Building connections: political participation, social capital and the built environment in St. John's, Newfoundland

How does where we live affect how we live? Do characteristics of the built environment affect the civic and social lives of the people living there? This study examines these questions at the neighbourhood scale in the Canadian city of St. John's, Newfoundland. To do so, it combines data from a survey measuring respondents' social capital (defined as a combination of social participation, social trust, and civic participation) and a "built environment audit" that records the built characteristics of each respondent's neighbourhood. The study finds a significant, positive relationship between the walkability of a neighbourhood and the social capital of the people living there. This relationship is driven primarily by the effect of the built environment on voluntary participation and relationships with neighbours. The study also tests several methods of measuring walkability, and finds that an objective measure based on street geometry is the best predictor of social capital.

Attachment, psychological functioning, and resilience within the street involved youth populations: describing youth who access community agency support

Youth homelessness is defined within the literature as youth who have left their homes and are living independent of parental figures and/or caregivers, have no stable residence or source of income, and lack access to the supports needed to make the challenging transition into adulthood (Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, 2015). Previous research studying homeless (or street-involved) youth has primarily focused on risk factors hindering the development of this population, and has largely ignored resilience, coping, and help-seeking behaviours. The current study examined the attachment styles (both categorically and dimensionally), psychological functioning, resilience, and help-seeking behaviours in street-involved youth of St. John’s, Newfoundland. Face-to face interviews were completed over a four-month period with 63 youth (42 males, 21 females) aged 15-29 (Mage = 20.00), recruited from a local community organization providing outreach services to street-involved youth. Results revealed the disproportionate struggles of the street-involved youth population, and highlighted higher levels of attachment insecurity, psychological distress and lower resilience compared to normative peers. Findings also showed a significant difference in psychological functioning, overall resilience, and emotional reactivity based on individual attachment style. In an exploratory model of help-seeking, a positive relationship was found between overall resilience (defined as a sense of mastery and sense of relatedness) and frequency of community service access. However, contrary to predictions, no relationships were found between frequency of community service access and attachment, psychological functioning, or emotional reactivity. Implications of the present findings in development of interventions for street-involved youth are discussed, in addition to strengths and limitations of the present research, and suggested areas of future inquiry.