The current study examined whether college students' sense of belonging changed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 252 (66.7% female) first- and second-year college students at a large public university in the United States. It was hypothesized that students would report a decrease in their sense of belonging from before to during the pandemic. It was also hypothesized that female students and racial-ethnic minority students, respectively, would report steeper declines in their sense of belonging compared to their male peers and to their White, non-Hispanic peers. Repeated-measures data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling framework to test for mean differences in students' levels of belonging from pre-COVID to during-COVID periods. No direct change in students' sense of belonging was detected. Moderation results indicated that sense of belonging decreased significantly over time for racial-ethnic minority students but not for White, non-Hispanic students. The findings encourage higher education researchers and practitioners to consider the unique experiences of racial-ethnic minority college students during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
Past research has highlighted a range of factors that impact college students' sense of belonging. It is less clear how the COVID-19 pandemic has shaped college students' experience of belonging. The current study used a reflective photography approach to examine US college students' experience of belonging to their institution during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student responses included themes of: Physical Space, Community, Adaptation/Continuity, Identity, and Negative Affect. Physical space emerged as the most common theme. Regardless of whether students were studying on campus or remotely, students described the role of the natural and built environment in finding a sense of connection and belonging. In comparisons based on students' class year, first-year students talked more about the role of structured groups and other cohorts highlighted the role of past shared experiences. The findings have implications for interventions aimed at promoting student belonging.
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