It’s just the vibes: representing underrepresented college students’ sense of belonging through scale and framework reimagination

Abstract

Education and psychology researchers have posited that college student success and well-being are tied to a sense of connection or belonging. Sense of belonging scholars, however, have highlighted epistemological and ontological concerns with studying and implementing sense of belonging in education/higher education, particularly with respect to inconsistencies in defining, operationalizing, and measuring students’ sense of belonging. I aimed to contribute to addressing these concerns by developing a sense of belonging measure for undergraduate students, and particularly for undergraduate students from underrepresented and/or disenfranchised backgrounds, that is predicated on existing, prominent sense of belonging scholarship, conceptualization, and research. Using multiple methodologies, I tested whether sense of belonging is interpreted in similar ways by individuals from different social-identity groups using a prominent sense of belonging scale (Study 1, measurement invariance). I used Study 1 to inform Study 2, which included semi-structured focus groups of first-generation students with intersectional social identities, who defined their sense of belonging, to inform sense of belonging scale development. I found that sense of belonging items and factor were only similarly interpreted for students across socioeconomic status. Additionally, first-generation students had complex, nuanced, and seemingly hierarchical conceptualizations of their sense of belonging that encompassed themes of connected/fit-in, mattering/validation, and authenticity/humanization. For educational researchers, administrators, and practitioners, this dissertation offers an updated framework, model, scale, and overall reimagination of contemporary understandings of students’ sense of belonging.