Influences of Community and Organizational Participation, Social Support, and Sense of Community on Psychological Empowerment: Income as Moderator

Empowerment has been theorized as a mechanism by which people and groups can gain greater control over their own affairs. Previous studies have found psychological empowerment to be linked with other positive indicators of well‐being in different contexts and populations. Understanding the personal experiences and features of community and organizational contexts that can promote psychological empowerment has therefore emerged as a focus for applied community research. The current study examines community and organizational participation, sense of community, and perceptions of organizational social support as predictors of psychological empowerment in a sample of 1,322 adult participants in local community organizations. Structural equation modeling is used to test for mediation effects, as well as moderation effects of socioeconomic status. Results demonstrate that community organizations play important mediating roles in empowering processes and that these processes likely differ among groups according to income.