This study examines campus climate and sense of belonging from 74,889 queerspectrum and transpectrum undergraduate students at 49 higher education institutions in North America. Findings highlight that queerspectrum and transpectrum students had a lower sense of belonging than their heterosexual and cisgender peers. Also, queerspectrum, racially minoritized students and transpectrum, racially minoritized students reported a lower sense of belonging than their respective white peers. Additionally, while not statistically significant due to sample size, students who collectively held queerspectrum, transpectrum, and racially minoritized identities had a lower sense of belonging than students who were only transpectrum, or transpectrum and racially minoritized. Finally, transpectrum, racially minoritized participants were more likely to consider leaving than either cisgender, racially minoritized students or transpectrum, white identified participants. Nearly half (45.6%) of participants who were queerspectrum, transpectrum, and racially minoritized seriously considered leaving their college or university, indicating the compounding effects of marginalized identities on persistence.
Weber, G., (forthcoming). Increasing Sense of Belonging for Minoritized Undergraduate Students: An Analysis of the Intersections of Sexuality, Gender, and Race. Journal of LGBT Youth.
How students perceive and experience their campus climate shapes important social and academic outcomes. A key measure of student responses to campus environments is sense of belonging. Terrell Strayhorn described sense of belonging as “a basic human need” and refers to “social support,” “connectedness,” and “mattering” as necessary conditions to increased belonging. Disconnectedness coupled with perceptions of not mattering by one’s campus community leads to differential and less positive experiences in higher education for marginalized students, largely impacting whether they persist (i.e., continue in the face of challenge) at their institution. Sense of belonging research has mostly focused on race, gender, and sexual identity through a single identity lens excluding the rich and unique experiences of students who hold multiple identities that intersect with one another. Our research examined intersectionality towards a more complex understanding of how interwoven prejudices shape campus experiences. This understanding then informed the identification of necessary campus supports that provide protection to minoritized students so they persist and thrive at their institutions
Campus climate shapes social and academic outcomes for undergraduate students.
Methodology
Data for our research were drawn from campus climate surveys across 49 U.S. and Canadian four-year institutions (33 public and 16 private) between 2016 and 2022. Our sample included 74,889 undergraduate students. Two outcome variables were used: a nine-item factor regarding students’ sense of belonging and a dichotomous variable as to whether students ever seriously considered leaving the institution (i.e., intent to persist). Independent variables were respondents’ self-reported identity markers: race (White, AAPI, Black, Latine, multiracial), gender (transpectrum, man, woman), and sexual identity (queerspectrum or heterosexual).
Sense of belonging influences whether students stay at their institutions.
Belonging Across Identity
Through a single identity lens: By race, Black students have the lowest sense of belonging. By gender, transpectrum students have the lowest sense of belonging. By sexual identity, queerspectrum students have the lowest sense of belonging. Through an intersecting lens: By race and gender, Black transpectrum students have the lowest sense of belonging among all other gender and race intersectional identity groups. By gender and sexual identity, queerspectrum men and queerspectrum women have lower sense of belonging than their heterosexual men and heterosexual women peers, respectively. By race and sexual identity, queerspectrum students regardless of race have lower sense of belonging than heterosexual students.
“Beloved community is formed not by the eradication of difference but by its affirmation, by each of us claiming the identities and cultural legacies that shape who we are and how we live in the world.”
— bell hooks
Belonging and Persistence
Nearly half of Black queerspectrum students in this study reported that they have seriously considered leaving their institutions. Transpectrum students of color seriously considered leaving at higher rates than cisgender students of color and White transpectrum students. Top reasons why Black queerspectrum students and transpectrum students of color seriously considered leaving include a lack of a sense of belonging, climate not welcoming, and lack of social life. From these findings, we see the exponential impact on student well-being and persistence when racialized undergraduate students also hold a minoritized gender or sexual identity.
Reconceptualizing Campus Resources
Changing student demographics coupled with emerging unique student needs mean we return to the table for meaningful discussions on campus resource design. It is imperative that colleges and universities reframe their campus services towards more complex intersectional identities and meaningful informal points of connection. These might include more hiring and designating staff and faculty as sense of belonging ambassadors who authentically connect with students who hold single and intersectional minoritized identities. Further, end state strategies (diversity units that support single marginalized identities) must be complimented with core state strategies (more nuanced and fluid campus resources) that meet the needs of those who are most likely to lack a sense of belonging and less likely to persist. Such core state strategies can flow from reconceptualized programs, curricula, and campus services that place cultural knowledge at the center of their work, are dynamic, and start with the basic and fundamental human need to belong.
Malewski, E., Weber, G., Alford, K., Turner, C., Rankin, S. (forthcoming). Toward Beloved Communities on Campus: Understanding the Intersections of Race, Gender, and Sexual Identity In Terryl Strayhorn (Ed.). Sense of Belonging Research as a Tool for Rethinking Campus Resources.
