Perceptions Of Collective Efficacy Research Articles

Collective Efficacy and Mixed-Tenure Redevelopment: Insights from Toronto’s Regent Park Neighborhood

It is asserted that mixed-tenure public housing redevelopments can improve informal social control in targeted neighborhoods. We investigate this question using a validated measure of collective efficacy from a survey of residents in Toronto’s Regent Park neighborhood. We find that social housing residents report higher perceived levels of collective efficacy than do residents of the market buildings and that households with children report higher perceptions of collective efficacy than do households without children. Our findings provide some support for existing best practices, particularly the provision of amenities for families and the preservation of social ties among social tenants.

Relationship between Socioeconomic Status and Pro-Environmental Behavior: The Role of Efficacy Beliefs

Efficacy beliefs are important determinants of human behavior. In the context of social cognitive theory, the perception of collective efficacy is closely related to the individual perception of self-efficacy, which is influenced by socio-structural factors such as socioeconomic status (SES). Surprisingly, the relationship between these variables has received little attention in the literature on environmental issues. Within the framework of social cognitive theory, the aim of this study was to investigate whether SES has a direct effect on pro-environmental behavior and whether it has an indirect effect via perceptions of self-efficacy and collective efficacy, in relation to climate change mitigation behavior. An online cross-sectional study was conducted using a quota sample of 1075 participants (51.9% women) aged 18–79 years. Participants reported their SES using objective and subjective measures, perceptions of their own and collective efficacy in mitigating climate change, and the frequency of their pro-environmental behaviors. Structural equation modeling revealed that the model with serial mediation effects of self-efficacy and collective efficacy between SES (both objective and subjective) and pro-environmental behaviors showed a good model fit. As expected, both objective and subjective SES had no direct effect on pro-environmental behavior. Surprisingly, neither objective nor subjective SES had an indirect effect (via efficacy beliefs) on pro-environmental behavior. However, both self-efficacy and collective efficacy were associated with pro-environmental behavior. These findings have practical implications for the development of strategies aimed at enhancing pro-environmental behavior.

Banking on the Neighborhood? Inequalities in Older Adults' Access to Local Banking and Neighborhood Perceptions.

Access to local banking represents an understudied dimension of neighborhood-based inequalities that could significantly influence older adults' perceptions of their neighborhood spaces in ways that matter for disparities in well-being. We evaluate disparities in banking access and then examine how local banking access informs older adults' perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy and danger, above and beyond other neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. We use nationally representative data from older adults in the United States who were interviewed at Round 3 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project, linked with data on banks in respondents' residential and surrounding census tracts from the National Establishment Time-Series database, in a series of bivariate and multivariable regression analyses. White older adults and those with higher levels of education have significantly greater local banking access than Black and Hispanic older adults and those with lower levels of education. Higher rates of local banking institutions are associated with significantly lower perceptions of neighborhood danger, but not with perceived collective efficacy. This finding emerges when accounting for neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and physical disorder. Local banks may represent neighborhood investment and the broader economic vitality of a community, as well as the ability of communities to meet older adults' everyday needs in ways that enhance older residents' feelings of safety. Increasing access to local financial institutions may help attenuate neighborhood-based contributors to inequalities in health and well-being among the older adult population.

The conditioning role of perceptions of collective efficacy in the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and delinquency

PurposeAdverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic incidents linked to various negative outcomes, including delinquent behavior. Although research has demonstrated that exposure to ACEs increases involvement in delinquency, there is a lack of understanding of factors influencing this relationship. Not all who encounter adversity engage in delinquency, which suggests that other conditions can affect how youth respond to ACEs. We examine the potential influence of neighborhood collective efficacy on the relationship between ACEs and delinquency. MethodsUsing prospective longitudinal data from the Longitudinal Studies on Child Abuse and Neglect (LONGSCAN), we investigate relationships between ACEs, perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy, and adolescent delinquency among a sample of 802 at-risk youth. ResultsNegative binomial regression estimates and evaluation of marginal effects reveal that the relationship between ACEs and delinquency is moderated by perceptions of collective efficacy, implying that stronger perceived collective efficacy attenuates the impact of ACEs on delinquency. This moderation effect is specific to youth exposed to five or more ACEs. ConclusionsThese findings suggest that neighborhood conditions play a crucial role in shaping the outcomes of youth exposed to ACEs. Implications for policy and future research on the interplay between ACEs, neighborhood factors, and delinquency are discussed.

I will only help if others tell me to do so! The simultaneous influence of injunctive and descriptive norms on donations

To address the gaps in the understanding of how social norms can be used to increase charitable donations, we conducted two experiments with 347 participants. We demonstrated the following: (a) that the norms supporting or not supporting charitable donations influence donation intentions; (b) that injunctive norms (what the majority of people approve of) have stronger influences on donation intentions than descriptive ones (what the majority of people do); and (c) that when injunctive and descriptive norms do not align, they demotivate individuals to donate by reducing perceptions of collective efficacy. Our findings expand the literature on charitable donation, social norms and collective efficacy and offer insights for charitable organisations in terms of increasing donations by crafting convincing marketing content.

The Influence of Flooding Imagery and Party Cues on Perceived Threat, Collective Efficacy, and Intentions for Political Action to Address Climate Change

This study investigates how episodic and thematic flooding imagery and political party cues in climate change news stories influence risk perceptions, collective efficacy perceptions, and intended political action. We found that imagery and party cues had significant total effects on perceived flooding threat but not on perceived climate change threat. Specifically, episodic imagery (but not thematic imagery) increased perceived flooding threat, and party cues lowered perceived threat. Perceived threat was positively associated with collective efficacy, which, in turn, was positively associated with intended political action. Both imagery and party cues had significant indirect effects on perceived efficacy and intended action.

Interpersonal emotions in team sports

This research explores how emotional contagion within a team impacts emotions, team cohesion, collective efficacy perception, effort perception, perceived performance, and actual performance outcomes. Forty-seven non-competitive amateur cross-fit participants were split into two experimental groups: high pleasantness-high arousal (HH) and low pleasantness-low arousal (LL). To stimulate these mood states, two trained associates were engaged, which served as catalysts for the teams' "emotional contagion". Participants from the HH group outperformed and exerted more effort than those from the LL group, though they perceived their effort levels to be similar. They demonstrated greater collective efficacy and team cohesion, had a more positive emotional state, and perceived their team's performance as superior. Emotional contagion plays a significant role in team dynamics and physical outcomes. The practical implications of emotional contagion are discussed.

The spatial distribution of neighborhood safety ties: Consequences for perceived collective efficacy?

ABSTRACT There is conflicting evidence in the literature regarding the relationship between residents’ social networks and their perceptions of neighborhood collective efficacy. This study proposes addressing this challenge with several theoretically motivated refinements using a large spatially stratified sample of residents in the Western United States. First, we consider various distinct types of social relationships, and find that our novel measure of neighborhood safety ties is much more strongly related to perceived collective efficacy than is a measure of socializing relationships. Second, we explicitly account for the spatial distribution of ties, and find that it is not just local neighborhood ties that increase a sense of cohesion or informal social control, but that more spatially distant ties also matter. Third, we make a distinction between urban and rural areas, finding that in rural areas, social ties from an even broader area are associated with stronger feelings of collective efficacy.

Face Validity

Face Validity

Effects of social media empowerment on COVID-19 preventive behaviors in China

PurposeDuring the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, ubiquitous social media has become a primary channel for information dissemination, social interactions and recreational activities. However, it remains unclear how social media usage influences nonpharmaceutical preventive behavior of individuals in response to the pandemic. This paper aims to explore the impacts of social media on COVID-19 preventive behaviors based on the theoretical lens of empowerment.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, survey data has been collected from 739 social media users in China to conduct structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that social media empowers individuals in terms of knowledge seeking, knowledge sharing, socializing and entertainment to promote preventive behaviors at the individual level by increasing each person's perception of collective efficacy and social cohesion. Meanwhile, social cohesion negatively impacts the relationship between collective efficacy and individual preventive behavior.Originality/valueThis study provides insights regarding the role of social media in crisis response and examines the role of collective beliefs in the influencing mechanism of social media. The results presented herein can be used to guide government agencies seeking to control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perceived neighbourhood collective efficacy and adolescent health determinants: Investigating outdoor play as a mediator.

Research demonstrates that play is promotive of health and development in children across multiple domains. Outdoor play may be especially beneficial as environmental elements are conducive to recreation and relaxation. Maternal perception of neighbourhood collective efficacy (NCE), or sense of cohesion among residents, may be a form of social capital especially effective in promoting outdoor play, and thus healthy development. Yet little research has examined the long-term benefits of play beyond childhood. We utilized longitudinal data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N = 4441) to evaluate outdoor play during middle childhood as a mediator between perceived NCE in early childhood and adolescent health determinants. Maternal self-reported perceived NCE at age 5, children's outdoor play was assessed at age 9 and adolescents' self-reported height, weight, physical activity and depressive and anxiety symptoms at age 15. Total play served as mediator between NCE and later adolescent health determinants. Perceived NCE in early childhood (age 5) significantly predicted more total play in middle childhood (age 9), which in turn predicted more physical activity and lower anxiety symptoms in adolescence (age 15). Consistent with a developmental cascades approach, maternal perceptions of NCE shaped children's engagement in outdoor play that may serve as a foundation for later emerging health behaviours.

Cooperation with the police: a path analysis of residents in two Arab American-concentrated cities

PurposeThis study seeks to answer (1) how perceived neighborhood collective efficacy and disorder affect residents' cooperation with the police, both directly and indirectly through perceptions of the police and (2) how Arab American ethnicity moderates the linkages between perceived collective efficacy, disorder and cooperation.Design/methodology/approachRelying on survey interview data from a probability sample of 414 residents in Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, MI and path model analysis, this study tests an explanatory model of public cooperation with the police that integrates both neighborhood and policing factors.FindingsPerceived neighborhood disorder undermines residents' desires to cooperate, and this influence is chiefly direct. Meanwhile, although no significant total effect, perception of neighborhood collective efficacy does have a positive effect on cooperation through the mediator of positive assessment of police effectiveness. Further, collective efficacy has a direct, positive effect on cooperation among Arab Americans only. Finally, perceptions of police equal treatment and effectiveness, rather than procedural justice, are significant correlates of public cooperation.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the extremely limited literature on policing and Arab American communities. The findings can deepen the understanding on why and for which groups neighborhood context is related to cooperation with the police. Findings can also add to the knowledge base for designing policies and practices that help secure and promote public support and cooperation in both Arab and non-Arab communities.

Perceived Collective School Efficacy Mediates the Organizational Justice Effect in Teachers' Subjective Well-Being.

Trust and team communication are central aspects for the achievement of both individual and common goals, which affect not only work efficiency but also the well-being of its members. In addition, organizational justice could affect these indicators, as well as the perception of collective efficacy within organizations, in this case, schools. The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of organizational justice on teachers’ subjective well-being, and how this is affected/mediated by collective efficacy. We worked with a sample of 693 teachers across Chile. Multiple mediation analysis was carried out, where the latent variables of the study were estimated (subjective well-being, organizational justice, and two dimensions of collective efficacy). The results indicate that there is full mediation of the collective efficacy dimensions between the predictor–criterion relationship. Our findings allow us to hypothesize that perceptions of collective efficacy are central to explaining well-being as an intrinsic factor.

Examination of the Relationship Between Daily Perceptions of Collective Efficacy and Marijuana Use Among Black Youth: Does the Location of the Perception Matters?

Neighborhood-level collective efficacy protects Black youth from substance use; however, neighborhood research does not account for the entirety of adolescents' exposure or their perceptions of space which may be critical to understanding the role of context in substance use. To address this limitation, the SPIN Project recruited 65 Black adolescents (M(SD) = 15.32(1.06)) to complete four brief surveys each day for a month describing their perceptions of spaces and marijuana use. Multilevel negative binomial models were estimated to test the relationship between an individual's perceptions of collective efficacy and the marijuana used during a day, and if the location of the observations moderated these relationships. Findings indicated that the perceptions of collective efficacy protected adolescents from marijuana use when occurring within their home neighborhood, but not outside of it; thereby suggesting important variations in adolescents' perceptions based on the location that matter for Black youth marijuana use.

Understanding Collective Efficacy as a Racialized Process: Examining the Relationship Between Discrimination and Perceptions of Collective Efficacy

Understanding Collective Efficacy as a Racialized Process: Examining the Relationship Between Discrimination and Perceptions of Collective Efficacy

Effects of a multifaceted team goal-setting intervention for youth volleyball teams

The current study examined the effects of a season-long multifaceted team goal-setting intervention (with emphasis on both individual and team level goal) on perceptions of team cohesion and collective efficacy. Using a non-randomized controlled design with 81 female volleyball players (Mage = 16.57, SD = .25) from six teams, three teams (n = 3) were assigned as intervention condition while the remaining teams (n = 3) represented no-treatment control condition. Teams in the intervention condition participated in a three-stage team goal-setting protocol with an extension of the individual goal-setting phase throughout a season. All participants completed questionnaires measuring perceptions of team cohesion and collective efficacy at three time-points throughout the season (i.e., beginning, midseason, end-season). In addition, participants in the intervention condition completed performance profiles at the beginning and the end of the season. Compared to the control group, the task cohesion perceptions of the intervention group were significantly higher in the midseason, the social cohesion perceptions were significantly higher at the end of the season, and their collective efficacy perceptions were significantly higher both in the midseason and at the end of the season. These results revealed the effectiveness of the multifaceted team goal-setting intervention on team cohesion and collective efficacy. Lay summary: This study extends the team goal-setting literature by conducting a season-long multifaceted team goal-setting intervention in youth volleyball teams. The intervention involved both individual and team goals and aimed to improve coherence between those goals through task interdependence.

Coming to Terms Will Do It: Students Engaging with Climate Change Through Sensemaking and Collective Efficacy Perceptions

Within climate change instruction, effective instructional crisis communication is necessary to attain cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning outcomes so students comprehensively learn the reality and implications of this planetary crisis. I locate this learning as coming to terms with climate change. This study explores how students affectively and cognitively learned to come to terms with the immense threat of the climate crisis outside their initial exposure to climate change fear appeals communicated in their classrooms. Drawing from interviews and focus groups with college students, I found students came to terms with climate change outside their classrooms by coping with the immense threat while enacting sensemaking with their peers. These findings suggest coping and sensemaking are crucial for students to come to terms with climate change after instructor-delivered fear appeals to access the efficacy needed to face this planetary threat. Ultimately, this study advances instructional crisis communication by providing insight into student to student out-of-classroom communication and how it affects cognitive and affective learning outcomes concerning climate change.

Risk Perception, Perception of Collective Efficacy and Sleep Quality in Chinese Adults during COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Only a few studies have studied the link between risk perception and sleep in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of our study is to propose and test a theoretical model to understand the relationships between COVID-19 risk appraisals—risk perception and perception of collective coordinated defense (PCCD) in particular—and subjective sleep quality in Chinese adults in Hong Kong during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19-related fear and rumination were examined as potential mediators of the relationships. Methods: Data were collected using a self-report online questionnaire from a convenience sample of 224 Chinese adults during the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong. Results: Risk perception and PCCD were found to predict poor sleep quality. Mediation analysis showed that both fear and rumination mediated the relationship between risk perception and sleep quality, whereas only fear mediated the relationship between PCCD and sleep quality. The model was an excellent fit to the data and accounted for 44% of the variance in sleep quality in Chinese adults. This study indicated that both perception of high risks of contracting COVID-19 and anticipations of collective disease preventive efforts had adverse effects on subjective sleep quality via increasing COVID-19-related fear. Conclusions: These findings underscore the need for addressing sleep problems induced by psychological consequences of the pandemic. While policy makers often deliver public messaging campaigns that frame disease prevention as a collective goal, developing evidence-based coping strategies to combat COVID-19 adverse impacts on psychological health is equally important.

Evaluating Psychometric Properties of the New Teachers' Perceptions of Collective Efficacy to Handle Bullying Scale (TCEB).

Collective efficacy is a promising theoretical construct that has been used to explain bullying rates in school. The development of school collective efficacy scales has increased in bullying research in recent years; however, gaps remain in measuring collective efficacy to handle bullying. This research assessed the psychometric properties of a new scale to evaluate collective efficacy against bullying. This first-order one-dimensional scale is called the teachers’ perceptions of collective efficacy to handle bullying (TCEB) scale. A sample of 804 Mexican primary teachers completed questionnaires. The sample was randomly split into two subsamples for calibration (n = 402) and cross-validation analysis (n = 402). The factor structure was supported by confirmatory factorial analysis. Measurement equivalence was confirmed by gender. The latent means differences showed no statistically significant differences by teachers’ gender. The TCEB correlation with school environment factors (e.g., principal support, school climate, and bullying) confirms the scale’s discriminant and concurrent validity. Our findings suggest that TCEB is a suitable instrument to assess teachers’ perceptions of collective efficacy to handle bullying, a construct that has proved to help predict a positive whole-school context and student bullying involvement.

Relationships between neighborhood collective efficacy and adolescent suicidal ideation

IntroductionUntil now, South Korean adolescent suicidal ideation literature has focused mainly on individual-level characteristics. Little is known about the contextual effects of social integration and social regulation on an individual's suicide behavior in South Korea as identified through the use of Durkheim's sociological insights. This study drew on Durkheim’s suicide and collective efficacy theories and analyzed the effects of the structural characteristics and collective efficacy of neighborhoods on adolescents’ suicidal ideation. MethodsThe data analyzed was from three sources: the 2013 Korean National Survey of the Present Status of Children (n = 1,915; 50.41% girls; mean age = 13.04 years), government census data from the Korea Statistical Information System, and administrative data from the Korea Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model was used to investigate the effects of neighborhood structural characteristics and collective efficacy on adolescent suicidal ideation. ResultsThere were no significant associations between neighborhood characteristics such as concentrated poverty, divorce rate, and residential instability; however, adoles cents' perceptions of collective efficacy in neighborhoods was associated with lower suicidal ideation after accounting for individual adolescent differences. ConclusionThe findings provide significant implications for the prevention of suicide in adolescents and suggest that enhancing the collective efficacy of neighborhoods through community-based intervention may be an important target of future suicide prevention strategies in South Korea.