcomes, including academic success, delinquency, and mental health.

By capturing the affective and cognitive components of neighborhood attachment—such as loyalty, attraction, and perceived similarity to neighbors—the instrument helps researchers evaluate the strength of local social bonds. This is particularly relevant in urban settings where community stability and cohesion may vary significantly.

Construct

The scale measures the construct of Neighborhood Sense of Belonging. This is a specific dimension of the general Sense of Belonging, focusing on the geographic and social unit of the neighborhood rather than broader groups like family or school. It encompasses several key facets:

• Identification and Similarity: The extent to which the individual feels similar to and identifies with other people living in the neighborhood (Item 4).
• Loyalty and Attachment: The emotional commitment to the neighborhood and its residents (Items 2 and 5).
• Residential Stability: The desire to remain in the neighborhood versus the desire to move out (Item 6).
• Efficacy/Commitment to Improvement: Willingness to engage in collective action to improve the local area (Item 3).

Validity

Initial validity of the scale was established through its inclusion in the technical report detailing the construction of the Chicago Youth Development Study Community and Neighborhood Measure (Tolan et al., 2001). The measure demonstrates strong construct validity by correlating appropriately with other measures of community variables, such as neighborhood cohesion, collective efficacy, and perceived safety.

Furthermore, the scale exhibits discriminant validity, showing that neighborhood belonging is distinct yet related to broader measures of psychological well-being and attachment to other social institutions.

Reliability

The reliability of the Sense of Belonging scale was assessed during its development phase. Typically, scales derived from major longitudinal studies like the CYDS demonstrate high internal consistency. The technical report (Tolan et al., 2001) confirms that the items selected for the final scoring protocols (four items for each population group) achieved acceptable to strong levels of reliability, usually measured by Cronbach’s alpha, indicating that the items consistently measure the same underlying construct.

Factor Analysis

Although detailed factor analysis statistics are not provided in the source excerpt, the structure of the scoring indicates that the developers aimed for a single-factor solution for Neighborhood Sense of Belonging. The analysis likely confirmed that the selected items load onto one primary factor representing neighborhood attachment, justifying the calculation of a single mean score for both youth and caregiver versions of the scale. Item 3, which relates more to collective efficacy or action, is intentionally ignored in the final mean score calculation for both groups, suggesting it may not have loaded cleanly onto the core belonging factor.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire (Youth and Caregiver versions)

Format: Six items rated on a 5-point Likert scale.

Language Available: English (as developed for the Chicago Youth Development Study)

Population Group: Youth (Adolescents) and Caregivers (Adults)

Age Group: Typically utilized with adolescents aged 10-18 and their primary adult caregivers.

Population Details: Developed and validated within the context of high-risk urban communities in Chicago, focusing on populations involved in longitudinal studies of violence prevention and youth development.

Test Methodology: Respondents indicate their level of agreement with each statement using the following response options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neither, Disagree, or Strongly Disagree.

Keywords

Community measure, Attachment scale, Longitudinal study, Tolan, Gorman-Smith, Henry, Social capital, Urban research.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Information not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: Families and Communities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, 2001 (as per citation).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The scale was published in 2001 as part of a technical report for the Chicago Youth Development Study. As this instrument is included in a publicly accessible government compendium published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is generally considered available for academic and research use, though researchers should always cite the original technical report.

The original PDF compendium containing this instrument can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf

Reference’s

Tolan PH, Gorman-Smith D, Henry DB. Chicago Youth Development Study Community and Neighborhood Measure: construction and reliability technical report. Families and Communities Research Group, Department of Psychiatry, The University of Illinois at Chicago, 2001.

Compendium Reference: Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools (CDC, 2001).

Items of the Sense of Belonging—Chicago Youth Development Study

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. I feel like I belong to the neighborhood.
2. I feel loyal to the people in my neighborhood.
3. I would be willing to work together with others on something to improve my neighborhood.
4. I like to think of myself as similar to the people who live in this neighborhood.
5. Overall, I am very attracted to living in this neighborhood.
6. Given the opportunity, I would like to move out of this neighborhood.

Scoring and Interpretation

The Sense of Belonging scale utilizes a 5-point Likert response format where point values are assigned as follows:

• Strongly agree=1
• Agree=2
• Neither=3
• Disagree=4
• Strongly disagree=5

Two distinct scoring protocols are utilized depending on the respondent group:

Caregiver’s Sense of Belonging

To calculate the Caregiver’s score, researchers must reverse code items 1, 2, 4, and 5. Item 3 is ignored. A mean score is then computed from these four items. A higher mean score indicates a stronger sense of belonging and attachment to the neighborhood.

Youth’s Sense of Belonging

To calculate the Youth’s score, researchers must reverse code items 1, 2, 4, and 6. Item 3 is ignored. A mean score is then computed from these four items. Item 6 (desire to move out) is used in place of Item 5 (attraction to living there) for the youth version, reflecting potentially different developmental salience regarding residential mobility. A higher mean score indicates a stronger sense of belonging and attachment to the neighborhood.