How do we define connectedness?
Carmina McGuire, graduate student in Public Health who is working with us to developing an Index of Connectedness, is conducting a literature review and has started with reviewing definitions of connectedness. The following, from Connectedness & suicide prevention in college settings is the best definition she has found so far:
“We define connectedness as a psychological state of belonging in which individuals perceive that they are valued, cared for, trusted, and respected by the individuals and communities with whom they are in regular contact (e.g., peers, family, romantic relationships, groups) or in which they are socially or geographically embedded (such as a university, college, or fraternal community).
We suggest that connectedness is best understood as a psychological state of being which reflects a sense of closeness, embeddedness, and visibility to individuals and collections of individuals (e.g., groups or institutions) and as a relationship system through which perceptions are generated and norms are transmitted.”
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