Youth, Community Belonging, Planning and Power CATERINA ARCIDIACONO * , FORTUNA PROCENTESE and IMMACOLATA DI NAPOLI Relational Sciences, ‘G. Iacono’ Department, University Federico II of Naples, Italy ABSTRACT In order to explain people’s action in the community to which they feel they belong (Arcidiacono, 2006; Brodsky, 2006; De Piccoli & Tartaglia, 2006), this study investigates the power perception in relation to the local community, based on two studies of Neapolitan youths. Both research projects, one with 101 participants and the other with 600 participants, looked at youth community belonging, respectively focusing on problems connected to youth unemployment, on related resources (Arcidiacono, Sommantico, & Procentese, 2001), and finally on youth planning of future actions in the community (Arcidiacono, Di Napoli, & Sarnacchiaro, submitted). A reinterpretation of the categories emerging from these studies was carried out, by first adopting the grounded theory methodology and subsequently the Prilleltensky (in press) approach of a greater conceptualization within the power frame. The classification undertaken suggests that the perception of a lack of youth power is closely linked to their expectations for the local community. A lack of individual and social power, rage and hopelessness is the core evidence among our interviewees. Powerlessness firstly denies empowerment, thus it is as if young people distance themselves from the context. The assumption of this perspective opens new paths through which promoting empowerment processes. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key words: powerlessness; avoidant attachment; trust; belonging; future outlook I was twenty. Nobody can say that these are the best years of your life. Everything is a threat to young people: love; ideas, loss of the family; becoming an adult. It’s tough learning about your role in the world. (Aden Arabie Paul Nizan, 1931,1960, p.63 ed it., 1994) PSYCHOLOGICAL SENSE OF COMMUNITY, PLACE IDENTITY AND PLACE ATTACHMENT Psychological sense of community (McMillan & Chavis, 1986) emerged as a key issue in studies on community. The international literature gives wide recognition to its four Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology J. Community Appl. Soc. Psychol., 17: 280–295 (2007) Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/casp.935 * Correspondence to: Prof. Caterina Arcidiacono, Dipartimento di Scienze Relazionali, Universita ` Federico II, Via Porta di Massa 1, Naples 80135, Italy. E-mail: caterina.arcidiacono@unina.it Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.