a
 

 

  • A Child Trends fact sheet published in 2008, Neighborhood Support and Children's Connectedness, uses the research on children's connectedness to create an index to examine how perceived level of neighborhood support relates to children's connectedness in other contexts, including connection to family, peers, community and connections through activities. Findings included the "good news that connections can be compounding; that is, connections in the neighborhood may foster developing relationships in other contexts."

  • In The Social Context of Well-Being, Harvard's Robert Putnam and University of British Columbia's John Helliwell describe the "robust correlations" that exist between [positive] social networks and social outcomes, including "lower crime rates, improved child welfare, better public health, more effective government administration, reduced political corruption and tax evasion, improved market performance, improved educational performance, etc."

  • In fact, according to the Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health, meaningful social connection is the single most powerful protective factor against risk behaviors for youth. When youth feel connected to people and community, they are much less likely to drop out of school, abuse substances, act out sexually, perpetrate violence or attempt/commit suicide. Meaningful connections promote growth, personal achievement and behaviors which contribute to society and to individual well being.

  • "Brain researchers and other scientists are now clearly mapping out what might be called the biochemistry of connection," states the Commission on Children at Risk in 2005 in its report Hardwired To Connect. By virtue of their very "bio-psycho-social-cultural" makeup, human beings need connections both to other people and "to deep moral and spiritual meaning" in order to thrive.

  • The Seguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America is an ongoing initiative of Professor Robert D. Putnam at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The project focuses on expanding what we know about our levels of trust and community engagement and on developing strategies and efforts to increase this engagement. A signature effort was the multi-year dialogue (1995-2000) on how we can increasingly build bonds of civic trust among Americans and their communities.

  • In 2006, the Prevention Institute produced the first of eight reports in their Disparity Reducing Advances Project, The Imperative of Reducing Health Disparities through Prevention: Challenges, Implications, and Opportunities. The report states, "A community health approach builds on strengths and assets within communities and advances community elements that have an impact on health and safety.... Strong social networks and connections correspond with significant increases in physical and mental health, academic achievement, and local economic development, as well as lower rates of homicide, suicide, and alcohol and drug abuse.... Children have been found to be mentally and physically healthier in neighborhoods where adults talk to each other. Social connections also contribute to community willingness to take action for the common good which is associated with lower rates of violence [and] improved food access.

Asset building and social connectedness research includes:

1. Fostering Resilience in Children

2. The 40 Developmental Assets® and Search Institute®

3. Building Communities From the Inside Out by Kretzmann and McKnight is a seminal work, and essential reading for Asset Based Community Development (ABCD)

4. Applied Research in Human Development and Social Change (AR-HDSC)

5. The ADD Health Study Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health (1995-present). A sample of 80 high schools and 52 middle schools from the US was selected with unequal probability of selection. Incorporating systematic sampling methods and implicit stratification into the Add Health study design ensured this sample is representative of US schools with respect to region of country, urbanicity, school size, school type, and ethnicity.

Five monographs and one fact sheet are available from the ADD Health Study:

Reducing the risk: Connections that make a difference in the lives of youth, Blum, R.W. & Mann Rinehart, P. (1998). Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Influencing Behavior: The Power of Protective Factors in Reducing Youth Violence, Rensick, M.D., Rinehart, P.M.. Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, 200 Oak Street SE, Suite 260, Minneapolis, MN 2004.

Protecting teens: Beyond race, income and family structure, Blum, R.W., Beuhring, T., & Rinehart, P.M. (2000). Center For Adolescent Health, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.

Improving the Odds: The Untapped Power of Schools to Improve the Health of Teens, Blum, R.W., McNeely, C.A., Rinehart, P.M., 2002, Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapois, MN.

Mother's Influence on Teen Sex: Connections that Promote Postponing Sexual Intercourse, Blum, R.W., 2002Division of General Pediatrics and Adolescent Health, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapois, MN.

Violence Fact Sheet, Adolescent Health Resources, Center for Adolescent Health and Development, University of Minnesota, 2004

6. The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, Executive Summary , The Seguaro Seminar, Civic Engagement in America, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2003

7. Hardwired To Connect, Executive Summary by The Commission on Children at Risk, Dartmouth Medical School, 2004

8. The social context of well-being by Robert Putnam and John Helliwell in Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, Series B, Volume 359, Issue 1449, September 29, 2004, pp. 1435-1446(12)]

9.Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy by Robert J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush, Felton Earls

10. Where Trust is High, Crime and Corruption are Low by Richard Wike, Associate Director and Kathleen Holzwart, Research Analyst, Pew Global Attitudes Project, 2008

11. The Imperative of Reducing Health Disparities through Prevention: Challenges, Implications, and Opportunities, by Prevention Institute (www.preventioninstitute.org), 2006

12. Community Organizations and Social Capital: A Guide to Program Evaluation, developed by the Seguaro Seminar, is intended to "equip you with the tools you need to measure the impact of your program on your community, improve the effectiveness of services delivered, and enable you to claim credit for the community benefits that your organization is creating." Online at http://www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro/evalguide/evaluationguide.htm.

return to top

Copyright © 2003 Connecticut Assets Network.
All Rights Reserved. 860-571-8463