Relationship between community participation and living environment

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between participation in local community activities and the living situation of residents of large-scale urban apartments. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was conducted for 1,647 people. Questionnaire items were gender, generation, number of household members, type of ownership status, floor level of residence, years of residence, presence or absence of employment, and presence or absence of participation in community activities. There were responses (recovery rate: 56.5 %) from 931 persons; 858 of these (valid response rate: 52.1 %) were completed correctly and used in the final analysis. A multivariate logistic analysis was performed with the presence or absence of participation in community activities as the dependent variable. As a result, it was found that participation in community activities was significant for women under the age of 65. A significant association was found in the residential floor level for those aged 65 and over, and the association became weaker as the age increased. Regardless of the age group, there was a significant association between participation in community activities and the number of household members, the type of ownership status (i.e. rent vs own), and the length of years of residence. It was also confirmed that for those aged 65 and over, the longer the number of years of residence, the stronger the relationship. This study showed that in addition to the number of household members and years of residence, it is necessary to also consider the ownership status and floor level of residence when evaluating participation in community activities.