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COLLEGE STUDENTS’ SENSE OF BELONGING: DIMENSIONS AND CORRELATES A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION AND THE COMMITTEE ON GRADUATE STUDIES OF STANFORD UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Dabney Ingram June 2012 © 2012 by Dabney Chatwin Ingram. All Rights Reserved. Re-distributed by Stanford University under license with the author. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us/ This dissertation is online at: http://purl.edu/rd771tq2209 ii I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Deborah Jane Stipek, Primary Adviser I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Anthony Antonio I certify that I have read this dissertation and that, in my opinion, it is fully adequate in scope and quality as a dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Kenji Hakuta Approved for the Stanford University Committee on Graduate Studies. Gumport, Vice Provost Graduate Education This signature page was generated electronically upon submission of this dissertation in electronic format.

An original signed hard copy of the signature page is on file in University Archives. iii Abstract Colleges and universities often have significantly different graduation rates based on students’ ethnicity. Systematic variation in students’ sense of belonging at college may be a factor. Existing literature suggests that a better understanding of student belonging at the college level can help to improve college outcomes, particularly for racial/ethnic minorities who are often underrepresented on college campuses and may benefit from well-designed systems of support to bolster their sense of belonging.

This study was designed to improve our understanding of student belonging, its components, and its correlates for a diverse group of college students. Self-reported survey data were collected from 159 college sophomores (about a quarter of the class) from one small private and predominantly white college with graduation rates that varied by student ethnicity. Factor analysis produced three reliable and independent measures of belonging: social belonging, academic belonging, and perceived institutional support. Further investigation of this sample indicated that the general measures of college students’ ‘sense of belonging’ found in the literature are mainly social in nature and therefore mask more nuanced associations with important variables that are revealed with separate measurement of academic belonging and perceived institutional support.

Results from a set of multivariate stepwise regression analyses suggested that student demographics (ethnicity, parent education, and gender) jointly did not explain a significant amount of variance in any measure of student belonging. Rather, institutional and interpersonal variables (e., students’ perception of the college’s commitment to diversity, students’ perception of the personal relevance of the curriculum) jointly explained a significant amount of variance in all three measures of belonging, suggesting that the strongest predictors of student belonging were not fixed student attributes but other variables that can be influenced to various extents by college policies and practices. Additional results indicated that social belonging and academic belonging were significantly and differentially associated with students’ self-reported GPA, level of satisfaction with the institution, level of class participation, and frequency of meetings iv with professors outside of class time. The findings suggest that while social belonging has important associations with measures of academic performance and outcomes, academic belonging is also important and distinct.

Differentiating the measurement of ‘sense of belonging’ into three components may be useful both for research and for guiding institutional policies and practices. It allows us to identify more precisely what facet of belonging is being measured, and how each is differentially associated with ‘college experience’ variables and educational outputs of interest. v Acknowledgements I have been extremely grateful for the help and support of a number of people while on this academic journey. It has taken the unwavering support of an entire village to complete this dissertation.

First, I have an enormous amount of appreciation for my advisor, Deborah Stipek, who is an outstanding mentor. Deborah, thank you for so generously sharing your time and brilliance. You should win a gold medal for your speedy turn-around time, always with such thoughtful and immensely helpful feedback communicated in a supportive way. You somehow tirelessly make the massive amount of responsibilities that you juggle seem like a walk in the park.

I have learned so much from you and really cannot thank you enough for your off-the-charts support and dedication. Thank you to the other members of my committee: Anthony Antonio, Kenji Hakuta, Milbrey McLaughlin, and Greg Walton. Each of you contributed very helpful feedback and I really appreciated your taking the time to share your thoughts with me. Next, I could not have collected data without the support of the college that so kindly welcomed me onto its campus and let me pursue this study.

I am very grateful for each student who completed my survey and shared their perspective with me. I also owe tremendous thanks to both my dad and Luke Miller for taking the time and effort to teach me so much about statistics in a way that I could understand – and even enjoy! You are both such gifted teachers, and I learned much more from you two than I ever did from a statistics course. Dad, thank you for devoting so much of your time and energy to helping me understand my data and big-picture storyline, and for the thoughtful analogies, helpful edits and insights, and your endless supply of timeless expressions and wit. Thank you to my ‘Naught Three’ cohort for the pleasure of your camaraderie, sanity breaks, great discussions, and friendship throughout our time at Stanford.

Eliza and Hayin, in particular: I couldn’t have gotten over the finish line without your paving the way before me, and then providing supportive interventions at critical junctures, endless cheerleading and helpful feedback. You have been amazing and I so appreciate your friendship. vi When thinking about how it took a village to finish this dissertation, the steadfast help and generous donation of time and energy from both my mom and Colleen, my mother-in-law, will forever jump straight to my mind. I didn’t ever have to ask for your help – you each, in your own ways, just knew we needed help (even before we did) and showed up.

I would never have been able to accomplish the major dissertation milestones and ultimately graduate without your jumping in, rolling up your sleeves, and helping with our kids and the running of our zoo-like household. Mom: thank you for so generously giving the gift of your time, positive attitude, wonderful company, and support. I will never forget how you so gracefully dropped everything to live with us for many weeks (multiple times) to take over the household so I could carve out uninterrupted time for my dissertation. What a treasured gift you have given me; I am forever grateful for your love, caring support, and for modeling how to be such a great mom.

Colleen: I am likewise so appreciative for all the hours you devoted to our kids, cooking delicious meals, and keeping our home life humming. The many weeks of your life that you have dedicated to us and the kids have been greatly appreciated. I also want to thank my father-in-law, Pidge, for all the times he drove our kids to and from school (while teaching them poetry, to boot!) so I could sneak in a bit more work time. Knowing our kids were getting to spend special time with each of you gave me such comfort and pleasure.

And, finally, a huge thank you to my husband and three kids, who had to cohabit with my dissertation for several years. Christian, you have been the most amazing pillar of never-ending support and love through this whole process. There are so many ways you have kept me plugging along, in both large and small ways every single day, sharing the joys and challenges along the way, bolstering me when I most needed it, making me laugh, challenging me when I also needed that, being my sounding board, and leaving work early so many times to hold down the fort while I worked late leading up to milestones. This certainly could not have happened without you! I feel so fortunate every day to have you in my life.

And, Damian, Olivia and Carleton: as I get ready to submit my dissertation and graduate, you are 5, 3, and 1 years old. As I type, I’m enjoying the sounds of your vii footsteps pitter-pattering in the background. Thank you for bringing me such joy and keeping me inspired and with an eye on the big picture throughout this learning process. And for keeping me focused and on-task during my work hours, yet grounded and smiling when I had the pleasure of being with you.

And a special thank you for the wonderful deadlines you provided (e., Olivia’s birth shortly after my proposal hearing) and for the memorable distractions along the way (broken legs, bedrest, school search processes, etc. I love you each very, very much, and I am so looking forward to our having this dissertation behind us. Thank you again to everyone who played a part in the production of this dissertation. I am inspired and touched by the sacrifices and compromises made by those particularly close to me to help get me over the finish line.

While I am happy and relieved that this dissertation is done, I also know that I’m going to sincerely miss the excuse it has given our family to spend such cherished time with our parents/grandparents. Thank you to each of you for being such a loving and supportive part of our lives, and for having faith in me. viii Table of Contents 1. Introduction, Literature Review, and Goals of the Present Study.

1 Theoretical Background: The Importance of Belonging. 4 Defining and Measuring Student Belonging in the College Context. 5 Summary Effects of Demographic Characteristics on Belonging. 9 Summary Predictors of College Student Belonging.

13 Initial College Transition Campus Racial Climate Interpersonal Support Responses to Social Adversity Academic Support Summary Educational Output Measures Associated with Student Belonging. 22 Goals of the Present Study. 24 Advancing Conceptualization and Measurement of ‘Sense of Belonging’. 24 Research Questions and Hypotheses.

31 The College Site. 33 Survey Measures and Corresponding Variables. 34 Student Ethnicity Parent Education ix Family Income Gender Measures of Perceived Student Belonging. 37 Social Belonging Academic Belonging Perceived Institutional Support Hypothesized Predictors of Belonging.

40 Relatedness to Peers Perceived Racism on Campus College’s Commitment to Diversity Prior Ethnic Compositions Mentors Facilitated Belonging Unsupportive Professor Lowered Belonging Lives on Campus Supportive Housing Orientation Facilitated Social Adjustment Curriculum Relevance Measures of Educational Outputs. 46 Expectation to Graduate Expected Retention GPA Hours Spent Studying Class Participation Frequency Meet with Professors Satisfaction with the Institution Summary of the Principal Components Analysis for Select Correlates. 49 Summary of Descriptive Statistics. 52 Components of Student Belonging.

52 Group Differences in Student Belonging. 55 Predictors of Student Belonging. 57 x Student Belonging as a Predictor of Select Measures of Educational Outputs. 67 The Value of a Multidimensional Conceptualization and Measure of Belonging 67 Student Demographics.

70 Correlates of Student Belonging. 73 Predictors Associated with Student Belonging. 74 College’s Commitment to Diversity Relevance of Curriculum Relatedness to Peers Supportive Housing Educational Output Measures Associated with Belonging. 81 Satisfaction with the Institution Class Participation Frequency of Meetings with Professors GPA and Retention Summary.

85 Limitations and Future Research. 90 Appendix 2: Recruiting Email Distributed to All Sophomores. 104 Appendix 3: Preliminary Regressions that Included All Ten Hypothesized Predictor Variables.