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The Power of Community
Dear Afifi Group Community,
With the start of this new year, I wanted to bring our attention to a subject that we might not always talk about but holds a tremendous impact on our lives and possibly our health. It's the power of a community.
In simple words, a community is a group of people who have something in common that brings them together. Our families, neighbors, and friends are a few examples of some of the communities we get to experience being a part of in our lifetime.
Before you read further, I'd like to ask you to take a few minutes and think about what a community means to you? And what do you value about being a part of a community?
The Roseto Effect
Many cultures, like ours, understand the value of family and community. We grew up on examples of what it means to belong to solid and close-knit communities, where our families are closely connected. Research back in the 1960s showed the significant impact of such communities on the health of their people. It showed that the rate of heart disease is lower than in communities less connected. This phenomenon was called The Roseto Effect- named after a small town of Italian immigrants in Pennsylvania, USA. The explanation for this effect is that people believe their community has their back and will stand with them and support them during hardships. They know they can lean on each other and help one another when needed. They go through the good and the bad together. This connectedness makes people feel that they belong and are not alone, so they stress less, which potentially lowers the rate of heart disease. However, the study also found that when these communities embrace a more modernized lifestyle, people start to move away and live more independently, and the community becomes less connected. Hence, The Roseto Effect gets lost, stress levels and health struggles could increase, and the rate of heart disease goes up over time.
How Our Friends' Friends and Their Friends Can Impact Us and Our Future
Another interesting research to consider when thinking about communities and their effect is James Fowler and Nicholas Christakis' study on social influence. According to them, not only do our friends and our close connections influence us and our future, but they were also able to show that our friends' friends and their friends can influence us even if we have never met them. This is called the Three Degrees of Influence Rule. We are influenced by our friends (one degree), our friends' friends (two degrees), and their friends (three degrees).
How is this possible? One explanation for this is that when we get exposed to different things within our connections and our communities, we start slowly changing our perception of what's acceptable and normal, which leads to changes in our behaviors over time.
Why is this important? Because it means that communities and people we surround ourselves with can affect us positively or negatively in both a direct and an indirect way. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are impacted and significantly influenced by the people we know and their people. Keep in mind that this goes both ways. It means that we have that much power in influencing others as well. Through our actions, feelings, and thoughts, we get to impact the people outside of our immediate circle of connections. Learning this, it becomes crucial that we are intentional in our actions, behaviors, and the people we choose to surround ourselves with.
If you think back to the questions I asked earlier, knowing what you know now, what kind of communities and connections do you want to create? What kind of communities do you want to belong to? And what kind of people do you want to surround yourself with?
At Afifi Group, when we launched ACT- Afifi Center for Training, our goal and vision were to create a community that learns and grows together while supporting and inspiring each other to reach our full potential. Since research clearly shows the power we all have to influence one another and make an impact, I want to invite you to take the time and think about the kind of impact you want to have and the part you would like to play in building this community together.
Sincerely,
Rasha Afifi-Talleh
Professional Coach
ACC, CPCC, INHC, ORSC trained
