PAGE TURNER
by Lia Fiore and Tony W. Cawthon
In recent years, student affairs practitioners have invested energy and resources in students’ sense of belonging, a topic that has become more relevant as we have come to understand that if students feel supported, cared for, connected, and as if they matter, then they are more likely to be successful in college. A new book by Erin Bentrim and Gavin Henning, The Impact of a Sense of Belonging in College: Implications for Student Persistence, Retention, and Success, explores existing research, programs that work to foster a sense of belonging, and implications for future research.
The book is broken up into three parts: Theories and Foundations, Sense of Belonging Across Student Populations, and Implications and Applications. The first part (Chapters 1–3) seeks to establish the theoretical basis of the relevant research and to clearly define what belonging is and is not. Chapter 1 introduces several different theoretical perspectives on belonging, as well as how a sense of belonging differs in various student populations: students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and first-generation women of color. The chapter concludes with a discussion of evolutionary theory, social cognitive neuroscience, and psychosocial development perspectives on the need to belong.
Chapter 2 focuses on defining and clarifying the differences between engagement, involvement, and sense of belonging. Recognizing the interconnectedness of these concepts, the author structures the chapter in such a way that each concept clarifies the similarities with and differences from the previous one. The chapter also highlights critical considerations for readers who want to reevaluate how they think of these concepts and the privileges that they bring with them. Chapter 3 focuses on creating a working definition of a sense of belonging as related to persistence. Specifically, the authors highlight Astin’s Input-Environment-Output model and provide a brief overview of the sense of belonging in current theories of student retention, particularly looking at persistence in commuter and residential schools. The chapter concludes with the next steps for research on the topic and what factors to consider when examining the impact of the sense of belonging on retention.
Part Two (Chapters 4–18) explores a wide range of student populations varying in their ethnic background, socioeconomic status, and residential status. The main purpose of Chapter 4 is to provide an in-depth look at how one program is able to foster a sense of belonging for students with multiple identities. Chapter 5 provides an overview of the existing literature specifically on LGBTQ+ students and the importance and impact of authentic relationships for an LGBTQ+ sense of belonging.
Chapter 6 examines how the intersectionality of identities impacts student belonging, focusing specifically on the identities of gender and race, while Chapter 7 discusses the sense of belonging for Native American students based on a study conducted at a public college in California, which revealed that these students experienced a sense of belonging in terms of both people and spaces. The chapter concludes with recommendations for improving sense of belonging in this population, with specific examples for how to implement spaces for them, the need for cultural awareness in non-Native university employees, and details of a revised curriculum. Chapter 8 examines Asian American students, showing that their success as students does not seem tied to involvement and engagement, as it does for other student populations, but is instead connected to strong cultural ties and integration into the academic environment.
Chapter 9 focuses on Latinx students and emphasizes the importance of recognizing their unique cultural features and how they interact within higher education. Factors such as building academic families with peers, faculty, and staff and being part of a mentoring experience have a significant impact on Latinx students’ success. Chapter 10 proposes a socioecological approach to understanding and promoting sense of belonging among Black students, emphasizing that higher education institutions have a responsibility to address the inequitable policies, practices, and logic that impede Black students’ sense of belonging.
Chapter 11 addresses the specific challenges that students with a low socioeconomic status (SES) face when trying to achieve a sense of belonging. In addition to describing Yosso’s community cultural wealth model, which envisions such factors as the support of family as forms of cultural capital, the authors offer practical strategies to create residence hall programming that can capitalize on the specific support that low-SES students have. Chapter 12 explores linguistically minoritized students (students for whom English is not their native language or whose English dialect does not reflect so-called “academic English”) and the implications that this identity has for their sense of belonging. The authors establish a solid base for how language ties into sense of belonging, with particular attention paid to linguistic invisibility. Chapter 13 presents the results of a study examining how a one-credit university seminar course aimed to cultivate intrapersonal competencies and compared the pre- and post-course data across five intervention designs. Chapter 14 examines how sense of belonging can be cultivated during a student’s first-year experience, proposing a new construct that combines the legitimate peripheral participation model (how students become engaged with their campus) and the campus racial climate model (how the dimensions of historical, organizational and structural, compositional, behavioral, and psychological forces impact how a student contributes to their campus).
Transfer students are the focus of Chapter 15, which addresses a multimethod study on their transitions and concludes that these students may require a more complex definition of belonging, potentially one that looks at the relationships they have with individuals and how they feel they belong at their institution. Chapter 16 examines the commuter student experience, proposing an intersectional approach that takes their multiple identities and lived experience into account, while Chapter 17 discusses several programs and practices that can meet the specific and diverse needs of the student veteran. And, finally, Chapter 18 explores the sense of belonging as it relates to student employees and concludes that student employment not only helps satisfy financial needs but is also tied to their sense of belonging to a community.
Part Three (Chapters 19–23) examines programs that focus on addressing sense of belonging, as well as considerations relevant to the modern college student such as the impact of COVID-19 and social media usage. Chapter 19 examines four areas: (a) changes to welcome week programming at North Dakota State University aimed to educate students on and foster a sense of belonging; (b) work being implemented at Fitchburg State University on supporting first-generation students; (c) the Gemstone Living-Learning Community at the University of Maryland, College Park, which serves as a model of how an undergraduate research program can intentionally build community; and (d) how to foster sense of belonging for online students.
Chapter 20 discusses the effects that social media have on students’ mental health and well-being, revealing that how a user interacts with social media, either actively or passively, can impact their well-being. Chapter 21 examines the impact of the pandemic on belonging, while Chapter 22 explores existing self-report instruments that measure belonging and offers advice on next steps for researchers and practitioners. As the final chapter, Chapter 23 presents themes, common practices, and strategies for supporting belonging that emphasize intersectionality and multiple identities.
This book is a valuable resource for housing professionals as the work they engage in is essential to creating environments where students feel connected, valued, and visible. Given the comprehensive nature of varying student populations and their sense of belonging, it should be required reading for housing scholar-practitioners. Whether they read the chapters in order or select the most pertinent ones, housing practitioners will gain knowledge to better create communities and serve a variety of student identity groups. A particular benefit is that each chapter offers practical solutions and recommendations for future research. No matter what their level within the organization, professional and student staff will find examples of strategies, policies, and practices that can enhance communities and students’ sense of belonging. For example, the discussion of student employment is applicable to resident assistant positions, and the LLC example serves as a model for how to build community. The discussion on how residence hall programming can enhance the sense of belonging for low-SES students is particularly informative. Given the nature and climate of higher education, a sense of belonging is destined to remain a hot topic and a future focus as we educate ourselves on the impact of belonging on student success, retention, persistence, and matriculation.
Lia Flore is a graduate assistant working in the career center at Clemson University in South Carolina. Tony W. Cawthon, Ph.D., is an Alumni Distinguished Professor at Clemson. “Page Turner” is a recurring column that pairs Cawthon with a graduate student or professional colleague as they review books and scholarship of interest to campus housing and student affairs.