Development and Validation of a Short Scale of College Belonging

Abstract

Belonging is important for college students’ achievement, persistence, campus engagement, and well-being. There is a great need for a brief measure of college belonging that could be used by researchers and practitioners in field settings. Yet, existing measures of college student belonging are either overly long, lack validation evidence, or have not been psychometrically evaluated to ensure that they are appropriate for students from diverse backgrounds. The goal of this work was to create a short, psychometrically sound scale to measure college students’ sense of belonging. In Study 1, we recruited 392 college students in the U.S. (50% Students of Color; 46% men). Based on their responses, we created a 4-item college belonging scale using confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory methods. In Study 2, we validated this scale in a diverse sample of college students (N = 505; oversampling students of color and sexual minority students) by examining factor structure, measurement invariance, and predictive validity. Collectively, this project advances measurement equity in belonging research.