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This study examined sense of belonging among a national sample of 2,967 first-year students. Guided by the work of Hurtado and Carter (1997), relationships between several aspects of the college environment and sense of belonging were examined. Findings indicated that African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian Pacific American students reported a less strong sense of belonging than White/Caucasian students. The social dimensions of the transition to college and residence hall climate and perceptions of the campus racial climate had strong significant relationships to students' sense of belonging. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
Researchers have theoretically and empirically linked persistence and degree attainment in higher education to students' abilities to connect with a peer group and develop positive relationships with faculty (Astin, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Such relationships are seen as indicators of the extent to which students have integrated themselves into the academic and social aspects of a college community, which Tinto (1993) asserted is critical to students' first-year persistence decisions. However, several scholars (e.g., Hurtado & Carter, 1997; Rendón, Jalomo, & Nora, 2000; Tierney, 1992) have taken issue with the centrality of integration to college success, especially as it pertains to students of color, arguing that Tintos integration theory emphasizes student, rather than institutional, responsibility for change and adaptation.
Despite these challenges, Bensimon (in press) has noted the tenacity with which many scholars-and by extension consumers of higher education literature-have clung to the concept of integration and other hallmarks of Tintos (1993) theory of departure. As part of a broader charge to practitioner-researchers for the creation of counter-narratives that shed light on the experiences of a diversifying student population, Bensimon argued for the exploration of alternative conceptualizations of persistence and the problematization of an existing theory that purports to explain broadly the student experience, and as Tierney (1992) asserted, privileges a narrow set of Eurocentric values. Hurtado and Carter's (1997) work on Latino students' sense of belonging is one such promising effort and forms the foundation for the present study.
Hurtado and Carter (1997) contended that integration as conceptualized by Tinto (1993) does not value culturally supportive alternatives to collegiate participation but instead emphasizes "mainstream" activities that may not foster Latino student success. In its place, they offered the concept...