Initial Validity and Reliability for the Sense of Belonging in College Scale

• In Event: 15.059 - Fairmont Royal York Roundtable Session One
  In Roundtable Session: 15.059-4 - Minority Faculty, Students, and Assessment

Abstract

Prior research suggests that sense of belonging is positively correlated with critical academic (e.g., Freeman, Anderman, & Jensen, 2007) and social outcomes (Hagerty, Williams, Coyne, & Early, 1996). This paper provides initial validity and reliability evidence for a new 30-item, five subscale Sense of Belonging in College Scale. The results indicate that the scale generally has strong psychometric properties. Cronbach’s alpha ranged from .74 to .84 for the five subscales and was .87 overall. Moreover, correlations between students’ scores on the new scale and other established scales provided evidence for the convergent, divergent, and known-group validity of the scale.

Author

• Katrina Borowiec, Boston College