thesis about belonging

Sample Thesis Statements for Belonging Essays

Still have no idea what a thesis statement is? Take inspiration from these sample thesis statements for belonging essays.

All of these thesis statements can be used as starting points for arguments about belonging!

• Our life experiences teach us that when we stop trying to belong we realise that we have always belonged
• We search for a place to belong, not realising that it is our perceptions and attitudes, not the place that allow us to belong

Notions of identity

• When our cultural identity is marginalised, we can feel dislocated and displaced, and believe that we do not belong to our culture or the dominant culture.
• Our search for who we are is fuelled by a need to find a place in the world where we belong
• A sense of belonging comes from a sense of identity

Relationships

• The need to belong to a group or a community shapes our behaviour, attitudes and actions
• An individual has the potential to damage relationships and ensure that others do not belong
• When humanity experiences a strong connection to a place, the notion of belonging is strengthened and enriched
• When our relationship with a place is shaped by a narrow and biased view of the world, our notion of belonging can be questionable
• The basic human need to be accepted and belong can cloud our judgments and direct our actions

Understanding

• When we begin to understand the forces that drive us to belong, we develop empathy for others and personal insight

McPherson, D and Sherlock, J et all, 2010, Oxford HSC English, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne.

Connections

• A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places and the larger world. It is these connections that influence where we search for meaning in our lives and ultimately, where we belong
• We belong when we feel connected to others and the world

Inner Belonging

• Belonging comes from within rather than without
• An inner sense of connection leads to an external sense of belonging
• Feeling connected to the world is an inner experience
• The desire to belong is a driving force within us
• A sense of belonging begins instinsically and spreads out into the world
• We cannot belong until we understand ourselves-An inner sense of balance allows the individual to belong harmoniously in the world

These statements are a great starting point but in order to write a great essay you will have to learn how to research and analyse your texts effectively as well as write a good introduction, body and conclusion. The entire process is covered in our simple guidebook the Band 6 Formula .

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This is really great, wonderful thought provoking statements that have helped me think in a new way about writing my thesis.

Glad you got some value from the content Ruth.

Please i want an essay that you make it including thesis and etc… About a discovery any discovery and i prefer if it ia about Heliocentric Theory. Thank you

This is quite an old post. Our aim at present is to help students write good thesis statements opposed to giving a list of them as we feel that this is more effective.

Can you please give me an aspect of belonging ?

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Students’ Sense of Belonging Matters: Evidence from Three Studies

On Thursday, February 16, we hosted Dr. Maithreyi Gopalan to discuss her latest research on how students’ sense of belonging matters.

• Evidence has shown that in certain contexts, a student’s sense of belonging improves academic outcomes, increases continuing enrollment, and is protective for mental health. In some of the studies presented, these correlations were still present beyond the time frame of the analysis, suggesting that belonging might have a longitudinal effect.
• Providing a more adaptive interpretation of challenge seemed to help students in a belonging intervention make alternative and more adaptive attributions for their struggles, forestalling a potential negative impact on their sense of belonging.

Professor Gopalan began her talk by discussing how the need for “a sense of belonging” has been identified as a universal and fundamental human motivation in the field of psychology. John Bowlby, one of the first to conduct formal scientific research on belonging, examined the effects on children who had been separated from their parents during WWII (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). From his pioneering work, Bowlby and colleagues proposed that humans are driven to form lasting and meaningful interpersonal relationships, and the inability to meet this need results in loneliness and mental distress. Educational psychologists adapted the concept of belonging to indicate how students’ sense of fit with themselves and with their academic context can affect how they perceive whether they can thrive within it (Eccles & Midgley, 1989; Eccles & Roeser, 2011).

After providing this brief overview of what belonging means more broadly, Dr. Gopalan introduced the concept of “belonging uncertainty” pioneered by social psychologists Geoffrey Cohen and Gregory Walton at Stanford University (Walton & Cohen, 2007) to describe the uncertainty students might feel about their belonging when entering a new social and academic situation , which is most pronounced during times of transition (e.g., entering college). Research has shown that belonging uncertainty affects how students make sense of daily adversities, often interpreting negative events as evidence for why they do not belong. Belonging uncertainty may result in disengagement and poor academic outcomes. In contrast, a sense of belonging is associated with academic achievement, persistence in the course, major, and college (Walton & Cohen, 20011, Yeager & Walton, 2011). It is the concept of belonging uncertainty that is the focus of Dr. Gopalan’s presentation, with emphasis on the findings from the following key research questions:

• How do students’ sense of belonging in the first year correlate with academic persistence and outcomes at a national level?
• Can belonging interventions during the first semester of college lead to increased persistence and academic achievement in a diverse educational setting?
• How does a student’s sense of belonging amidst the COVID-19 pandemic correlate with mental health?

Study 1: College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A National Perspective (Gopalan & Brady, 2019)

Most research examining college students’ sense of belonging has come from studies looking at one or a few single four-year institutions. To examine how belonging differs across student identities and institutions, Professor Gopalan and colleagues looked at the responses from the only nationally representative survey of college students to date that had measured belonging. The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) (Dudley et al ., 2020) sampled first-time beginning college students from 4070 eligible two- and four-year institutions (N= 23, 750 students), surveyed during their first year and subsequently two years later.

Professor Gopalan examined average measurements of belonging across institution type and student characteristics (Gopalan & Brady, 2019) and associations between belonging measurements and measurements of academic achievement, including GPA and persistence (continued enrollment), self-reported mental health, and self-reported use of campus services. The results, Dr. Gopalan explained, were striking: underrepresented racial and ethnic minority students (URMs) and first-generation/low-income students (FGLIs) reported a lower sense of belonging in four-year colleges than their non-URM and non-FGLI counterparts. 1 Importantly, they also found that having a greater sense of belonging is associated with higher academic performance, persistence, and is protective for mental health in year three of students’ undergraduate trajectory, suggesting that belonging might have a longitudinal effect (Gopalan & Brady, 2019). These findings were consistent with previous results from smaller studies involving single institutions. Sense of belonging is important not just in specific institutions but nationally, and social identity and context matter . One practical and policy-driven takeaway from this study is that only one national data set currently measures students’ sense of belonging using a single item. More robust measurements and large data sets might reveal additional insights into the importance of belonging for students’ educational experiences.

1 At two-year colleges, first-year belonging is not associated with persistence, engagement, or mental health. This suggests that belonging may function differently in two-year settings. More work is ongoing to try to understand the context that might be driving the difference. (Deil-Amen, 2011).

Study 2: A customized belonging intervention improves retention of socially disadvantaged students at a broad-access university (Murphy et al ., 2020)

Professor Gopalan and colleagues wanted to understand how to adapt existing belonging interventions to different educational contexts and dig deeper into underlying psychological processes underpinning belonging uncertainty. Because previous social-belonging interventions were conducted in well-resourced private or public institutions, Professor Gopalan was interested in examining whether the positive effects of belonging interventions could be extended to a broader-access context (context matters as not all extensions of belonging interventions have been shown to reproduce persistent changes in enrollment and academic outcomes). For this purpose, the traditional belonging interventions were customized for a four-year, Hispanic-serving public university with an 85% commuter enrollment using focus groups and surveys. Based on prior research, belonging interventions provide an adaptive lay theory for why students encounter challenges during transition times (Yeager et al ., 2016). Students, particularly those with little knowledge of how college works or those who have experienced discrimination, or are aware of negative stereotypes about their social group, may make global interpretations of why college can be challenging and may even associate challenges as evidence that they and students like them don’t belong. With belonging interventions, the lay theory provided to students aims to frame the experience of challenge in more adaptive ways—challenge and adversity are typical experiences, particularly during transitional moments, and should be expected; adapting academically and socially takes time—students will be more likely to persist, seek out campus resources and develop social relationships.

• They acknowledge that challenges are expected during transitions and that these are varied.
• They communicate to students that most students, including students from non-minority groups, experience similar challenges and feelings about them.
• They communicate that belonging is a process that takes time and tends to increase over time
• They use student examples of challenges and resolutions.

The Intervention

All students in the first-year writing class were randomly assigned to either the belonging group or an active control group. The intervention was provided to first-year students in their writing class and consisted of a reading and writing assignment about social and academic belonging. The control group was given the same assignment but with a different topic, study skills. In the intervention group, students read several stories from a racially diverse set of upper-level students who reflected on the challenges of making friends and adjusting to a new academic context. The hypothetical students reflected on the strategies they used, the resources they accessed, and how the challenge dissipated over time. After the reading exercise, the students in the intervention group were instructed to write about how the readings echoed their own first-year experiences. Then, they were asked to write a letter to future students who might question their belonging during their transition to college. Research has shown that written reflections help students internalize the main messages of the belonging intervention (Yeager & Walton, 2011).

Similar to previously published belonging interventions, results in persistence and academic achievement were significant for minoritized groups in the belonging cohort:

• Persistence. Compared to the control group, continuous enrollment for URM & FGLI students increased by 10% one year after and 9% two years after the intervention.
• Performance. The non-cumulative GPA from the URM & FGLI students increased by 0.19 points the semester immediately following the intervention and by 0.11 over the next two years compared to students in the control group.

Immediately following the intervention, a selected sub-sample of students in both conditions was invited to take a daily diary survey for nine consecutive days. The daily diary survey assessed students’ daily positive and negative academic and social experiences (students were asked to report and describe three negative and three positive events that they faced daily and to rate how positive and negative the events were), as well as their daily sense of social and academic belonging. The daily-diary assignment revealed another interesting finding: the intervention did not change the overall perception of negative events. URM & FGLI students in both groups had a statistically similar daily-adversity index and reported the same number of daily adverse events on average. However, there was no connection between the adversity index and sense of belonging for students in the belonging cohort. In contrast, students in the control group evidenced a negative correlation between daily adversities and belonging: “the greater adversity disadvantaged students experienced on a day, the lower their sense of social and academic fit” (Murphy et al ., 2020).

Providing a more adaptive interpretation of challenge seemed to help students in the belonging condition make alternative and more adaptive attributions for their struggles that did not connect to their sense of belonging. A follow-up survey one year after the intervention showed that minoritized students in the belonging intervention continued to report a higher sense of belonging in comparison to their counterparts in the control group.

Study 3: College Student’s Sense of Belonging and Mental Health Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic (Gopalan et al ., 2022)

Dr. Gopalan presented the third study, which turned out to provide a unique opportunity to assess whether sense of belonging had predictive effects on mental health. In the fall of 2019, researchers sent a survey to students at a large, multicampus Northeastern public university called the College Relationship and Experience survey (CORE), which included two questions about belonging, among other items. In the Spring of 2020, after students were sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a variation of the same survey was sent to students who had taken the CORE survey. After controlling for pre-COVID depression and anxiety, Dr. Gopolan and colleagues found that students who reported a higher sense of belonging in the fall of 2019 had lower rates of depression and anxiety midst-COVID pandemic , with the effects on depression more strongly predictive than those for anxiety. The correlation between a lower sense of belonging and higher rates of depression and anxiety was also found to be strongest for first-year students, who had little time during their first year to build community and adjust to college before the pandemic hit.

Dr. Gopalan concluded with some practical advice for instructors: “Stop telling students they belong, show them instead that they belong,” citing a recent op-ed from Greg Walton . We do this by modeling the idea that belonging is a process that takes time and by communicating to students that they are not alone , which can be done through sharing our own experiences with belonging, and by allowing students space to hear the experiences of their peers and learn from one another.

• Classroom Practices Library which includes Overview: Effective Social Belonging Messages are more.
• The Project for Education Research That Scales (PERTS) : a free belonging intervention for four-year colleges and universities.
• Research library on belonging
• Article on Structures for Belonging: A Synthesis of Research on Belonging-Supportive Learning Environments
• “Stop telling students ‘You Belong!’”
• Everyone is talking about belonging: What does it really mean?
• Post-secondary
• Academic Belonging : introduction to the concept and practices that support it.
• Flipping Failure : a campus-wide initiative to help students feel less alone by hearing stories about how their peers coped with academic challenges

Baumeister, R. F., & Leary, M. R. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117 (3), 497–529. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.3.497

Deil-Amen, R. (2011). Socio-academic integrative moments: Rethinking academic and social integration among two-year college students in career-related programs. The Journal of Higher Education , 82(1), 54-91. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2011.11779085  

Dudley, K., Caperton, S.A., and Smith Ritchie, N. (2020). 2012 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:12) Student Records Collection Research Data File Documentation (NCES 2021-524). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 2/27/2023 from https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid-2021524

Eccles, J. S., & Midgley, C. (1989). Stage/Environment Fit: Developmentally Appropriate Classrooms for Early Adolescence. In R. E. Ames, & Ames, C. (Eds.), Research on Motivation in Education , 3, 139-186. New York: Academic Press.

Eccles, J. S., & Roeser, R. W. (2011). Schools as developmental contexts during adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21 (1), 225–241. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7795.2010.00725.x

Gopalan, M., & Brady, S. T. (2020). College Students’ Sense of Belonging: A National Perspective. Educational Researcher , 49(2), 134–137. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X19897622

Gopalan, M., Linden-Carmichael, A. Lanza, S. (2022). College Students’ Sense of Belonging and Mental Health Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic, Journal of Adolescent Health , 70(2), 228-233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2021.10.010

Murphy, M.C., Gopalan, M., Carter, E. R., Emerson, K. T. U., Bottoms, B. L., and Walton, G.M., (2020). A customized belonging intervention improves retention of socially disadvantaged students at a broad-access university Science Advances, 6(29). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aba4677

Walton, & Cohen. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.1.82

Walton, G.M., & Cohen, G.L. (2011). A Brief Social-Belonging Intervention Improves Academic and Health Outcomes of Minority Students. Science,  331(6023), 1447-1451.  DOI: 10.1126/science.1198364

Yeager, D. S., & Walton, G. M. (2011). Social-Psychological Interventions in Education They’re Not Magic. Review of Educational Research, 81(2), 267–301. http://doi.org/10.3102/0034654311405999

Yeager, D.S., Walton G.M., Brady, S.T., Dweck, C.S.,(2016). Teaching a lay theory before college narrows achievement gaps at scale, Psychological and Cognitive Sciences , 113(24), E3341-E3348. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1524360113

belonging inclusive classroom student engagement wellbeing

School Belonging: The Importance of Student and Teacher Relationships

• Open Access
• First Online: 25 June 2021

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• Kelly-Ann Allen 3 ,
• Christopher D. Slaten 4 ,
• Gökmen Arslan 5 ,
• Sue Roffey 6 ,
• Heather Craig 7 &
• Dianne A. Vella-Brodrick 8  

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School belonging is associated with a range of positive educational and developmental outcomes, including psychosocial health and wellbeing, prosocial behaviour and academic achievement, and transition into adulthood. However, an increasing number of students worldwide report not feeling a sense of belonging to their school. There is growing research evidence that strong student–teacher relationships can promote school belonging, however creating these relationships within highly complex educational systems can be challenging. Further, only a few interventions focusing specifically on belonging that are available in schools have been found to be effective. This chapter highlights the importance of teacher support for a student’s sense of school belonging, discusses challenges associated with student–teacher relationships, and points to strategies for building strong relationships. We highlight the role that school leaders play in fostering strong relationships, and consider extensions within higher education, and future directions. Considering the importance of student–teacher relationships towards a student’s sense of school belonging, and the empirical base that points to both short- and long-term outcomes, implications for widespread benefits are possible for schools that prioritize and value positive relationships between staff and students.

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What schools need to know about fostering school belonging: a meta-analysis.

School Belonging and the Role of Social and Emotional Competencies in Fostering an Adolescent’s Sense of Connectedness to Their School

Austrian students’ experiences of supportive relationships with teachers, peers, and parents and the mediating effect of school belonging in the context of their academic and non-academic outcomes

School belonging is a multidimensional construct encompassing emotional and behavioural components (e.g., respected, accepted, and included; Arslan & Duru, 2017 ; Goodenow & Grady, 1993 ; Haugen, Morris, & Wester, 2019 ; Karcher & Lee, 2002 ). A student’s sense of belonging to school has attracted growing attention from researchers and practitioners in recent years due to its ability to predict a wide variety of educational and developmental outcomes (Allen & Bowles, 2012 ; Arslan, 2018 ; Arslan & Duru, 2017 ; Osterman, 2000 ). School belonging also positively contributes to a number of factors that promote student academic functioning, mental health, and wellbeing (Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie, & Waters, 2018 ; Allen & Bowles, 2012 ; Arslan, 2021 ; Arslan, Allen, & Ryan, 2020 ). However, even though scholars and educators are aware of the impact of school belonging on student outcomes, the research on classroom interventions and school environment is relatively sparse. Currently, there are very few strategies and interventions available to schools that specifically target school belonging.

Substantial research has indicated that the student–teacher relationship provides a powerful avenue for schools concerned with increasing perceptions of school belonging among their students (cf. Allen, Kern, Vella-Brodrick, Hattie, & Waters, 2018 ). However, creating strong student–teacher relationships is not without its challenges. Teachers may feel pressured by schedules, constrained by various responsibilities associated with their positions, and inhibited by systemic issues. Nevertheless, we suggest that building relationships within a school provides an attainable, cost-effective, and readily available strategy for building a culture of school belonging.

In this chapter, we first highlight the importance of relationships,and then focus specifically on school belonging.We highlight how school belonging can be assessed, and the limited interventions to support school belonging. We identify the importance of teachers in supporting a sense of belonging, and present some of the challenges associated with student–teacher relationships. We point to the role that school leaders can play in supporting belonging within the school. We then consider belonging and relationships in the context of higher education,suggesting that building strong relationships with teachers for students at both schools and universities should be a core consideration in positive education. Finally, we highlight potential future directions.

Relationships Matter

Relationships are integral to who we are as human beings. Studies and reviews repeatedly point to interpersonal relationships being a core human need (Allen, Kern, McInerney, Rozec, & Slavich, 2021 ; Baumeister & Leary, 1995 ; Ryan & Deci, 2000 ). Some of the earliest studies in developmental psychology focused specifically on the role that relationships—particularly between a child and their primary caregiver, have on subsequent life experiences. The Internal Working Models of Attachment Relationships suggests that attachments during the formative years have a significant influence upon the quality of relationships later in life (Bowlby, 1958 , 1969 ). Generally, a secure relationship is characterized by warmth, supportiveness, trust, involvement, and responsiveness, whereas insecure relationships are characterized by mistrust, fear, and avoidance (Bretherton & Munholland, 1999 ). Poor attachment has a range of implications, including neurological, behavioural, psychological, and social effects, and results in an insecure sense of self and conflicting relationships. In contrast, it has now been well established that warm and responsive early connections result in a more optimistic outcome of good psycho-social functioning (Gerhardt, 2015 ). While early attachment research focused specifically on primary caregivers, subsequent studies have clearly found that extended family members and others in the community can promote a positive sense of self and make a significant difference in a young person’s resilience and life trajectory (e.g., Goldstein, 2016 ). For instance, Obsuth et al. ( 2017 ) found that the relationship a student has with a teacher at 10 or 11 years of age influences attitudes and behaviour towards other adult relationships four years later.

For school-age children, good social relationships support social and emotional wellbeing (Allen, Vella-Brodrick, & Waters, 2017 ; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007 ), and are important for helping students to succeed at school (Johnson, 2009 ). Roffey ( 2012 ) identified the power of positive relationships across many contexts, including schools, organizations, and families. Positive emotionally literate interactions have been found to be healing in challenging circumstances such as family breakdown (Dowling & Elliott, 2012 ) and conflict (Edmund, 2012 ). Relationships also impact significantly on health and wellbeing outcomes (e.g., O’Connell, O’Shea, & Gallagher, 2016 ; Warren & Donaldson, 2018 ). As Huppert ( 2012 ) noted:

The foundation of what makes lives go well is not the individual but the quality of our relationships; the development of trust, the giving and receiving of love and support and the myriad ways in which relationships can be life-enhancing. (p. vii)

Indeed, Peterson ( 2006 ) summarized the essence of positive psychology as: “other people matter” (p. 249).

Importantly, the mere presence of positive social relationships is insufficient; the quality of those relationships, the context in which relationships occur, and the emotional experiences arising through interactions with others also matter (Allen, 2020 ; Baxter, Weston, & Qu, 2011 ; Lim, Allen, Craig, Smith, & Furlong, 2021 ). This quality aspect has been described in different ways over the past several decades. For example, in their Social Development Model, Hawkins and Weis ( 1985 ) suggested that it was the sense of being socially bonded with a student’s family, school, peers, and community that influenced behaviour. The model suggests that opportunities to connect are necessary but insufficient for social bonds to form; the social bonding experience must also be positive. In other words, pro-social relationships will not singlehandedly develop a feeling of belonging. Social skills and positive experiences during one’s interactions with others are also important elements (Allen, Boyle, Lachlan, & Craig, 2020 ).

Similarly, guided by Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000 ), Zimmer-Gembeck, Chipuer, Hanisch, Creed, and McGregor ( 2006 ) suggested that it is the combination of positive relationships that support a sense of autonomy, relatedness, and competence, combined with positive environmental experiences that encourages students to be concerned about school and to be proactively involved with their academic pursuits. One important variable of this model is the way students feel about their teachers and peers. In particular, Zimmer-Gembeck et al. suggest that school belonging serves as a mediator between relationshipsand engagement at school. That is, when students feel that they have good relationships with their teachers and peers, they gain a sense of belonging, which results in greater school engagement. This engagement in learning, fuelled by a sense of school belonging, in turn has been linked to better academic performance and achievement (Dweck, 1999 ; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002 ; Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck, Connell, Eccles, & Wellborn, 1998 ). Therefore, a model of school belonging should consider a student’s relationships with his or her teachers and peers (Osterman, 2000 ) and the extent to which the relational quality creates an encouraging environment that fulfils the student’s need for autonomy, competence, and belongingness (Zimmer-Gembeck et al., 2006 ).

School Belonging

Within this background on the importance of relationships in mind, we turn specifically to the primary context of relationships within school communities—captured through the concept of school belonging.The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD, 2019 ) reports that one in three students around the world do not feel a sense of belonging to their school, and these numbers are steadily rising ( 2019 ). Locally and internationally, this trend is a cause for concern. Students who lack a sense of belonging are more likely to engage in problematic behaviour, suffer from mental illness, and experience low achievement (Allen & McKenzie, 2015 ; Abdollahi, Panahipour, Tafti, & Allen, 2020 ; Anderman, 2002 ; Arslan & Coşkun, 2020 ; Henrich, Brookmeyer, & Shahar, 2005 ; Simons-Morton, Crump, Hayine, & Saylor, 1999 ; Van Ryzin, Gravely, & Roseth, 2009 ). The most at-risk students are the ones who are already vulnerable (Aerts, Van Houtte, Dewaele, Cox, & Vincke, 2012 ; Gutman & Midgley, 2000 ; Uwah, McMahon, & Furlow, 2008 ), and these effects can continue into adult life (Hagerty, Williams, & Oe, 2002 ). We begin with an illustration of not belonging, before unpacking what school belonging is and the important role that teachers play in supporting belonging.

Dianne’s Allergy Story

Bringing the importance of school belonging and the power of student–teacher relationships to life, Fig.  21.1 provides a personal story experienced by one of the co-authors. This story illustrates how important quality relationships and a sense of belonging are and how a lack of these can lead an individual to behave in uncharacteristic ways such as being deceitful. Could there have been a different outcome if she had stronger relationships with her teachers? What if her teachers had truly known her as an individual in a way that they could detect the mild nuances of her visible affect and body language in the same way a good friend may detect an unhappy child even if they are wearing a smile on their face? What if Dianne was provided with a safe place and support from her teachers to express her feelings, rather than permission to stay away from school? Based on an extensive and growing literature, we can deduce that Dianne’s school experience may have been improved through forming stronger school-based relationships and greater support to build her sense of belonging to school. We turn to that literature now.

Dianne’s allergy story: An illustration of the challenge of fostering school belonging and the power of student-teacher relationships

Defining School Belonging

The terms used to describe school belonging vary considerably in the literature (e.g., Allen & Bowles, 2012 ; Anderman, 2002 ; Knifsend & Graham, 2012 ; Ma, 2003 ; Nichols, 2006 ; Slaten, Ferguson, Allen, Brodrick, & Waters, 2016 ). The definition presented by Goodenow and Grady ( 1993 , p. 60) remains the most frequently utilized: “the extent to which students feel personally accepted, respected, included, and supported by others in the school social environment”. This notion has been supported in a wide range of work demonstrating that the central themes of school belonging are related to teacher supportiveness, the presence of good friends, engagement in academic progress, and fair and effective discipline (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009 ; Libbey, 2004 ; Wingspread Declaration on School Connections, 2004 ). Despite a lack of consistency in definitions of school belonging and a variety in the terms used to describe belonging, researchers have generally focused on three key components of this construct: school-based experiences and relationships, student–teacher relationships, and student general feelings about school as a whole (Allen & O’Brien, 2013; Allen et al., 2018 ).

Interestingly, several definitions of school belonging implicitly include teacher support. For example, Blum and Libbey ( 2004 ) noted that school belonging involves students believing that the adults involved at their school care about their learning, are interested in them as individuals, and maintain high academic expectations of them. The literature also points to school belonging necessitating positive teacher–student relationships and a feeling of safety at school (Anderman, 2002 ; Jose, Ryan, & Pryor, 2012 ; Rowe & Stewart, 2009 ).

Measurement

The measurementof school belonging is a critical step to understand and develop prevention strategies in fostering student healthy development and wellbeing. Several measurement tools have been developed (Allen & Kern, 2017 ; Arslan & Duru, 2017 ). For example, the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM; Goodenow, 1993 ) is one of the most widely used measures for assessing the sense of belonging among children and adolescents (Goodenow, 1993 ). The PSSM measures student feelings of belonging, or psychological membership, within the school environment and has been applied in various academic and cultural contexts (e.g., Anderman, 2003 ; Cheung & Hui, 2003 ; Shochet, Dadds, Ham, & Montague, 2006 ). The School Belongingness Scale (SBS) assesses the school belonging of children and adolescents (Arslan & Duru, 2017 ). The SBS has sound psychometric properties, and includes two components: school inclusion and school exclusion. School inclusion refers to social acceptance within the school environment while school exclusion refers to social rejection. Slaten and colleagues ( 2018 ) developed a youth belonging measure that captures several salient domains in a youth’s life: family, school, and peer belonging. This 9-item measure includes 3-items for each subscale and a total scale score, this abbreviated measure is seen as an efficient tool and utilized by scholars in multiple disciplines. In addition to these measures, there are many smaller sets of questions that have been used to assess school belonging (Allen & Kern, 2017 ). However, measures have been criticized for being too brief to assess the complexity and multiple features of school belonging (Allen & Kern, 2017 ; Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris, 2004 ). Given the limited number of scales used to measure school belonging, there is a need to further identify the best way to capture school belonging.

Regardless of what the measure of school belonging should be, it is clear across the literature that the student–teacher relationship is a critical component. As described in more detail below, the student–teacher relationship provides a powerful resource in both assessing and promoting students’ sense of school belonging (Allen et al., 2016 , 2018 ; Arslan, 2020 ; Arslan & Duru, 2017 ; Osterman, 2000 ; Uslu & Gizir, 2017 ). As such, most measures of school belonging have emphasized the importance of good quality student–teacher bonds (Allen et al., 2016 ; Connell & Wellborn, 1991 ). For example, Goodenow and Grady ( 1993 ) include “students’ subjective feelings of being accepted, included, respected, and supported by others, especially teachers and friends, in the school social environment” (p. 66), asking for instance “the teachers here respect me”. Similarly, the School Connectedness Scale (SCS) for adolescents includes questions such as “My teachers give me extra help when I need it” (Lohmeier & Lee, 2011 ). Arslan and Duru ( 2017 ) include questions such as “I have close/sincere relationships with my teachers and friends”. Clearly, measures of school belonging see the student–teacher relationship as an important resource in measuring and understanding of students’ sense of belonging in school.

Teacher Support

In a large-scale synthesis of research, Hattie ( 2009 ) found a strong ( d  = 0.52) effect for the teacher–student relationship in enhancing academic outcomes in students. Similarly, through a meta-analysis of school belonging, which included 51 studies and 67,378 students Allen et al. ( 2018 ) found a large ( r  = 0.46) effect between teacher support and school belonging. Numerous other researchers have widely supported the importance of the teacher–student relationship for numerous academic and psychosocial outcomes (e.g., Korpershoek, Harms, de Boer, van Kuijk, & Doolaard, 2016 ).

Numerous studies find that teacher relationships positively influence young people’s feelings about their schools, and that the role of a teacher extends beyond providing opportunities for improved academic outcome (e.g., Cemalcilar, 2010 ; Hallinan, 2008 ; Klem & Connell, 2004 ). For instance, Klem and Connell ( 2004 ) noted: “students who perceive teachers as creating a caring, well-structured learning environment in which expectations are fair are more likely to report engagement in school” (p. 270). In a sample of 3,238 students from Hong Kong, students were more likely to have high expectations about their educational experiences if they had positive relationships with their teachers and felt like they belonged at school (Wong, Parent, & Konishi, 2019 ). Similarly, Wallace, Ye, and Chhuton, ( 2012 ) showed that support, fairness, and lack of conflict with teachers predicted a sense of belonging in adolescence. Further, students’ perceptions about the relationship with their teacher were found to be contextual and influenced by how effective the teacher was at ensuring the pedagogy and content resonated with the students and whether the students thought their teacher cared for them.

Across studies, good relationships arise when students feel cared for, accepted, and respected by their teachers. For example, in a longitudinal study of 714 elementary school students who were academically at risk, Hughes ( 2011 ) found that children were more likely to see themselves as academically capable and had a sense of school belonging when students perceived their teacher as being warm and accepting and had a sense of social support that reflected care, respect, and cooperation. Crouch, Keys, and McMahon ( 2014 ) found that teachers fulfilled an important social function for students if they respected and valued students, offered social support, and developed a good rapport while teaching the curriculum. Anderman ( 2002 ) found that students reported greater belonging when they perceived their teachers provided mutual respect in the classroom. Moreover, pointing to the school as a community, rather than the sole responsibility of a single teacher, Roffey ( 2012 ) found that students reported a greater belonging when staff members generally (not necessarily the students’ teachers) were perceived as being available to students, showed that they cared about them, and positively interacted with them.

While social support is important as this addresses students’ need for relatedness and care, academic support also matters, as this supports their need for competence. For instance, across 434 twelve-year-old students, students achieved more and felt a greater sense of school belonging when their teachers used a mastery goal orientation involving assisting students to acquire new skills and master new situations through the development of personal goals, combined with academic pressure (Stevens, Hamman, & Olivárez, 2007 ). These teachers were more likely to challenge students, encourage their ideas, and ask them to explain their work. The pressure was for students to go beyond their comfort zones and engage in their learnings. And the more that teachers promoted learning over performance, the more school belonging students felt.

It is clear that the student–teacher relationship matters. Research has demonstrated that the relationship remains important as a young person progresses through secondary school (Longobardi, Prino, Marengo, & Settanni, 2016 ). Of course, other relationships, including those with parents and peers, also impact upon a students’ sense of belonging (Allen et al., 2018 ; Quinn & Oldmeadow, 2013 ; Tillery, Varjas, Roach, Kuperminc, & Meyers, 2013 ), and other adult connections may become more important as a student progresses through secondary school. However, the support provided by teachers may fulfil a specific set of needs, such as autonomyand competence.Perhaps the best teachers are not simply imparters of knowledge on a particular subject nor counsellors providing social and emotional care, but educators caring about the holistic development of their students.

The Current Context

It is clear that the student–teacher relationship matters for cultivating a sense of school belonging, good psychosocial functioning, and academic outcomes. Yet OECD ( 2019 ) data have revealed some disturbing statistics about student perceptions of relationships with their teachers. A significant portion of students believed their teachers gave them the impression they were less intelligent than they were, their teachers disciplined them more harshly than others, or their teachers ridiculed or insulted them in front of others. Clearly, many students do not feel their relationships with their teachers are supportive.

There are signs of inequity in terms of who is at risk for poor outcomes, with the vulnerable and disadvantaged at higher risk. For instance, while international data suggest that a sense of belonging for Australian students has declined across students (OECD, 2019 ), De Bortoli ( 2018 ) found that several groups were less likely to feel like they belong including indigenous students, those with disability, and those from the LGBT community. Students in remote communities also reported feeling more like an outsider than those in metropolitan areas. It is clear that there needs to be more effort made to include those who are at risk. Although it is now widely recognized that school belonging is relevant to engagement,academic outcomes, and mental health, there continue to be difficulties at the local and national levels in implementing strategies that promote positive teacher–student relationships.

For example, since 2010 in the U.K., state education has increasingly focused on academic subjects at the expense of creative subjects and humanities. This has been coupled with expectations on teachers to account for everything they and students do in the classroom. Schools are inspected by the Office for Standards in Education, who rate them from inadequate to outstanding. This rating includes the results of tests that students take at the end of years 2, 6, and 9. This approach to education has led to several unwanted consequences. Firstly, a teacher’s time is consumed with paperwork and getting through the demands of the curriculum that there is little time to establish and maintain relationships. The priority for teachers, especially in the secondary sector, is on delivering their subject, rather than responding to the needs of the young people who they are teaching and taking account of their individual contexts. While this may have little consequence for students from strong, supportive families, for young people where school is their primary source of consistency, security, and welcome, this can leave them marginalized, resulting in further disadvantage. The grading system also sets schools up in competition with each other. Senior managers and school governors may put pressure on teachers to ensure the school gets an “outstanding” rating. Students feel pressure to meet the high academic standards, and place pressure on teachers to help them meet those standards. Behaviour also deteriorates where students no longer feel they matter and school becomes an irrelevance. Rather than trying to promote a sense of inclusive belonging, many schools have resorted to exclusion and “off-rolling”, a practice where parents are persuaded to remove their child from the school so that these children do not bring down the school’s exam average.

While this illustrates the experiences of one country, similar practices and pressures are occurring worldwide (e.g., Hirschfield, 2008 ; Sargeant, 2016 ) teachers are leaving the profession in significant numbers. In 2018, nearly 10% of teachers in the U.K. left the profession, with slightly more in the secondary sector. The retention rate of newly qualified teachers has fallen considerably since 2011 (National Foundation for Educational Research [NFER], 2019 ). There are increasing concerns about young people’s mental health, school violence, and gang-related activity indicating that more conversations and actions need to occur in this space.

Interventions to Support Belonging

Although this paints a rather depressing picture, many teachers and schools are doing their best to support students, often under challenging circumstances. There are signs that different approaches are gaining traction. In the wake of burgeoning systemic pressures on the teaching profession, interventions for relationship building with students that can be immersed into day-to-day school life and embedded in existing practices are beneficial (Allen & Kern, 2019 ).

Very few empirically tested interventions are available that specifically address school belonging through the student–teacher relationship. This may be because the student–teacher relationship is expected to occur naturally. Still, in a school climate of competing interests, teacher stress, and job dissatisfaction, even seemingly obvious interventions have a need and place for increasing school belonging. Cook et al. ( 2018 ) found that something as simple as a personal greeting can have merit: a teacher who greets students at the door can increase student engagement by 20%.

Another seemingly simple intervention devised by Gehlbach et al. (2016) allowed for teachers and students to know each other better based on the assumption that when people perceive themselves as similar, greater liking, and closer relationships result. Students in the treatment condition received feedback on five similarities that they shared with their teachers; each teacher received parallel feedback regarding similarities. The study found improved relationships and higher course grades for students and teachers who shared similarities. This brief intervention appeared to close the achievement gap at this school by over 60%. Vidourek and King ( 2014 ) similarly found that those who felt positively connected to their students felt significantly more likely than their counterparts to use school connectedness strategies and felt significantly more confident than teachers who reported low use of strategies to connect students to school.

Cornelius-White ( 2007 ) found that positive student outcomes were associated with learner-centred teacher practices, which honour student voices, promote higher-order thinking, align teaching with individual needs, and adapt instructions that have been associated with positive student outcomes. Researchers have found that these teaching practices increase mastery and performance goals in adolescents, and promote motivation and academic engagement (Meece, 2003 ; Meece, Herman, & McCombs, 2003 ). Shanghai, Akgul, Cokamay, and Demir ( 2016 ) found that students perceived their teachers as being more supportive if the teachers were aware of the specific characteristics of individual students. Supportive teachers considered different learning levels and kept students’ views in mind when conducting activities in the classroom and assigning homework.

Having social and emotional learning (SEL) programs that give students agency for the emotional climate of their class and mix everyone up to discuss issues (not incidents) is another way of promoting connectedness (Dobia, Parada, Roffey, & Smith, 2019 ). SEL can also provide opportunities for teachers to get to know their students in informal activities and to develop their understanding of what promotes or inhibits their engagement with others. This is especially critical in the secondary sector where school belonging is most likely to decline.

Bringing many of the different strategies and interventions together, Megan Pedlar ( 2018 ) suggested the following strategies for building student–teacher relationships:

Prioritize high-quality teacher–student relationships

Create a supportive and caring learning environment

Offer emotional support to students

Be sensitive to students’ needs and emotions

Show interest in students

Try to understand students’ point of view

Be respectful and provide fair treatment

Foster positive peer relationships and mutual respect among classmates to establish a sense of community

Engage in positive classroom management

While many of the features within Pedlar’s list may be intuitively provided by teachers and school leaders, there is room within this body of work for more rigorous empirical evidence. Research on student–teacher relationships appear paramount to school belonging and require future research to reveal the precise mechanisms for increasing school belonging. In addition, an important area for further study involves strategizing ways schools can foster teacher support and helping schools specifically pay attention to cultivating teacher–student relationships, despite the broader cultural pressures that might exist.

The Role of School Leadership

Although individual teachers can do a lot to support a sense of belonging with the young people they interact with on a regular basis, this will not be sustainable unless it is prioritized across the whole school. The vision, direction, and priorities of the school generally are set by a senior leadership team, such that the role of school leaders is central (Roffey, 2007 ). If leaders are passionate that each child has the opportunity to do as well as they can in all dimensions of their development, then the leaders are more likely to emphasize and support an inclusive sense of belonging across the school community (Roffey, 2007 ). In contrast, when school leaders singularly focus on “academic success”, then students who do not “fit” are more at risk (Dulfer, Polesel, & Rice, 2012 ). Further, many people find themselves in leadership roles with little training or support for how to lead well and manage the many demands, stakeholder voices, and priorities of the community. Without a clear vision for the school, the priorities of the broader education system tend to take priority, leaving behind the social and emotional needs of the community.

Effective school leaders have the intellectual capacity and relevant knowledge set for their roles, as well as necessary emotional knowledge and skills (Scott, 2003 ). Studies (e.g., Ma, 2003 ; O’Keeffe, 2013 ) point to several practices that effective leaders engage in that support belonging:

They appreciate that some children will only achieve when the learning environment is safe and supportive, and work hard to create a school environment that is both physically and psychologically safe.

They ensure that there is time and/or flexibility in the school day for teachers to establish positive relationships with their students.

They organize professional development so that staff know the importance of this and how to do it.

They support a behaviour policy that is relational rather than based in reward and punishment and they will be aware of some of the issues that may undermine connectedness, such as an inflexible focus on uniform infringements.

They encourage teachers to provide pastoral support to students.

They ensure that time is allocated to get to know and understand their students and show that this is a valued part of their role in the school.

School leaders have both the opportunity and the responsibility to create an environment that can enable wellbeing in those they lead. Considering the importance of belonging for so many desired outcomes (Allen et al., 2018 ), we suggest that it is crucial that creating environments of belonging are prioritized.

Relationships and Belonging in Higher Education

Most of the research on belonging has focused on the primary and secondary levels, with limited focus within higher education. Existing studies and theoretical models consistently include belonging as an integral construct in understanding university student retention and academic performance (e.g., Strayhorn, 2018 ; Tinto, 1987 ). For instance, the widely accepted Tinto Model of College Student Retention points to the importance of students feeling a sense of belonging on campus and being able to relate to other students on campus as well as university personnel, including faculty and staff. Similarly, emphasizing students on the margin, Strayhorn ( 2018 ) posits that student social context and feeling unsupported or unwelcome may contribute to a more heightened level of importance to feeling a sense of belonging on campus.

Assessing Belonging Within Higher Education

One reason that there has been limited empirical research on belongingness in higher education is the lack of sound measurement of the construct. In the few studies where belongingness has been examined, higher education scholars have largely adapted K-12 school belonging scales, such as the PSSM (Goodenow, 1993 ). But students in higher education environments have vastly different experiences compared to K-12 schools. The higher education experience often involves living at or near the educational institution, engaging in activities and group activities outside of the classroom, living with peers, and taking courses in a variety of different disciplines in different buildings. These are just a few of the many differences in the educational environment when transitioning to higher education.

Notably, Slaten and colleagues ( 2018 ) created a belongingness measure to be utilized specifically in higher education settings. Through qualitative research, consulting experts in the field, and performing an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on an initial item list, they identified and confirmed a three factor structure that encompasses belonging in higher education: university/school affiliation (pride in being part of the university), university/school support (feeling accepted, valued, and supported by the university), and faculty/staff relations (feeling psychologically safe and comfortable in interacting with faculty and staff). A valid and reliable measure of belonging that is specific to the higher education environment can help aid university personnel and higher education scholars in more accurately understanding the impact belonging may have on college student outcomes, as well as serve as a starting point to designing interventions that could enhance belonging on campus.

Impact of and Approaches to Belonging in Higher Education

Existing studies on belonging in higher education identify promising areas of intervention and support. University students with a higher sense of belonging are more engaged in the classroom and generally have more successful academic outcomes (Hausmann, Ye, Schofield, & Woods, 2009 ; Wang & Eccles, 2012 ), and a sense of belonging has been linked to positive psychosocial and behavioural outcomes (Hurtado & Carter, 1997 ; Osterman, 2000 ; Pittman & Richmond, 2007 ). Recently, Gillen-O’Neel ( 2019 ) examined the relationship between belonging on campus and student engagement for both first-generation collegess students and continuing-generation college students. The results suggest that, with few exceptions, belonging was associated with all types of student engagement. Further, for first-generation students, the concept of belonging appeared to be more powerful, confirming Strayhorns’ (2018) theoretical assertions that for those students experiencing a more difficult time on campus, sense of belonging is even more important.

Relationships with faculty members may be particularly important for cultivating a sense of belonging at the university. For instance, Slaten et al. ( 2018 ) examined the potential factors that make up belonging in higher education settings, finding that one of these salient factors was the importance of students having positive relationships with faculty. Walton and Cohen ( 2007 , 2011 ) designed an intervention for college students that focused on statements related to social difficulties in college and problem-solving solutions to these concerns. Results suggested that the intervention successfully increased students sense of belonging and their academic performance. Upon examining the impact of instructional adjustments, Gilken and Johnson ( 2019 ) found that classrooms that engaged in peer review and feedback from their classmates felt a greater sense of belonging by the end of the semester, suggesting that faculty should provide opportunities for students to connect with one another in the classroom. Perhaps the most promising intervention research has been conducted by Patterson Silver Wolf and colleagues ( 2019 ), who examined a brief intervention curriculum for community college students, specifically focused on underrepresented minorities and mattering in higher education settings. The results of multiple randomized control trials found that the intervention improved both students’ sense of belonging and retention. Additional studies focusing on best approaches for prioritising and cultivating a sense of belonging and good student-professor relationship at the higher education level will be an important area to focus on in the coming years.

Future Directions

We end with consideration of some of the future directions for belonging research. Many researchers have studied school belonging and teacher support by investigating bivariate relationships. For example, most studies reported a correlation between two variables (e.g., belonging and teacher support), which can establish relational inferences, but say little about causation (Thompson, Diamond, McWilliam, Snyder, & Snyder, 2005 ). While this has provided a homogenous understanding of concepts related to school belonging, this offers little information about what schools can do to increase belonging in their unique environments. Considering the dynamic nature of social relationships, simple causation most likely does not occur, but greater understanding of specific strategies and actions teachers and others in the school community can take to increase a sense of belonging is needed.

Due to the tendency to focus on student perspectives about belonging, the voices of school leaders and teachers are often absent from this research (Shochet, Smyth, & Homel, 2007 ; Uwah et al., 2008 ). Likely, teachers and other staff who feel a greater sense of school belonging are more committed to the school and perhaps better educators, but how a sense of belonging plays out for adults in the school community, and the impact of that on students is unknown.

While studies find that the student–teacher relationship is instrumental to belonging, less is known about how to improve those relationships, as are the most effective types of supports that teachers can offer and the interplay between the variables that comprise teacher support. Future work might empirically consider characteristics of good student–teacher relationships and consider specific strategies for improving relationships, across different school contexts.

In what has been called a “loneliness epidemic”, the past decade has brought an alarming rise in loneliness for people worldwide, with adolescents and senior citizens particularly at risk (Australian Psychological Society, 2018 ). Schools are essentially micro-societies that represent our broader societies. As such, if we can learn how to build a sense of belonging within our schools, perhaps these lessons can be applied across other communities, including assisted living facilities and nursing homes. Further, if young people develop the skills and capabilities to connect well with others, perhaps we can cultivate a more connected community within a currently disconnected world.

Within schools, there are some barriers to the connections that adults have with students, such as the organizational structure of schools, teacher instructional practices, the transitions that are a part of schooling, and discipline policies. Adults play a role in promoting student growth and development, such as through addressing the social conditions within a school. Students need the opportunity to feel accepted, cared for, and affirmed in their school. There is no greater way to achieve this then by utilizing the school personnel that they are around the most: teachers.

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Introduction

“Belonging” is both a powerful and ambiguous concept.  It reflects something essential to the human experience — a core need — but is not as tangible or easily comprehensible as shelter, nutrition, and rest. Appropriately, belonging rests in the middle of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. 1 This suggests that belonging is both tremendously important and central to the human condition. Yet exactly why that is so is less obvious. Defining belonging is no simple task.

This essay serves as a backdrop to the papers submitted for this volume. These papers cover topics ranging from  motherhood-driven civic engagement by migrant mothers in Sweden, to “togetherness” oriented childhood education in Denmark, to refugee-led Covid-19 responses in Berlin and their impact on the experience of integration. As these papers draw upon a conception of belonging presented or prompted by us, we wish to describe the contours of our understanding of the term so the papers make sense in context. Our presentation is not exhaustive, but should be sufficient to the goal of making the papers comprehensible in their own terms.

Defining Belonging in the Negative

Perhaps the best way to understand belonging is through the light of contrast, by defining what it is not. Let’s start with Equity and Inclusion. Equity and Inclusion refer to how social groups are stratified across society and critical institutions. Inclusion is a concept that demands institutions and communities open themselves to members of formerly excluded social groups. For example, in the 1960s Yale University finally admitted women onto its campus as undergraduate students, decades after most public universities had done so. 2 Inclusion is a powerful regulative ideal, as well as a strategy or mechanism for reducing social inequality.

Equity moves beyond simple or formalistic notions of equal treatment. When groups are situated differently in society with respect to status, resources, and opportunities, then equal treatment can perpetuate rather than ameliorate social, economic, legal, or political inequality. This is where ‘equity’ comes in. Equity is a recognition that sometimes fair treatment requires differential treatment. Most European constitutional systems recognize equity in this form, as captured by the Spanish expression: “ igual a los iguales y desigual a los desiguales ”, also known as equal treatment.

This is obvious in some cases, as when we prioritize vulnerable groups for vaccines or create special accommodations for people with disabilities or pregnant women. But it is denied in other contexts in which formal equal treatment can lead to significant disparities.

While important concepts, neither equity nor inclusion guarantee belonging. It is possible for institutions to become accessible to formerly excluded groups, and for social or economic disparities to be ameliorated or even eliminated, even as social stigmas or feelings of exclusion persist. Women, for example, were admitted into Yale, but excluded from the social life of the university, from its social clubs to its dining halls. Tangible resources and measurable disparities can be equalized even as certain social stigmas persist, such as caste or gender associations. In India, for example, affirmative action programs can guarantee employment opportunities for lower caste social groups, but that does not mean that cultural assumptions have been extirpated. 3

In this sense, belonging goes beyond Inclusion and Equity, yet includes them in meaningful ways. It would be difficult to imagine that belonging can fully manifest in a society where social groups are excluded from key institutions or large disparities exist between those groups. Yet, belonging calls for something more.

Manifesting Belonging

In our conception, Belonging is both objective and subjective.  It can be quantified and measured, but it is also perceptual, laying in the eye of the beholder. In this respect, Belonging, unlike both Equity and Inclusion, contains a psychological component — an affective component, which shapes the way social groups regard whatever it is they are regarding, an institution, a city, or even society writ large.

If members of a social group feel as if they belong, then belonging exists.  But if they do not, despite being included and having little tangible resource inequities or other disparities between groups, then belonging is lacking. Thus, in biographies of women such as Sonia Sotomayor and Michelle Obama, they report a feeling of “not belonging” on Princeton’s campus of the 1970s. 4 Both women came from vastly different social and economic milieus — the Bronx and the south side of Chicago, respectively — than that which they encountered on that Ivy League campus.

Belonging can be measured by campus climate, and climate surveys, but these surveys must reflect both objective and subjective experiences. 5 This also explains the development of so-called “mindset” interventions, messages designed to signal or express greater belonging, and hopefully engender it in the process. 6

This reveals a core element of belonging: the expressive or communicative message that a group belongs. It can be expressed explicitly, through representation or by signaling that members of a particular group are welcome in a particular space, institution, or community. It can also be expressed implicitly, as when accommodations are made, such as when special food or holidays are provided for. For example, the French Military created accommodations for Muslim cultural traditions by having halal foods served in the military, and providing space for prayer and worship. 7 The absence of accommodations or sensitivities is an equally simple way to signal that members of certain groups do not belong.

Illustration by Peter Wood

Realizing Belonging

As important as these components are to belonging, there is still a missing component to a full manifestation of belonging. Belonging is perceptual and tangible; it is a feeling and a practice. But belonging requires more than accommodation; it also demands agency.

A board or council may be diverse and inclusive, but if members of socially marginalized groups are included without the ability or agency to re-shape and redesign the institution, then inclusion is realized without full belonging. In this model, members of the socially marginalized group are brought in as guests rather than as members. Simply revisiting holiday schedules or respective food traditions can help members of social groups feel more welcome, but they do not create a sense of ownership or control over the mission, values, or core operation of the institution.

Belonging is realized fully when included groups have more than a voice — they are actually able to reshape the institution together with existing stakeholders. Thus, hospitals and other anchor institutions are not just responsive to elite sensibilities, but oriented to serve communities’ needs.  In the process, some institutions may need to be redesigned or their mission rethought. Efforts toward realizing this conception of belonging are already underway in examples like Germany’s requirement for employees to comprise a third of supervisory board seats in companies of at least 500 employees, and half in companies of 2000 or more. Research shows that this measure to provide a decision making role to employees broadens the issues and concerns companies give attention to while simultaneously increasing profits and productivity. In another instance of co-creative belonging, the organization Participatory City worked with the council of the Borough of Barking and Dagenham in the United Kingdom to address the area’s high levels of homelessness, violence, and unemployment. They worked with community members to create a welcoming committee for newcomers, plant community gardens together, and collaborate on community improvement projects. These activities have fostered a sense of togetherness and shared destiny among the residents of Barking and Dagenham, as people have overcome prejudices and isolation to strengthen bonds and deepen community. This kind of agency — co-creation — is the most radical and potentially transformative aspect of true belonging. 

How, then, can these ideas be brought into practice? This digital volume makes significant headway into answering this question. Because Europe and America, and indeed, much of the world, are struggling with many of the same issues, we seek to transport the frame of belonging into the European context to explore models and exciting case studies, as well as to deepen our collective understanding of the problems that impede a sense of belonging. This volume is one fruit of this emerging work.

Toward Belonging

The papers brought together for this online publication illuminate our understanding of the nuances of belonging and model how we can realize it in practice. Exploring topics and themes such as refugee integration, civic engagement and mutual aid, human development and well-being, motherhood and race, as well as much more, this volume is a major step toward deepening our understanding of inter-group dynamics and processes, interventions, and case studies that can promote or lead toward greater belonging. What follows is a brief introduction to a few of the papers included in this digital collection.

Jessica Joelle Alexander’s paper on “Obligated Togetherness” or “ Fællesskab ” is a fascinating exploration of holistic cultural values and practices that emphasize well-being and inclusion in Denmark. Drawing upon a major national survey conducted in 2016, the author demonstrates how certain cultural practices, namely, intentionally and specifically incorporating lessons on social connection and wellbeing into parenting and education, contribute to societal well-being and belonging. She explores, in local terms, how the focus on togetherness and connectedness may lead to a correlation with happiness — in a country that is consistently described as one of the happiest in the world. 

In his essay, Tom Crompton, the Director of the Common Cause Foundation, brings to the fore the role that values — and especially our perception of fellow-citizens’ and neighbors’ core values — plays in community cohesion, well-being, and a sense of belonging. Unsurprisingly, he finds that recognising our mutual core values and value commitments can bridge understanding and build community. Looking at programming his organization has conducted in Manchester, England, the author describes community based interventions work in the real world.

Jonelle Twum’s essay explores the grassroots activities of migrant mothers in the suburbs of Sweden.  Making use of  her fieldwork and interviews, she helps us understand processes of racialization, integration, and gender-informed interventions in Sweden’s exurban areas. In particular, she illuminates strategies employed by these women to thrive and to imagine spaces of greater belonging — even as official institutions and municipal leadership fail to provide the material resources needed to support their communities.

Daniel Stanley, the CEO and founder of the Narrative Futures Lab, deconstructs our understanding of polarization. Although conventionally understood in simplistic or categorical ways, such as racial or economic polarization, he suggests that polarization is best viewed as a byproduct of deeper forces and dynamics, and related to a number of other disturbing phenomena. This essay challenges assumptions about individual and group psychology and political conformity from the post-war period, while also arguing, more hopefully, that a better understanding of the problem can lead to belonging and social cohesion.

Evan Elise Easton provides a broader perspective on refugee experiences in Germany, as they relate to integration processes and activities that foster a sense of belonging. In particular, their essay describes and elevates the cutting edge work of refugee led organizations in Berlin during the Covid-19 Pandemic — allowing us the opportunity to see how integration relates to belonging and community building in a time of social turmoil.

Building Belonging

Belonging is a broad, encompassing concept, and there is no single prescription for how it can be manifested or realized, as the papers in this volume will amply illustrate. It is also a multi-faceted concept relating to agency, connection, place, identity, and security, among other elements. As a result, belonging can exist in many forms or be expressed or experienced in a myriad of different ways.

Belonging can exist in a superficial sense or a deeper sense. It can be experienced as a social dynamic between people or institutionalized in governance, organizations, and associations. It can become embodied in laws, codes, rules and regulations, or it can exist as norms and cultural values.  Intergroup dialogue projects in the United States and Europe that not only create spaces for exchanging stories, but also teach how to communicate across boundaries of difference or realize shared values, advance belonging.

The pressures and challenges within our societies make the work of building belonging more complicated, but also more necessary. Economic inequality, displacement and migration, social media and technology, ethnic conflict and religious violence, wars and political oppression, are tectonic forces that build pressure under our societies. The pressure is often relieved through social fault lines, such as those of race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion. If we are to build stronger and more cohesive societies, less susceptible to the dangers of demagoguery and division, then we need to find ways to retrofit our social structures and institutions to survive these pressures.

Art description: “As I read through the introduction for this article, I wanted to understand inside myself what it means to feel a sense of belonging. After some processing, I was drawn to the feeling of sitting around a campfire with friends — an activity that creates, within a foreign space, a sense of home and shelter. In this image the four figures gather around the flame, cradled within a nurturing, open gestured hand.”

Artist bio:  Peter Wood is a British artist who was born in Bedford, England in 1991. He studied in London at Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design, and later at the University of Westminster, where he graduated with a degree in Illustration and Visual Communication in 2014. He has been living in Berlin since 2016 and works as an artist, selling prints at an outdoors art market, and through illustration commissions.  

• 1 Maslow, Abraham. “A Theory of Human Motivation.” Psychological Review 50, no. 4 (1943): 370–96.
• 2 Fetters, Ashley. “The First of the ‘Yale Women.’” The Atlantic , September 22, 2019. https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/09/first-undergraduate-women-yale/598216/.
• 3 "Why India Needs a New Debate on Caste Quotas.” BBC News , August 29, 2015. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34082770.
• 4 Lithwick, Dalia. “Sonia Sotomayor, Outsider.” Slate , September 4, 2015. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2015/09/sonia-sotomayor-conversation-at-notre-dame-first-latina-doesnt-feel-like-she-belongs-on-supreme-court.html .
• 5 “My Experience Survey 2019: Campus Findings and Recommendations.” UC Berkeley Office of the Chancellor, 2020. ttps://myexperience.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/myexperiencesurvey2019-final.pdf .
• 6 Dweck, Carol. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success . New York: Ballantine Books, 2006.
• 7 Onishi, Norimitsu, and Constant Méheut. “In France’s Military, Muslims Find a Tolerance That Is Elusive Elsewhere.” New York Times , June 26, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/world/europe/in-frances-military-muslims-find-a-tolerance-that-is-elusive-elsewhere.html .

A Crisis of Belonging

• Posted March 3, 2023
• By Jill Anderson
• Disruption and Crises
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Families and Community
• K-12 School Leadership

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Social psychologist Geoff Cohen believes a crisis of belonging is destroying us. One in five Americans suffers from chronic loneliness. Young people are struggling with high levels of anxiety and mental health issues at times when they desperately need a sense of connection and belonging. 

“Belonging isn't just a touchy feely construct. It's actually something that touchy feely has hard consequences. It's associated with physical illness, early death, cardiovascular disease, also vulnerability,” says Cohen, a professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Education. 

Although most of us know what it feels like to be excluded or question our belonging, Cohen says we don't do the greatest job of recognizing that feeling when it happens to others. In fact, we often threaten other people's sense of belonging, he says. It's having a serious effect on our wellbeing. The good news is there are small ways we can change and even nurture belonging as educators, parents, and citizens. 

JILL ANDERSON: I'm Jill Anderson. This is the Harvard EdCast. Social psychologist Geoff Cohen says a crisis of belonging is destroying us. Most of us know what it feels like to be excluded or question our belonging, but he says we don't do the greatest job of recognizing that feeling when it happens to others. 

In fact, we often threaten other people's sense of belonging. It's having a serious effect. One in five Americans suffers from chronic loneliness. Young people are struggling with high levels of anxiety and mental health issues at times when they desperately need a sense of connection and belonging. 

The good news is there are small ways we can change and even nurture belonging as educators, parents, and citizens. First, I asked Geoff to tell me more about what he means when he says there's a crisis of belonging destroying us. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: I co-opted the term from Pete Buttigieg, who used it to describe the state of America, where so many of our connections are frayed, so many people feel economically left behind. And I would add, as our surgeon general has pointed out, Vivek Murthy, that we have what some call an epidemic of loneliness wherein roughly 20% I think of Americans are so lonely that it poses a health risk, a severe health risk as bad as smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. 

So on top of that, indicators of division are at a high now, such as political polarization. I think hate crimes are roughly at a 10-year high. So the markers of divisiveness, the indicators of isolation, the feeling of being left behind economically, not being part of a community or a country, are great now. Also as workplaces have changed in their nature and they become less of a place where people get meaning and a sort of lifelong sense of belonging and community, frays to communities, religious associations have opened up because, of all that, I think it is an apt term for the era we're in. Very few groups feel confident in their sense of belonging. And groups that once did are now a bit unmoored and adrift. So I would say that. 

And then what the crisis of belonging implies is that it's a crisis, that this matters. Belonging isn't just a touchy feely construct. It's actually something that touchy feely has hard consequences. It's associated with physical illness, early death, cardiovascular disease, also vulnerability. 

There's some exciting research to hate groups, and extremists, and conspiratorial thinking. When we feel like we don't belong, we become vulnerable to dangerous and ridiculous beliefs with groups that provide us that sense of belonging. So I think, though there are many things contributing to the problems that [? belie ?] our country now, belonging could be one underlying symptom or underlying cause that, if we address it, could have manifold benefits for our society. 

JILL ANDERSON: When I hear that, it just sounds so scary, even though it makes a lot of sense. And you could probably add a whole bunch of more things like our young people seem to have so many mental health issues, and we're seeing so many young males, especially in America, acting out. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: Yes, yes. Half of college students have an anxiety disorder, I think it's the rough figure. And teen suicidality and self cutting among girls is rising. Lots of factors contribute, but it is partly a problem of belonging. 

When you feel like you don't belong or when you have that sense of I'm not part of a larger cause, it turns out there's biological research that suggests that's one of the worst things our central nervous system can say to the rest of our body is you are alone here. It puts us in a sort of fight-or-flight response. That's very good evolutionarily to deal with physical threat, preparing to be wounded, but when it's chronically activated, it can really wreak havoc on our health. 

JILL ANDERSON: How do we course correct for some of this feeling that you don't belong or this crisis of belonging that's happening? 

GEOFFREY COHEN: Well, of course, we need systemic and structural change. We're living through a kind of reckoning with systems of exclusion that have been with us since the founding of our country, so that is very, very important, dismantling these systems of exclusion. 

At the same time, there are little things that we can all do every day to nurture belonging in one another as teachers, as parents, as friends. And that's what the theme of a lot of our research is focused on is just the small things we can do every day to make things a little bit better, and if we all do them, we can make things a lot better. 

For instance, something as simple as being polite to other people, research suggests, saying please and thank you, that is a powerful indication that I see you as belonging in the circle of those to whom I should show respect. And I know that seems obvious, but it's actually a really powerful indicator. And there's research showing, for instance, that police officers are not as polite with Black individuals that they pull over in driver stops as they are with white individuals. We accord less respect to those we see as other, and that sends a message that you don't belong. 

A story that really stuck with me was told to me by Mary Rowe, an organizational behaviorist at MIT, who describes that she was a university ombudsman. And a Black employee came to her saying, I'm going to quit here. This feels like a place I don't belong. 

And she said, Mary said, to the Black employee, well, why don't you just keep a log of what happens to you? Let's look at this systematically. Keep a log of what happens here. I really want to understand why the environment is so toxic for you. 

So the employee kept a log, then came back to Mary a week later and shared the log. Mary opened it and saw nothing. What's going on? 

And that was the whole point. The employee said, yeah, the whole time I'm here no one asks me about how my day is going. No one expresses appreciation for the work I've done. I feel like I'm not even seen. And so the problem lay in what wasn't said a lack of basic collegiality. That's one example of politeness. 

A second example is research on what we call affirmations, values, affirmations, or self affirmations, and these are things that we can do in our day-to-day lives to create a channel or opening in a situation where people can express who they are and what they value and feel valued for it. And in a number of studies that my colleagues and I and others have done, we found that the simple act, for instance, of just asking students to reflect on, what is core to you? What are your most important values? What would you stand up for? What would you die for? What is really dear to your heart? Giving students the opportunity to write about their core values in the classroom has been found, under some circumstances, to have these wide-ranging benefits, closing achievement gaps in GPA, even after just a few sessions of doing these kinds of activities, improving health and well-being, leading to greater retention throughout high school and college. And this has been replicated in several studies. 

It doesn't happen all the time, but in schools and classrooms where there are resources and pathways to success, if I now feel like this is a place where my whole self is accepted. I'm more likely to seize those opportunities. So these are just examples of many of little things we can all do to make the situations a lot better. 

JILL ANDERSON: It seems like we know belonging is this condition for success. We know students do better if they feel like they belong. But why is it that, so often in education, we seem to just have students leave their full identity at the door? Our doors are open, but you're not really welcome to bring your full self into that. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: I have a friend who was teaching at a school, and she said one of the bits of advice she got was don't smile until winter break. You got to keep up a tough demeanor with these teenagers, in her case. I think that's really bad advice. I think a lot of schools would be much better off if they supported students' need to connect, especially with adults. 

I think elementary schools generally do a pretty good job of nurturing connection and belonging among students, but then it's as if, when students enter middle school, that transition to seventh grade, things just-- the policies and the ways we structure our schools are peculiarly mismatched. For instance, students at that age really, as she says, want to connect with adults, but now they're circling through different teachers throughout the day. 

They like to mingle and talk to other kids, but the cardinal value of middle schools and high schools is often punctuality. There's a bell that rings to get to class — it's actually a ritual borrowed from the factory-- as well as divisive zero-sum policies. We're getting better in some contexts, like honor roles and limited slots in sports and extracurricular activities. 

These are all policy decisions and resource issues that undermine students' need to connect. So there are kind of existing aspects of many middle schools and high schools that seem almost uncannily mismatched to students' needs to connect. And so we could start there. We could start there by changing the schools in ways that promote connection. 

I love some of this old research on cooperative learning, the jigsaw classroom by Elliot Aronson, [INAUDIBLE] honors workshops in college settings, the pure instructional model in physics, where, basically, you harness students need to belong by having them learn in groups. So that's one simple thing that can be done. But there are many, many other little things that we can do to create greater connection. 

Two other barriers beyond the contextual aspects of schools that get in the way of nurturing belonging that I just want to call out, one is stereotypes. So too many of us unconsciously and, sometimes consciously, stereotype individuals as being troublemakers if they're in certain groups. And research by Jason Okonofua and Jennifer Eberhardt shows that teachers are way too quick to judge a Black student who misbehaves in class as a troublemaker and apply punitive decisions, like detention and suspension, to them in reaction relative to the same behavior when it happens from a white student. 

Those [INAUDIBLE] reactions actually really undermine belonging. They aggravate the underlying problem. Often, students are acting out because they don't feel connected. They feel like they don't belong, and then when we punish them or send them to detention or especially suspend them — not a good idea at all — aggravate the underlying belonging uncertainty that contributes to the problem. 

So stereotyping, and then lastly, the other causal culprit here is what my colleague Lee Ross calls the fundamental attribution error. We think that what causes misbehavior amongst students is something internal, their character or their ability, when, oftentimes, it's their circumstances or how they're perceiving them. And if we can better understand those circumstances, we can better support them. 

But instead, we're too quick to judge. We think that troublesome behavior reflects a troublesome student, and we act in a punitive way that just worsens the problem. So the fundamental attribution error, this tendency to think — to downplay the importance of students circumstances and to overemphasize the importance of character and ability is another culprit here to the crisis of belonging, at least in our school settings but probably beyond. 

JILL ANDERSON: As you're talking, I'm thinking about belonging as just a social thing, where it feels maybe, in some ways, like it is disconnected from the actual practice of teaching. But in reality, that is not true. You tend to think of belonging, especially in the teen years, as just this social entity that kids must feel if they're left out, but it's so much bigger than that. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: The teacher has a lot of power to create it. One of my graduate students, Joseph Moore, has done some studies where he's just asked people to remember their most important teacher. Often, it's from their teenage years, and yeah, one thing they single out about 50% of time is that, wow, they were really good teachers, great at instruction. 

But just as often, they say this teacher really made me feel like I belonged. Often, they'll say something like, they saw more in me than what I saw in myself and helped me to become that person, to reach a higher standard. And so I think teachers have so much capacity to create that sense of connection. 

Of course, the teacher isn't going to solve all the problems, and there are so many factors that contribute to kids not belonging. But teachers, like all of us in every encounter, have a power to create situations right here right now that help people to feel included. And you can always do a little bit better. You can always create a little bit more inclusion than there is. 

I love that old study by Rosenthal and Jacobson. I know it's controversial in educational circles, but I think it still stood the test of time and been replicated several times. All they do is to inform teachers that some of the students in their classrooms will be intellectual bloomers, but unbeknownst to the teachers, those students who are singled out as intellectual bloomers were just randomly chosen. Then they found, at the end of the year, that those earmarked students ended up getting higher IQ scores, gaining more in their IQ than the nonearmarked students, the students who had not been singled out as bloomers, which just says, wow, teachers can create classrooms that are more likely to draw out students' potential if they believe in them.   JILL ANDERSON: Wow. You've mentioned value affirmation exercises, and I want to dig a little bit more into that because I think it's really interesting stuff, and how those can combat stereotype threat, and be helpful for students before they take tests, when they're applying to college. What do value affirmation exercises look like in practice? 

GEOFFREY COHEN: Values affirmations often take the form of a worksheet or a packet of writing prompts, and the first page is a menu of values that present students with various different values, such as compassion, relationships, kindness, creativity. And students are asked to indicate which of the values on the list are most important to them. 

And then, on a second page of the activity, they write about why those values are important to them, why do they matter, and maybe some times in their lives in which they mattered. And we've done these studies. It comes out of research by Claude Steele on self-affirmation theory, and we've done these studies. I've read probably hundreds, maybe thousands of these essays, and they're almost always heartfelt. 

And oftentimes, the kids who have a history of poor performance or who feel less belonging in school, like as measured by our surveys, often have the most to say. It's actually really interesting. I just remember one kid who wrote about how taking care of his mother, who was sick, represented his values of family and connection. And he wasn't doing so well in school, but this activity brought to the fore something really powerful for him. 

So even though the activity seems really small, it's bringing out into the situation something really deep and powerful for the kids. And the writing activity is just one way to do this. I'm sure there's other ways to do this, like through conversations with kids, getting to know them, activities where kids get to talk about what's important to them or present it. 

But this is just one, and what it does is it helps students to feel whole in the classroom, to feel like their whole self is seen. And that's one of the key messages of belonging is you are seen here. This is a place where your whole self is recognized. 

And that's what we found is that little kind of activity, these values affirmations, can be very beneficial for students' motivation, sense of belonging, their persistence in school, their GPA. In one study, we found that just doing this activity three to five times throughout the year in their seventh grade increased the percentage of students who went on to a four-year college years later by 20 percentage points, which seemed to set in motion like, oh, my whole self is recognized here, I can feel at ease, perform better, and put them on a positive trajectory. 

That happens under certain circumstances as we talked about. So that's values affirmations, and in that case, it was especially effective for African Americans. They often work best for those students who are seen as outsiders, the ones who feel like their whole self isn't fully accepted here. These activities have the biggest impact for those groups. 

JILL ANDERSON: How do educators critique students work in a way that reinforces belonging? 

GEOFFREY COHEN: The second message of belonging-- so there's that message of you are seen. A second message is you have potential. You have the potential to succeed. I believe in you. There is more here that you're capable of than what you are currently manifesting. 

So that message, you have potential to succeed, maybe to contribute to a larger mission, is also key. And one of the ways that we can send that message is through the criticism that we give to students. In some research with Claude Steele and David Jager, Valerie Purdie-Greenaway, and others, we worked with college students and middle school students, and we just looked at that situation, where they get critical feedback. 

Now, that moment is a key moment because, when you get criticism, you can do one or two things. You can dismiss it, or respond defensively, or attribute it to bias on the part of the teacher. Or you can take it seriously and learn from it. 

And we're forever given the gift of criticism, and what we do with it is really key. So we looked at that moment. We had teachers in this one study — these were seventh grade teachers — give students critical feedback, serious critical feedback, on an essay that they had written. And we told the teachers just write whatever criticism or encouragement you would usually write on these essays that you give to students. 

Then for one-half of the students, we had the teacher append a note that said, I'm giving you this critical feedback because I have high standards and because I believe in your potential to reach them. And that was it. The other half of the students received a control note that said, I'm giving you this feedback so you have comments on your essay. 

And teachers were blind to condition. I'm going to spare you the methodological details, but they didn't know which students got which notes because they penned the notes in advance. And we, the researchers, tagged them to the essays. And then we looked at the impact. 

This little note had a big impact, especially for students who were from negatively stereotyped groups so, in this case, African-American or Black students. Among Black students who received the control note, only 17% revised their essay when given the opportunity. But for African-American students who got that note, that I believe in your potential, 71% revised their essay. 

JILL ANDERSON: Wow. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: More than quadrupling the percentage. It's so interesting to me because I think if you were a teacher and saw that 17% revision rate, you'd say, oh, what is going on with my students? Are they just under motivated? 

We would commit the fundamental attribution error. We think there's something lacking in them. But what we would miss is our power to create a situation where what's inside them is more likely to come out into the situation, and here, just took a little note, saying, I believe in your potential. 

Not only that, these little things can have big domino effects under some circumstances. Years later, we found that the students who got that wise feedback note about five or six years later, they got in less trouble in the next academic year. Getting in less trouble, they were on a better academic trajectory, and they were more likely to make it into college compared with those students who... Black students who got the control note. 

So as teachers, we have power that we often don't even see because we don't know how our words set in motion these virtuous, sometimes vicious, cycles, leading students to destinations that we often never hear about. But in this study, we quantified that impact, conveying that message at a key formative moment in student's development, the seventh grade, the transition to middle school, had these ripple effects. You have potential led them to show grit, become more gritty, and become more successful over the long term. 

JILL ANDERSON: That's so unbelievable, huge. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: I just find it incredibly inspirational. We all have this power to make things a little bit better. And I don't want to be pollyannaish. I'm not saying that this is the whole solution. 

And these kinds of activities, these practices, they have effects only under certain circumstances. It's key that, first and foremost, there are resources for learning. Students are getting critical feedback. They're in a pretty good school. We're looking at a relatively decent functioning school. 

And under those circumstances, when there are real opportunities to learn, yeah, just make me feel a little better, a little more believed in, and it's like a chain reaction that starts building on itself over time. I do want to make it really clear, though, that, yeah, if those resources are lacking, like if a student really doesn't know how to spell, for instance, or if there's no resources for learning how to spell, then there's no message that's going to change that reality. 

JILL ANDERSON: One area that's always challenging is the teenage years. We've already talked about the growing issue of mental health with teens and young people. How can we better support teens through these transitions in their life to make sure that they feel connected and feel like they belong? 

GEOFFREY COHEN: One of the things I do with my own kids is just to convey that message I refer to as a third message of belonging, you are not alone here. We have your back. So there's three messages of belonging we discuss here. 

One is you are seen. The second is you have potential. And the third and final one is you're not alone. You're not alone. We're here for you, and that message is just so important, especially when people are going through challenges. 

I don't know if you felt this, but there's been times in my life, where, wow, man, I don't know if I can get through this. And then I'll go talk to a friend or even someone I don't even know that well and have a pretty good conversation. I suddenly feel energized and revitalized, at least a little bit. Even though they don't solve the problem, just feel like having someone at my back gives me a higher perch from which to view the challenge. I feel lifted. 

So one of the things I did with my kids is to just make it clear I'm here. If there's a problem, I want to know about it. And I think too often with teenagers we're talking at them rather than with them, and so I just try to be available. That's the first and foremost, and if they know you're available, the key impact of that is then they come to you later when the problems get more significant. 

You are there. You're available without judgment. Just listening and being available is really, really key. I do think that the focus on disciplining teenagers gets in the way of this. We hear about some troublesome behavior they've engaged in. 

I remember my kid once did something regrettable, and we were talking about it. I was like, well, why did you do that? And the urge to discipline him it was so great. I just wanted to chastise him.  But we had a discussion, and it became clear it was about needing to fit in. the reason he did this. And he said something that stuck with me. He's like, yeah, sometimes I care more about my ego than about myself. 

And I was like, yeah, that's wisdom. And so I think having those kinds of conversations are really key. There's some nice research showing that, when you put teenagers in the MRI and you have them listen to audio files of their mother lecturing at them, their brains basically shut down. [LAUGHS] Not totally shut down, but the regions associated with perspective taking and empathy are less activated, as if they're distancing themselves. 

I, instead, talk with them, and there's a lot of research suggesting that this is possible. Judy Harackiewicz and her lab has some wonderful research applying this in the domain of academic achievement in STEM, where they simply train parents to have conversations with their teenagers about science and their daily lives, how it relates to technology, and cell phones, and social media. 

They have conversations. So rather than just kind of telling them, telling their kids how science is important, they have conversations that help kids to reach that conclusion for themselves. And they find that increases kids performance and interest in science and even, I think, years later, increases their likelihood, as I recall, majoring in STEM in college. As I recall, there was a bit of evidence of that. 

So talking with kids, doing what Nick Epley calls — and Juliana Schroeder call perspective getting. Getting people's perspective. I want to know what your situation is. Tell me about it. 

JILL ANDERSON: What does it mean to truly belong? 

GEOFFREY COHEN: What it means to truly belong is to be accepted for who you are. I think that is true, and that's something we're always searching for. We feel it at that place called home, which is a psychological experience more than a brick-and-mortar place. It is that feeling of we are accepted, fully accepted, for who we are. 

And of course, you can never attain that perfectly, but you can get a little bit closer. And I feel as though those places, such as middle schools, and high schools, and colleges, would-- a lot of the problems, they wouldn't disappear, but they would subside a bit if people felt more at home. 

I remember that debacle at Yale University a number of students were upset about. There's was a suggestion that students not wear any costumes that were racially or culturally offensive. I don't want to get into too many details, but there was a big brouhaha, a big conflict, confrontation between faculty and students. 

At the end of a big yelling match, one student just cried out, this isn't about freedom of speech. Of course, freedom of speech is important. Absolutely. She said, it's about creating a home. It's about creating a home. 

And I think once people feel at home, then they're far more venturesome, far more able to sit at the table, and have free speech, and talk, and embrace different perspectives. But if that's not there, then it leads to all kinds of sensitivities and vulnerabilities that get in the way of creating a truly inclusive place, institution, community, even society. 

JILL ANDERSON: Right. Well, thank you so much, Geoff, this is really amazing and insightful. 

GEOFFREY COHEN: Thank you so much, Jill. It was delightful to talk with you. 

JILL ANDERSON: Geoff Cohen is a social psychologist and professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. He's the author of Belonging: The Science of Creating Connection and Bridging Divides . I'm Jill Anderson. This is the Harvard EdCast, produced by the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Thanks for listening. 

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Home > STUDENT > THESIS > 1427

Master's Theses and Capstones

Belonging: essays.

Wesley Hood , University of New Hampshire, Durham

Date of Award

Winter 2020

Project Type

Program or major, degree name.

Master of Fine Arts

First Advisor

Susan Hertz

Second Advisor

Jaed Coffin

Third Advisor

Melinda White

This thesis is a collection of essays that tackle, at their heart, what it means to “belong.” They are raw, honest, relatable to those who too, like the narrator, question what it means to “Belong.” Each essay progressively brings to light and questions what “belonging” truly is, and “what it means to belong.” Through the viewpoint of our narrator, each essay takes on a different topic of life and contemplates what belonging means in relation to those things – in particular: masculinity, abuse, place, boxing, voice, queerness, and so on.

This collection, the culmination of nearly two years work, hopes to answer, and help others through their personal struggles of sense of belonging, through contemplation on the page.

Recommended Citation

Hood, Wesley, "Belonging: Essays" (2020). Master's Theses and Capstones . 1427. https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/1427

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Doing Belonging: a sociological study of belonging in place as the outcome of social practices

• Julia Bennett

Student thesis : Phd

• autophotography
• phenomenology

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How to Increase Your Sense of Belonging

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

Sean is a fact-checker and researcher with experience in sociology, field research, and data analytics.

Jade / Getty Images

Sense of Belonging in Action

Effect of the sense of belonging, increase your sense of belonging.

The sense of belongingness, also known as the need to belong, refers to a human emotional need to affiliate with and be accepted by members of a group. Examples of this may include the need to belong to a peer group at school, to be accepted by co-workers, to be part of an athletic team, or to be part of a religious group.

What do we mean by the sense of belonging? A sense of belonging involves more than simply being acquainted with other people. It is centered on gaining acceptance, attention, and support from members of the group as well as providing the same attention to other members.

The need to belong to a group also can lead to changes in behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes as people strive to conform to the standards and norms of the group.

In social psychology , the need to belong is an intrinsic motivation to affiliate with others and be socially accepted. This need plays a role in a number of social phenomena such as self-presentation and social comparison .

What inspires people to seek out specific groups? In many cases, the need to belong to certain social groups results from sharing some point of commonality. For example, teens who share the same taste in clothing, music, and other interests might seek each other out to form friendships. Other factors that can lead individuals to seek out groups include:

• Pop culture interests
• Religious beliefs
• Shared goals
• Socioeconomic status

People often present themselves in a particular way in order to belong to a specific social group. For example, a new member of a high school sports team might adopt the dress and mannerisms of the other members of the team in order to fit in with the rest of the group.

People also spend a great deal of time comparing themselves to other members of the group in order to determine how well they fit in. This social comparison might lead an individual to adopt some of the same behaviors and attitudes of the most prominent members of the group in order to conform and gain greater acceptance.

Our need to belong is what drives us to seek out stable, long-lasting relationships with other people. It also motivates us to participate in social activities such as clubs, sports teams, religious groups, and community organizations.

In Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs , the sense of belongingness is part of one of his major needs that motivate human behavior. The hierarchy is usually portrayed as a pyramid, with more basic needs at the base and more complex needs near the peak. The need for love and belonging lie at the center of the pyramid as part of social needs.

By belonging to a group, we feel as if we are a part of something bigger and more important than ourselves.

While Maslow suggested that these needs were less important than physiological and safety needs, he believed that the need for belonging helped people to experience companionship and acceptance through family, friends, and other relationships.

A 2020 study on college students found a positive link between a sense of belonging and greater happiness and overall well-being, as well as an overall reduction in mental health outcomes including:

• Hopelessness
• Social anxiety
• Suicidal thoughts

How do we create a sense of belonging? There are steps you (or a loved one who is struggling) can take to increase the sense of belonging.

• Make an effort : Creating a sense of belonging takes effort, to put yourself out there, seek out activities and groups of people with whom you have common interests, and engage with others.  
• Be patient : It might take time to gain acceptance, attention, and support from members of the group.
• Practice acceptance : Focus on the similarities, not the differences, that connects you to others, and remain open to new ways of thinking.

A Word From Verywell

A sense of belonging is a crucial for good physical and mental health. If you continue to struggle with loneliness or the sense of not fitting in, talk to your doctor or mental health professional. They can help you to identify the root of your feelings and provide strategies for achieving belongingness.

Schneider ML, Kwan BM. Psychological need satisfaction, intrinsic motivation and affective response to exercise in adolescents .  Psychol Sport Exerc . 2013;14(5):776–785. doi:10.1016/j.psychsport.2013.04.005

Pillow DR, Malone GP, Hale WJ. The need to belong and its association with fully satisfying relationships: A tale of two measures . Pers Individ Dif . 2015;74:259-264. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2014.10.031

Kenrick DT, Griskevicius V, Neuberg SL, Schaller M. Renovating the pyramid of needs: Contemporary extensions built upon ancient foundations .  Perspect Psychol Sci . 2010;5(3):292–314. doi:10.1177/1745691610369469

Moeller RW, Seehuus M, Peisch V. Emotional intelligence, belongingness, and mental health in college students .  Front Psychol . 2020;11:93. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00093

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By Kendra Cherry, MSEd Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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The Thing Around Your Neck: Exploring Identity and Belonging

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Published: Jun 21, 2024

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Identity in transition, cultural displacement and loss, belonging and community.

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Greater Good Science Center • Magazine • In Action • In Education

How to Create More Belonging for Yourself and Others

Before a big, make-or-break presentation to shareholders, a rising employee in Silicon Valley was feeling nervous. Although her career was going well, it was still difficult to make it in a male-dominated industry, and she often felt like she didn’t belong.

But before the talk, her CEO came up to her, looked her in the eye, and said, “You are changing this company.” It gave her the confidence to go in, give the speech, and nail it. Today, she is the director of a major firm in the technology industry.

The way we treat each other can help us feel like we belong—or not. Belonging is the sense that we’re part of a larger group that accepts and values us for who we are, to which we can contribute; we feel like we have roots, maybe even a home.

As humans, we evolved to move through the world together, and there can be destructive consequences when belonging is missing, including for our health. Amid the pain of not belonging, we feel more threatened and stressed in the world, and sometimes we’ll seek out belonging wherever we can get it—even in extremist, violent ideological groups.

But there are small things we can do, day in and day out, to feel that we belong and help others feel the same. Based on research by myself and others, here are a few. 

Reach out. There is so much we can do to help one another, and small actions matter. It could be just a word from a mentor, or a well-timed pat on the back, that is just what we need at the right time.

Research by Gillian Sandstrom , Elizabeth Dunn, Eric Wesselmann , Kip Williams, and many others shows how little things make a big difference. Even talking to your barista in a way that conveys you want to get to know them, or making eye contact with people, has benefits for your sense of meaning, connection, and purpose. So does turning your phone off when you’re with friends or family.

The ability to connect in the smallest corners of social life is almost like a superpower that we all have.

Don’t underestimate the benefits of connection. What we think will make us happy isn’t necessarily what makes us happy, and sometimes that means we miss out on opportunities for happiness and connection. According to research by Nicholas Epley and Juliana Schroeder , people don’t think talking to a stranger on the train will make them happier. But when they actually do it—just a 10-minute chit-chat—they are happier. Even little connections energize us.

Connecting with other people has many benefits. First, you get alternate perspectives on your own troubles and worries. But you’re also experiencing the delight of encountering another human being. If you’re awake to that wonder, there is much joy to be had.

Don’t be so quick to judge others. The fundamental attribution error refers to our tendency to over-blame people—their personality, abilities, and virtues—and to under-blame situations and context. We fail to imagine how the things in their circumstances, even the ones right in front of our face, may be affecting them.

For example, teachers and managers overattribute poor performance to a lack of ability, especially in people who belong to negatively stereotyped groups. If a Black kid misbehaves twice in class, they may write them off as a troublemaker, and they’re more likely to suggest suspending them, suggests research by Jason Okonofua and Jennifer Eberhardt . That does more harm than good, aggravating the sense of exclusion and uncertainty about belonging that often drives kids to act out. 
 Instead, we can empathize and try to get the perspective of the people who disappoint and upset us. Research suggests that taking an empathic rather than punitive perspective on misbehaving students—inquiring into what’s troubling them, and responding by reinforcing connection rather than with punishment—reduces teenagers’ suspension rates, especially among members of underrepresented ethnic groups.

Reflect on your values . In numerous studies, researchers have asked individuals—like students, employees, and professional athletes—to take some time before a stressful moment and reflect or write about their core values . They look at a list of values, such as relationships with friends and family or community, and they select their most important ones. Then, they write about why these values are important to them.

Affirming Important Values

When your self-image takes a hit, reflect on what matters

When teachers ask students to do this, research by Eric Smith and Greg Walton suggests, it conveys that the teacher cares about them and wants to know their whole self. It also invites their full self into what can be a seemingly threatening situation (middle school), so they feel bigger than the problems before them and able to overcome more difficulties.

This small act of revisiting our core values can tamp down the stress response we have in threatening or stressful situations. For middle schoolers from underrepresented groups, the activity can improve their Affirmation on Identity Development">sense of belonging in school , boost their GPA over the next two years, improve their disciplinary behavior , and help them make it to college . And those benefits are strongest among students who are often made to feel like outsiders because of their income or background. New research by Julian Pfrombeck and his colleagues finds that these values affirmations help the unemployed to stay engaged during the often-discouraging job search process, increasing their likelihood of finding employment.

Be welcoming at the beginning. In the workplace, research by Dan Cable and his colleagues suggests we can improve retention by helping employees evoke their best self during the onboarding process, rather than trying to “break them in.”

If you wait too long to intervene or to plant that seat of belonging, it’s often too late. We have a lot of leverage at those early moments when we’re opening the door and welcoming a person in. It’s like arriving at a party: That moment when you’re greeted and welcomed can really shape the tone of the whole experience.

Give wise criticism. How do we give good critical feedback to our employees or students in a way that helps them learn but isn’t threatening or undermining to their sense of belonging? In a series of studies, we found a simple technique that can be very helpful: When you’re giving the feedback, first make it clear (in a genuine way) that it comes from high standards. I’m giving you this critical feedback because I have high standards and because I believe in your potential to reach them.

In one study with my colleague David Yeager and others, we found that when middle school students received this message from their teacher with feedback on an essay, the percentage of students who revised their essay jumped from 17% to 72%. Years later, those kids were more likely to make it to a four-year college because that message came at a formative moment when they were trying to get a foothold and feel like they belonged.

Share stories of adversity. When people are transitioning into new roles, one helpful way to convey the message you’re not alone here is to have those who are more senior share their stories of adversity and what they went through when they were transitioning.

My research with Gregory Walton and Shannon Brady finds benefits to this in college and in workplaces. The stories of adversity are conveying two messages: First, if you’re feeling like you don’t quite belong during this transition, that’s normal. You’re not alone. And, second, feeling like you don’t belong tends to be short-lived. It gets better if you hang in there, reach out to people, and ask for feedback.

Stories of people who have gone before us—who have “been there, done that”—help us to see our shared humanity. They can be reassuring and promote belonging, school retention, health, well-being, productivity, and morale.

Listen to other people’s perspectives. Too seldom do we take the time to ask people questions about what’s standing in the way of their belonging and how we can help—what Nicholas Epley calls perspective-getting .

In one study , researchers asked college students from historically underrepresented groups (Black and Latino students) about their experiences and struggles in college. The students said they wanted more faculty engagement and more tips on improvement. So instructors started sending emails that explained how to improve if the students weren’t getting good grades, and when to come for office hours. This simple message increased students’ grades in their course, with some evidence that it also raised graduation rates.

For many people in our society, systems of exclusion make them de facto outsiders in so many situations, and systemic change in many of our institutions is necessary. At the same time, all these brief practices can have lasting benefits for people’s sense of belonging, performance, and achievement if we offer them to our mentees, friends, students, or strangers, especially at timely moments.  Several of these strategies have been tested and validated in large-scale studies , even at the national level .

While these acts may be brief, they aren’t small. In fact, they are often psychologically very big from the perspective of a kid or a new employee who feels unseen or like an outsider. These acts can occasion a change in identity and trajectory by sending the message I see you , I believe in you , or You’re not alone .

This essay is based on a  talk  that is part of the Positive Links Speaker Series by the University of Michigan’s Center for Positive Organizations. The Center is dedicated to building a better world by pioneering the science of thriving organizations.

About the Author

Geoffrey Cohen

Geoffrey Cohen, Ph.D. , is the James G. March Professor of Organizational Studies in Education and Business at the Stanford University Graduate School of Education, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, and (by courtesy) a professor of organizational behavior at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

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