Prevention Science Seminar with Maithreyi Gopalan, Ph.D.

Fostering a Sense of Belonging in College

Abstract: For this seminar, I will review the accumulating evidence regarding the key role that feelings of belongingness play in helping students thrive in college. Specifically, I will use examples from two studies I have conducted with social psychologist colleagues to unpack the various facets of belonging among college students. The first one is an observational study from a national sample of college students and the second one a randomized field experiment conducted in a large broad-access university in the Midwest. If time permits, I will also describe some early-stage ideas I am working on to extend our understanding of how students come to belong in a new setting—how context matters and how COVID might have influenced these processes.