The Determination of Relationship between Sense of Belonging and its Social Indicators, Case Study: Ziarat Village- Golestan

Unlike most modern fabrics, traditional fabrics due to their design meet many psychological and social needs of the residents and respond better than today’s fabrics. On the other hand, environment and social activities play an important role in shaping the social concepts and the sense of belonging to residents. Sense of belonging can be spread over time and depth. Individual and collective values effect on the quality of sense of belonging and help to identity the resident’s sense of belonging to the environment and community as well as effect as a process on mental health of each community. Ziarat village the sample of this study is located next to the mountains at the south of Gorgan. The form of rural houses and the sense of security in the living spaces of this village are remarkable, but this village has lost its true image and is approaching irregular urban areas and considerable changes in its mental images. The mental imagination of the
village is usually wooden houses and wooden windows. The instruction and sustainability of the village were in line with the suitable environment, intimacy and harmony with nature, while unpleasant apartments have no coordination with the village architecture. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between sense of belonging and social characteristics of men and women in rural areas. Ziarat, a historical village in Golestan was selected as a suitable case for the measurement of variables. One of themain objectives of this research is to pay attention to the fact that in order to create sense of belonging in individuals, one should pay particular attention to social behaviors andactivities and the participation of people in the neighborhood. Social support is also based on the sense of responsibility of local residents and their participation in social activities. According to the research goals, it can be assumed that measuring social indicators that affect villagers’ sense of belonging, is helpful to improve the participation of people in society, their social support and mental health.On the other hand, the involvement can mediate the relationship between social support and sense of belonging. Moreover, the mental health variable has a mediating role between social support and the sense of
belonging (mediating variable). Sense of belonging as a dependent variable is influenced directly by the physical, individual and social factors and their effects must be controlled. Factors that affect physical activity include fear of crime, quality of housing, housing density, and individual factors such as length of residence, marital status, gender and age. In this regard, the independent variable of social support can be referred from the effects of social indicators on sense of belonging. It should also examine social indicators related to the aspects of social participation and support with involvement in society and within the group in order to measure its consequences on sense of belonging. By the review of existing theories, various variables such as community involvement, participation in social activities, loneliness, satisfaction, value and so on were investigated. With control of the other non-social variables and setting up a questionnaire with Likert scale and check the sample size in (n=322) on the basis of stratified method, the impact of social support on the sense of belonging was measured. To achieve this objective, analytical/ descriptive correlation as well as hierarchical regression were used. In fact, through using the hierarchical regression method, the effects of control variables on the dependent variable were controlled. Through data analysis, the results showed that social support and mental health have a positive impact on people’s sense of belonging. Also, society involvement moderates the impact of social support on resident’s sense of belonging. The findings of the data analysis show that the hypothesis of the effect of social indicators on sense of belonging helps to improve the participation of people in society and mental health, and the involvement as a second independent variable is significant. But the “effect of the mental health as a mediator variable” is not significant. Since the current study has measured social indicators on sense of belonging, this cross-sectional study has not measured the variables such as income level, education, housing density, so it is suggested that in subsequent studies. Individuals and organizations must consider the influence of different dimensions of these variables on sense of belonging, and also this study has relied on individual reports in response to variables that make them aware of the actual opinions of residents and can be the basis of a more comprehensive research in future studies.