American Journal of Community Psychology
Volume 62, Issue 1-2, 2018, Pages 41-50

Sociopolitical control for immigrants: The role of receiving local contexts (Article)

Paloma V.* , Lenzi M. , Furlanis N. , Vieno A. , García-Ramírez M.
  • a Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain
  • b Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
  • c Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
  • d Department of Developmental and Social Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
  • e Department of Social Psychology, Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, Spain

Abstract

This study examines the individual and contextual factors associated with sociopolitical control expressed by immigrants in southern Spain. We used hierarchical linear modeling to evaluate the relations between individual (community participation, social connectedness, and perceived cultural competence of receiving community services) and municipality characteristics (city community participation, city social connectedness, and city community services’ cultural competence) and immigrants’ feelings of sociopolitical control. Data were analyzed using a two-level model based on 707 Moroccan immigrants in 25 municipalities. After adjusting for gender, educational level, and psychosocial confounding factors, we observed a positive association between social connectedness and sociopolitical control at the individual level. At the contextual level, we observed a positive association between (a) city community participation, (b) city social connectedness, and (c) city community services’ cultural competence, and sociopolitical control. Indeed, living in a municipality where there are community services with high levels of cultural competence and where, on average, many people participate in organizations and neighbors are connected, was associated with higher levels of perceived control in the sociopolitical domain for immigrants. We also discuss implications for community-based research and practice. © Society for Community Research and Action 2018.

Author Keywords

immigrants Community participation Multilevel approach Sociopolitical control Social connectedness Cultural competence

Index Keywords

male Spain female immigrant organization social welfare cultural competence community participation Article human gender

Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85060846975&doi=10.1002%2fajcp.12263&partnerID=40&md5=a8b1bd85833c67bc742bf236fa26302d

DOI: 10.1002/ajcp.12263
ISSN: 00910562
Original Language: English