Table 1 indicates the factor loadings of these items for permanent and seasonal residents. Reliability analysis, which assessed the extent to which the items in the summated scale were related to each other, produced alpha values of .78 for permanent residents and .61 for seasonal residents.2 The resulting multiple-item composite measure was created from an additive scale based on those items identified from the original pool of questions that “hung together” reflecting their underlying uni-dimensionality. This scale reflects respondents’ engagement in behaviors and actions focused explicitly on locality-relevant issues and interests that extend beyond the specialized, individualistic interests that might be tapped by assessing involvement in recreational groups, social clubs, etc. As such, this measure is consistent with the notion of participation in the community field, as opposed to social interactions and involvement that are more generalized.