The 111 Files: Are you fully engaged with community? (+quiz)

Leadership and community-building can also start on the marae. Photo / Supplied

How connected are you to others?

I've been writing about building a sense of community since June, so I thought it might be timely to invite you to take part in a short quiz to help you get a feel for how connected you are to people in your neighbourhood. Here's how it works. The quiz is in the box at right, with statements from 1 to 12. For each, ask yourself whether you think the statement is "mostly true" or "mostly false".

Once you have answered them, it is time to score your results. If you answered "mostly true" for questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10 and 12 - give yourself one point for each. If you answered "mostly false" for questions 2, 6, 8 and 11 - also give yourself one point for each. Now, add up your score. The higher your score, the stronger your overall sense of connectedness to your community.

Next, we can break down your score to get a feel for where your areas of strength lie and how connected you feel to your neighbourhood. Questions 7, 9 and 9 are all about whether you believe you have some influence over the sense of community in your neighbourhood. If you scored a point for each of those three questions, you believe you have a strong sense of influence. As long as you are a person who has good intentions towards others, that is a really good thing.

If you scored three points for questions:

-1, 2 and 3 - you have a strong sense that "your personal needs" from your neighbourhood community are being met.

-4, 5 and 6 - you have a strong sense of "membership" to your neighbourhood.

-10, 11 and 12 - you have a strong "emotional connection" to people in your neighbourhood.

Next week, we will begin looking at some small and simple things you can do that will have a positive impact on others in our community.

So if your score for the quiz was not as high as you would like, tune in next week for some tips on how to make a positive difference.

Ka kite ano.

Neighbourhood quiz

Answers to use: Mostly true or Mostly not true

Q. 1 I think my neighbourhood is a good place for me to live:

Q. 2 People in my neighbourhood do not share the same values:

Q. 3 My neighbours and I want the same things from our community:

Q. 4 I either know, or can recognise, most of the people who live in my neighbourhood:

Q. 5I feel at home in my neighbourhood:

Q. 6 Very few of my neighbours know me:

Q. 7 I care about what my neighbours think about my actions:

Q. 8 I have no influence over what my neighbourhood is like:

Q. 9 If there is a problem in my neighbourhood, people work together to find a solution:

Q. 10 It is very important to me to live in my neighbourhood:

Q. 11 People in my neighbourhood generally don't get along with each other:

Q. 12 I expect to live in my neighbourhood for a long time:

McMillan & Chavis, 1986.