Responsible Togetherness: exploring how to live together in the neighborhood

Technological development, economic and social global phenomena, contribute to modify the relationships among people, increasingly characterized by individualism and disengagement towards collective interests, by encouraging anonymity rather than a productive mutual recognition and the development of common projects. Communities are called to face new relational and political challenges that impact on individual and collective life of citizens. Responsible togetherness is a process of empowerment and self-building through which citizens reach equal access to resources, participation and sense of belonging to the territorial community (Procentese, Scotto di Luzio, Natale, 2011). Aim: Responsible togetherness is positive related to, Sense of Community, Participation and Safety perceived. Plus we hypotheses that each of those constructs predict the Responsible Togetherness. Methods: The questionnaire was administrated to 605 Adolescents from 14 to 20 years old (M=16,47 ; DS=1,36) from high school in Naples. The 55,7% were female; the 40,5% of participants belong to a group (formal or informal). Measures are: the Italian Sense of Community Scale (21 items, α=0.84) (Frezza et al. 2010), The Participation Scale (α=0.84, 13 items); the Responsible Togetherness Scale (α=0.85, 36 items) (Procentese 2017); the Social Responsibility Scale (α=0.69, 13 Items), 5 items ad hoc to measure the safety perceived in the neighborhood (α=0.69). Results: Results show a positive correlation among each measure. A multiple regression confirmed the predictor role of every dimension on Responsible Togetherness. Further results and implications will be discussed.