Abstract
This study investigates the role of students’ sense of belonging to their university in college student retention. Using individual growth curve modeling, we examined (a) whether sense of belonging predicts intentions to persist, and (b) the effects of an intervention designed to enhance students’ sense of belonging. African American and white first-year students completed surveys three times throughout the academic year. Students were randomly assigned to a group that received an intervention to enhance students’ sense of belonging or to one of two control groups. Sense of belonging was found to predict intentions to persist, controlling for background variables and other predictors of persistence. Overall, sense of belonging and intentions to persist declined over the academic year. However, the decline in sense of belonging was smaller for students in the intervention group. Implications for the development of college retention programs and for existing models of student persistence are discussed.
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Acknowledgment
This research was funded by grants from the Spencer Foundation (Grant #200500074), the Sloan Foundation (Grant # B2004-46), the Office of the Vice-Provost for Undergraduate Studies at the university at which it was conducted, and by a Grants-in-Aid award to the first author from the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. We sincerely thank Marge Gibson, Jessica Girlardo, Amanda Good, Ashley Jones, Steve Luckey, Julie McDonald, Samantha McGinty, Wade Schaming, and Becki Shucosky for their assistance with this research. We also thank Antonius Cillessen for sharing his data analytic wisdom and for offering helpful feedback on a previous draft of this paper.
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Hausmann, L.R.M., Schofield, J.W. & Woods, R.L. Sense of Belonging as a Predictor of Intentions to Persist Among African American and White First-Year College Students. Res High Educ 48, 803–839 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-007-9052-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-007-9052-9