Longitudinal Comparison of Cohorts Concerning Sense of Community of Adolescents

Abstract

We aimed to investigate the developmental trajectories of the sense of community in South Korean children over time and explore potential variations in these changes among different cohort groups. For these purposes, we using latent growth curve modeling and performed multigroup analysis involving two separate cohorts (elementary 4th cohort, N = 2,092, female 47.4%, age 13–16; middle 1st cohort, N = 2,350, female 50.0%, age 13–16). The results showed that the recent generation demonstrated a stronger sense of community compared to the past generation. The differences between cohorts can be explained to several factors, such as South Korea's focus on public education, which promotes community unity, and the gradual diminishing of regional constraints associated with the notion of communities in the country. Gender, self-esteem, smartphone dependency, life satisfaction, parental affection and interference, income, social relationships, and various activities were found to be associated with the trajectory of sense of community changes. Based on these results, we discussed the implications.