Integrating previous findings on intergroup contact and collective action, the present research investigated how the race/ethnicity of close friendships formed during students’ transition to college related to their perceptions of intergroup relations on campus and involvement in collective action. Results revealed that, overall, having a greater percentage of underrepresented minority (URM) friends was positively associated with perceived injustice and reported involvement in collective action. Conversely, having a greater percentage of White friends was negatively associated with perceived injustice and reported involvement in collective action. In subgroup analyses, similar patterns were observed among students who had at least one White or URM friend. Implications for the importance of creating intergroup friendships that inspire shared responsibility among marginalized and dominant group members to advocate for social justice are discussed.
A promising way to mitigate inequality is by addressing students’ worries about belonging. But where and with whom is this social-belonging intervention effective? Here we report a team-science randomized controlled experiment with 26,911 students at 22 diverse institutions. Results showed that the social-belonging intervention, administered online before college (in under 30 minutes), increased the rate at which students completed the first year as full-time students, especially among students in groups that had historically progressed at lower rates. The college context also mattered: The intervention was effective only when students’ groups were afforded opportunities to belong. This study develops methods for understanding how student identities and contexts interact with interventions. It also shows that a low-cost, scalable intervention generalizes its effects to 749 4-year institutions in the United States.
Spirituality is an important, but oft-overlooked, aspect of the self that may affect college students’ wellbeing and belonging. Few studies have systematically examined closeness to God and spiritual struggles as predictors of college student wellbeing during early college, which is a critical window for identity development. Moreover, research exploring interactions between spiritual struggles and closeness to God in predicting wellbeing outcomes is scarce. We address these gaps in the literature with an analytic sample comprised of 839 first-year college participants who identify as religious. The results of correlational analyses and linear mixed effect models are presented. Closeness to God was associated with greater wellbeing and belonging, and spiritual struggles were associated with lower wellbeing and belonging. In exploratory analyses, a moderating effect of closeness to God on the relation between spiritual struggles and negative outcomes was observed. Implications for higher education and college student development are discussed.
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