Asset-Based Community Development and Happiness in Community Residents in Taiwan

Background and Purpose: As governments around the world actively advocate for advancing well-being within their citizens, more and more governments turn their focus to the role of communities play in this movement. While conventional community development centered on addressing needs and challenges of the residents, the 1990s saw the rise of asset-based community development (ABCD) as a promising alternative. Championed and garnering growing interest, ABCD is viewed as a renewed pathway toward advance well-being of community residents. Though the literature on ABCD has indicated a positive association between ABCD and life outcomes in communities, less is known about the effects of ABCD on happiness in life of community residents in Taiwan.

Methods: The data for this study were from a probability survey in community residents aged 20 and above in Taiwan. Based on population distribution, 40 community development associations within 8 cities were randomly selected. Employing cluster sampling, 20 community residents within each association were randomly selected to participate in the survey. The intended sample size was 800 (8 cities * 5 associations * 20 residents). The study utilized a self-administered group survey approach, supplemented by face-to-face interviews for individuals unable to partake in the group format. Data collection took place from January to February 2021. Although 721 questionnaires were collected during this period, 39 of them were incomplete, resulting in a final sample size of 682. The survey achieved a response rate of 85.3%.

Results: The community residents in our study reported modest level of happiness (M=3.7, SD=0.5, range 1-5) and community assets (M=4.0, SD=0.5, range 1-5). Among the community assets, both dynamic and static assets had similar scores, 4.0 and 4.1, respectively. The results from the regression analysis indicate that ABCD had significant positive effects on happiness (beta=0.42, p<.001) in community residents in Taiwan. Specifically, the dynamic assets have relatively larger effects on happiness (Beta=0.44) than the static assets in the communities (beta=0.36). Further, the study found that the community capacities in below dimensions have high effects on the happiness of the residents: participation (beta=0.47), leadership(beta=0.43), and organization (beta=0.43).

Conclusions and Implications: This study shows that asset-based community development ihas positive effects on the well-being of residents in Taiwan. The findings of this study call for specific strategies to strengthen community assets in community development that has vital effects on happiness of community residents in Taiwan and beyond, especially for participation, leadership and organization capacities.