Journal article
Exploring the Impact of Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation on High Subjective Wellbeing
Social Indicators Research, Vol.183, pp.1-25
2026
Abstract
Subjective wellbeing (SWB) is a key social indicator and a potential determinant of health, yet empirical evidence linking neighbourhood social fragmentation to higher SWB remains limited. This study examined the association between neighbourhood social fragmentation and high SWB among 2,056 adults in the Australian Capital Territory using data from the ‘Living well in the ACT Region’ survey. High SWB was assessed using the Personal Wellbeing Index (PWI) and Global Life Satisfaction (GLS). Neighbourhood social fragmentation was measured using the Australian Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation Index (ANSFI). Multilevel logistic regression models were used to examine these associations while adjusting for individual sociodemographic characteristics and area socioeconomic status (SES), measured by the Index of Relative Socioeconomic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD). Higher levels of social fragmentation were associated with lower odds of high SWB in unadjusted models for both PWI and GLS. After adjustments, the association remained significant for high PWI (OR = 0.941, 95% CI: 0.885–0.999) but not for high GLS (OR = 0.955, 95% CI: 0.899–1.016). No statistically significant interaction was observed between ANSFI and IRSAD. Neighbourhood-level variation in high SWB was small: in the null models, neighbourhood differences explained 1.6% of the variance in high PWI and 1.1% in high GLS, and this variation decreased substantially after adjustment (proportional change in variance: 96% for PWI and 52% for GLS). These findings suggest modest associations between neighbourhood social fragmentation and high SWB, with individual-level characteristics explaining much of the neighbourhood-level variation.
Details
- Title
- Exploring the Impact of Neighbourhood Social Fragmentation on High Subjective Wellbeing
- Authors
- Joseph Uche Anumba (Corresponding Author) - University of CanberraSoumya Mazumdar - RMIT UniversityThéophile Niyonsenga - University of CanberraJacki Schirmer - University of CanberraVictor Oguoma - University of the Sunshine CoastNasser Bagheri - University of Canberra
- Publication details
- Social Indicators Research, Vol.183, pp.1-25
- Publisher
- Springer Dordrecht
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11205-026-03888-8
- ISSN
- 1573-0921
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Data Availability
- The Living well in the ACT Region survey data can only be shared publicly where there is no risk of identification; as this project involved the use of a version of the dataset containing the address locations of participants, it is not publicly available. A dataset can be made available on request from the researchers subject to agreement to ensure the maintenance of privacy and confidentiality of individual participants.
- Organisation Unit
- Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre; Thompson Institute
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991243598902621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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