Assessing the social atmosphere: A multilevel analysis of social connection and participation

Social atmospheres influence individuals' behaviors. Multilevel analysis evaluates atmospheres by capturing contextual effects beyond individual factors. While social participation benefits well-being and society, studies on the links between community factors, including social atmosphere, are still scarce. We explored the association between community social connections and social participation among adults in Japan. Cross-sectional data were collected from 3858 valid responses were obtained from 54 communities in the Zenkoji Monzen area of Nagano City. Social connections were measured by how well participants knew their neighbors, and social participation by involvement in three activity types. We used multilevel analysis with random intercept and fixed slopes to explore the association between community social connections and participation. This study found a high community-level prevalence of social connections was significantly associated with social participation in the community even after all covariates were adjusted for. Furthermore, regarding within-community association, social connections were found to be associated with social participation even after all covariates were adjusted for. A contextual association was found between community-level social connections and social participation. These findings suggest that multilevel analysis can help urban and architecture researchers explore how interactions between people and the built environment shape urban atmospheres. • An individual who can identify their neighbors exhibit higher levels of social participation. • Communities that consist of members who can identify neighbors display higher levels of social participation. • Quantifying the social atmosphere provides valuable insights for urban policies to build more cohesive communities. • Urban researchers can use multilevel analysis to study the atmosphere created by interactions among people and buildings.