A descriptive study on the relationship of the structural properties of personal networks with the psychological sense of community in the neighborhood

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Isidro Maya Jariego
Departamento de Psicología Social, Universidad de Sevilla
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2568-5048
Deniza Alieva
Elena González Tinoco
Daniel Holgado
Fran Santolaya

Social interaction with neighbors is a key factor in the development of a psychological sense of community with the neighborhood of residence. Previous research has analyzed social activities and elements of urban design that offer opportunities for interaction. However, social network analysis has hardly been used to determine which structural characteristics are associated with greater territorial identification. In this study we obtained the personal networks of 212 residents in four neighborhoods of the city of Seville, in southern Spain. With these data the relationship between the structural characteristics of personal networks and the psychological sense of community was explored. The fragmentation of personal networks showed a negative association with the sense of belonging. The results indicate that spending time, developing relationships, and having friends in the neighborhood are direct antecedents of greater identification with residential contexts.

Keywords
Personal networks, Psychological sense of community, Neighborhoods, Fragmentation, Density

Article Details

How to Cite
Maya Jariego, Isidro et al. “A descriptive study on the relationship of the structural properties of personal networks with the psychological sense of community in the neighborhood”. Redes. Revista hispana para el análisis de redes sociales, 2025, vol.VOL 36, no. 1, pp. 125-33, doi:10.5565/rev/redes.1033.
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Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

(c) Isidro Maya Jariego, Deniza Alieva, Elena González Tinoco, Daniel Holgado, Fran Santolaya, 2024

Author Biography

Isidro Maya Jariego, Departamento de Psicología Social, Universidad de Sevilla

Departamento de Psicología Social, Universidad de Sevilla

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