Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

KerryAnn OMeara; Kimberly A. Griffin; Alexandra Kuvaeva; Gudrun Nyunt; Tykeia N Robinson

摘要

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of our study was to gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to graduate student sense of belonging and gain insights into differences in sense of belonging for different groups of students. Background: Sense of belonging, or the feeling that a person is connected to and matters to others in an organization, has been found to influence college student retention and success. Literature on sense of belonging has, however, focused primarily on undergraduate students and little is known about graduate students’ sense of belonging. Methodology: We conducted an exploratory, cross-sectional survey study of graduate students at four public doctoral and comprehensive universities in Maryland, USA. All four institutions were participating in the NSF-funded PROMISE program, which strives to support the retention and academic success of women and underrepresented minority (URM) graduate students. A total of 1,533 graduate students from these four institutions completed the survey. To analyze our data, we used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to test direct and indirect effects of multiple latent variables (i.e., gender, race/ethnicity, STEM affiliation, critical mass of women, participation in the PROMISE program, sense of belonging) on each other. Contribution: Research found that sense of belonging influences graduate student retention and success. Thus, gaining a better understanding of the factors that influence graduate student sense of belonging can help improve retention and completion rates, an important issue as national seven-year completion rates have hovered around 44% in the United States. Completion rates have been even lower for women and URM students (i.e., African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders) compared to White students, making sense of belonging an important topic to study for these populations. Findings: We found that professional relationships matter most to graduate student sense of belonging. Professional relationships influenced graduate student sense of belonging more than reported microaggressions and microaffirmations, though they also played a role. We also found differences based on students’ identity or group membership. Overall, microaffirmations played a bigger role in female graduate student sense of belonging and the eco-system of non-STEM programs seemed to have more facilitators of sense of belonging than the ecosystem of STEM programs. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend that graduate programs think strategically about enhancing sense of belonging in ways appropriate to the distinct culture and nature of graduate education. For example, departments can make efforts to support sense of belonging through creating community-oriented peer networks of students, transparent policies, and access to information about resources and opportunities. Programs such as PROMISE can support the retention and success of women and URM graduate students, but aspects of these programs also need to be incorporated into graduate programs and departments. Impact on Society: Because graduate student sense of belonging has been found to impact stu-dents’ interest in careers in academia, fostering graduate student sense of be-longing could be a tool for improving pathways to the professoriate for groups that are typically underrepresented in academia such as women and racial or ethnic minorities. Increasing the number of women and URM faculty could, in turn, positively impact the support available to future URM students, which could positively influence future URM students’ sense of belonging. Future Research: Sense of belonging is an important area for future graduate education research and should be studied through survey research with a larger sample of U.S. students than the current study. Sense of belonging is relevant to graduate education worldwide. Future studies might explore graduate student sense of belonging in different national contexts and the role culture plays in shaping it. Moreover, changes in graduate student sense of belonging over the course of their program should be assessed.

机译：目的/目的：我们的研究目的是更好地理解构成研究生归属感的因素，并深入了解不同学生群体的归属感差异。背景：已经发现归属感或一个人与组织中其他人的联系和对他人重要的感觉会影响大学生的保留和成功。但是，关于归属感的文献主要集中于本科生，而对于研究生的归属感知之甚少。方法：我们对美国马里兰州的四所公立博士和综合性大学的研究生进行了探索性，横断面调查研究。所有这四个机构都参加了由NSF资助的PROMISE计划，该计划致力于支持女性和代表性不足的少数民族（URM）研究生的留住和学业成功。来自这四个机构的1,533名研究生完成了调查。为了分析我们的数据，我们使用结构方程模型（SEM）来测试多个潜在变量（例如，性别，种族/民族，STEM隶属关系，女性临界人数，参与PROMISE计划，归属感）的直接和间接影响彼此。贡献：研究发现，归属感会影响研究生的保留和成功。因此，更好地了解影响研究生归属感的因素可以帮助提高保留率和完成率，这是一个重要问题，因为美国的七年制完成率已经徘徊在44％左右。与白人学生相比，女性和URM学生（即非裔美国人，西班牙裔，美洲印第安人，阿拉斯加原住民，夏威夷原住民或其他太平洋岛民）的完成率更低，这使这些人群有一个重要的学习课题。调查结果：我们发现，专业关系对研究生的归属感最重要。专业关系对研究生的归属感的影响比所报道的微攻击和微肯定更为重要，尽管它们也发挥了作用。我们还根据学生的身份或小组成员身份发现了差异。总体而言，微肯定在女性研究生的归属感中起着更大的作用，而非STEM项目的生态系统似乎比STEM项目的生态系统对归属感的促进作用更大。对从业者的建议：我们建议研究生课程应以战略方式考虑，以适合研究生独特文化和本质的方式增强归属感。例如，部门可以通过创建面向社区的学生同伴网络，透明的政策以及访问有关资源和机会的信息来努力提高归属感。诸如PROMISE之类的计划可以支持女性和URM研究生的留住和成功，但是这些计划的某些方面也需要纳入研究生计划和部门中。对社会的影响：由于已发现研究生的归属感会影响学生对学术界职业的兴趣，因此培养研究生的归属感可能是改善通常在大学中代表性不足的群体升读教授的途径的工具。妇女和种族或少数民族等学术界。反过来，增加女性人数和URM教职员工人数也可能对未来的URM学生提供的支持产生积极影响，从而可能对未来的URM学生的归属感产生积极影响。未来研究：归属感是未来研究生教育研究的重要领域，应通过调查研究来研究，与目前的研究相比，美国学生的样本量更大。归属感与全世界的研究生教育息息相关。未来的研究可能会探索研究生在不同国家背景下的归属感，以及文化在塑造中的作用。此外，应评估研究生在课程学习过程中的归属感变化。

Sense of Belonging and Its Contributing Factors in Graduate Education

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