Sense of Belonging: The Intersectionality of Self-Identified Minority Status and Gender in Undergraduate Computer Science Students

Abstract

Creating inclusive learning environments for all students is of primary importance. Student sense of belonging is an important part of this. However, sense of belonging can show variations according to factors such as ethnicity and gender as well as influencing attributes such as motivation and persistence. We utilised a survey adapted from the "Math Sense of Belonging Scale" to examine the relationship between undergraduate computer science students' sense of belonging, gender identity, and self-declared minority status. We observed a lower sense of belonging in students who identified as women who also self-identified as being part of a minority group. However, students who identified as women who did not identify as belonging to a minority had a sense of belonging comparable to those identifying as men. Our results provide insight that may help us improve the sense of belonging of our undergraduate students, particularly those identifying as women and as belonging to a minority in computer science. It has also brought to our attention that action needs to be taken to mitigate the potentially disproportionately negative consequences that COVID-19 may have on these students due to reduced opportunities for social interaction and the negative impact that this has on sense of belonging.

Investigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on computing students' sense of belonging

“…other than a statistically significant difference between the two groups in how much they socialize with other students (t(30.313) = -5.197, p<0.001). This supports and extends our previous findings [22,23].…”

“…The variation between 2017 and 2019 is discussed in our prior work [23]. It is worth noting that we observed that women who do not self-identify as being part of a minority had a very similar belongingness to non-minority men.…”

“…Based on previous research we know that online environments fail to replicate critical facets of physical delivery [19], and that sense of belonging and physical campus space are tightly coupled [34]. Additionally, we observed that belongingness appears to increase with social interaction [23]. We also know that gender and race impact sense of belonging [11,14,28] and that we previously observed a lower sense of belonging in students who self-identified as women and as belonging to a minority [23].…”

“…Not all women identified as being part of a minority and earlier work found that women not identifying as a minority had a similar belongingness profile to men that did not identify as a minority [23]. Those that did identify as being part of a minority did not always do so because they identify as women.…”

“…Here we only refer to work that directly affects ours. We guide the reader to our recent work [22,23] as well as the following for more on: pSTEM [15], physics [16], and arts & humanities [5].…”