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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2024 Jan 1.
Published in final edited form as: High Educ Res Dev. 2022 Nov 7;42(6):1309–1322. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2022.2138275

College students’ sense of belonging in times of disruption: Prospective changes from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic

Alexandra Barringer 1,*, Lauren M Papp 1, Pamela Gu 2
PMCID: PMC10348705  NIHMSID: NIHMS1840875  PMID: 37457647

Abstract

The current study examined whether college students’ sense of belonging changed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants were 252 (66.7% female) first- and second-year college students at a large public university in the United States. It was hypothesized that students would report a decrease in their sense of belonging from before to during the pandemic. It was also hypothesized that female students and racial-ethnic minority students, respectively, would report steeper declines in their sense of belonging compared to their male peers and to their White, non-Hispanic peers. Repeated-measures data were analyzed using a multilevel modeling framework to test for mean differences in students’ levels of belonging from pre-COVID to during-COVID periods. No direct change in students’ sense of belonging was detected. Moderation results indicated that sense of belonging decreased significantly over time for racial-ethnic minority students but not for White, non-Hispanic students. The findings encourage higher education researchers and practitioners to consider the unique experiences of racial-ethnic minority college students during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

Keywords: sense of belonging, college students, COVID-19, coronavirus, minorities

Introduction

Belonging has been identified as a fundamental human motivation that is critical for well-being (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Applied to the college context, sense of belonging refers to the extent to which students feel connected to their campus community (Hurtado & Carter, 1997). Strayhorn (2012) further described sense of belonging as, “students’ perceived social support on campus, a feeling or sensation of connectedness, [and] the experience of mattering or feeling cared about, accepted, respected, valued …” (pp. 28–29). Sense of belonging has been shown to be associated with several important school-based outcomes such as student persistence (Hausmann et al., 2007; Naylor et al., 2018), utilization of available campus services (Gopalan & Brady, 2020), perceptions of academic competence (Pittman & Richmond, 2007), and social acceptance on campus (Freeman et al., 2007). College students who report feeling a greater sense of belonging also report fewer mental health problems (Gummadam & Pittman, 2016; Mounts, 2004). Further, several contextual factors have been linked to belonging. In one longitudinal analysis, Bowman et al. (2019) examined week-by-week data from 882 undergraduates during their first semester of college and found that social connection, relationship satisfaction with college friends, and feeling successful in class were strongly related to belonging. Previous literature has also emphasized the critical role faculty play in promoting students’ sense of belonging. Student-faculty interactions, effective teaching practices, and research experiences with faculty have been associated with students’ higher levels of belonging (Miller et al., 2019).

Impact of COVID-19 on college students

The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic with over 505 million cases and over 6 million confirmed deaths, to date (World Health Organization, 2022). Many countries and organizations worldwide followed official health recommendations and rapidly enforced closures and physical distancing protocols in order to protect the health and well-being of their citizens, employees, and the public (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2021). At the onset of the pandemic, college campuses across the United States quickly transitioned to online and remote learning to ensure the safety of students, faculty, and staff (Ali, 2020).

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to notable disruptions and psychosocial stressors among the college student population – who, as a group, already demonstrated relatively high mental health and substance use challenges (e.g., Kenney et al., 2018). Students have indicated that their stress and anxiety levels increased during the pandemic (Wang et al., 2020). In an early study of 200 college students attending a four-year institution in the United States, most students reported increased feelings of loneliness and strain on friendships as a result of the pandemic (Lee et al., 2021), a concerning finding given the established links among loneliness, isolation, and negative physical and mental health consequences (Cornwell & Waite, 2009; Hawkley & Cacioppo, 2010). In a qualitative study of first-year students across several European countries, Lippke et al. (2021) found that students frequently acknowledged a need for face-to-face interaction during the pandemic but felt isolated from friends and family members because of social distancing guidelines and strict travel restrictions.

There is clear evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has had greater impacts on certain groups of students. For instance, survey data found that female students reported particularly negative psychological impacts because of the pandemic (Browning et al., 2021). Research also suggests that students of color have experienced significant pandemic-related disruptions in academic performance and mental health challenges, including stress, anxiety, and depression (Molock & Parchem, 2021). In addition, Trammell et al. (2021) found that Asian students enrolled at one U.S. university were more likely than students from all other racial/ethnic groups to report experiencing COVID-based, racial-ethnic discrimination two months following the switch to remote instruction. Furthermore, Oh et al. (2021) found that COVID-based, racial-ethnic discrimination was associated with depression and anxiety among college students.

An important next step in this line of research is to assess how racial-ethnic minority students’ feelings of connectedness to their campus community have been impacted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In research conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic era, studies revealed that racial-ethnic minority students systematically reported lower levels of sense of belonging compared to their White peers (Johnson et al., 2007; Strayhorn, 2012). In a nationally representative sample of first-year college students, Johnson et al. (2007) found that African American, Hispanic/Latino, and Asian Pacific American students reported a weaker sense of belonging than White students. Other studies have noted that aspects of campus climate seem to have a significant impact on sense of belonging among students of color. In one example, Choi et al. (2021) examined survey data from 553 students of Asian descent at a historically White university in the United States and found that students’ sense of belonging moderated the relationship between racial microaggressions experienced in higher education and depressive symptoms. Conversely, researchers have provided evidence that culturally engaging campus environments (e.g., displaying cultural familiarity) can be associated with a more positive sense of belonging among students in general (Museus et al., 2018).

Current Study

Obtaining an understanding of the effects of the pandemic on college students’ evaluations of fitting in and feeling supported by their campus environments, including among students who historically report lower levels of campus belonging, could provide translatable information regarding the supports and services students will require as they navigate the pandemic and its longer-term consequences. Therefore, the goal of the present study was to determine whether a sample of first- and second-year college students reported changes in their sense of belonging after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first research question was to examine whether college students’ evaluations of their sense of belonging demonstrated reliable change from assessments collected during a normative pre-pandemic time period to a comparable time period during the pandemic. It was hypothesized that college students would report a decrease in levels of their sense of belonging from pre-pandemic to during the pandemic. The second research question explored whether COVID-19 related changes in students’ levels of sense of belonging varied by student characteristics. We predicted that female students and racial-ethnic minority students, respectively, would report steeper declines in their sense of belonging compared to their male peers and White, non-Hispanic peers. The unique barriers experienced by women of color in higher education have been highlighted (Ong et al., 2011); accordingly, we also explored the minority status X sex interaction as a predictor of students’ sense of belonging over time.

Method

Procedures and participants

The current study was drawn from a longitudinal study of daily behaviors and health in college life funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Prior to the study, university institutional review board approval and a National Institutes of Health Certificate of Confidentiality were obtained. Participants were continuously enrolled between September 2017 and September 2019 at a large university in the Midwestern United States. Participants were recruited via flyers and announcements (e.g., newspaper ads, emails to enrolled students) that stated, “We are particularly interested in how people use prescription medications.” Prospective participants completed an online screening, and a telephone call was scheduled to confirm eligibility. Inclusion criteria were (a) being enrolled as a first year or second year student, (b) being 18 to 21 years of age; and, for the risk subsample of participants included herein, and (c) endorsing recent prescription drug misuse of one or more medication. The recruitment and enrollment process oversampled for prescription drug misuse behavior, given that a central aim of the larger project is to identify factors that predict the occurrence of prescription drug misuse in daily life. The study included 300 participants in the risk group and 55 participants who did not endorse recent prescription drug misuse during screening (the non-risk comparison group). To minimize any differences in recruitment between groups, the non-risk participants were enrolled simultaneously with the risk participants throughout the recruitment period.

Participants completed two in-person baseline assessments during Time 1. Online follow-up surveys were collected every six months for two years after the baseline assessment (Time 2 – Time 5). Participants were compensated following each assessment. Total compensation for Time 1 (which included additional procedures not detailed in the current study) was US $250. Compensation amounts for Time 2-Time 5 surveys were US $90, $100, $110, and $120, respectively. Additional study details are provided in Papp et al. (2020).

To determine COVID-19-related changes in the present study, we focused on students’ sense of belonging scores captured during two windows: pre-pandemic and during the pandemic. The onset of the pandemic was determined by the announcement of a state-level public health emergency and email students received from campus health officials advising them to take caution on March 12, 2020. A 6-month window was chosen to reflect the larger study’s assessment schedule and allowed us to include more participants in analyses relative to a narrower focus on the acute disruption period. A comparable normative period was then selected for the pre-pandemic window to reduce the likelihood that any documented changes in the focal outcome could be due to differences in academic timing, campus rhythms, seasons, or other contextual variations. Therefore, pre-pandemic belonging scores were captured between March 12, 2019-September 12, 2019, and belonging scores recorded during the pandemic window fell between March 12, 2020-September 12, 2020.

Given the broader study’s data collection schedule, surveys for the current analysis could be drawn from Time 1 through Time 5 assessments. Only the first survey response was retained for those participants who provided more than one survey in each window; 6 participants’ responses were removed from both windows. Of the 355 participants enrolled in the larger project, 76 did not complete a scheduled assessment during these focal windows. Additionally, we focused on participants who were enrolled as students in both windows. The campus Registrar provided data that allowed us to determine current student enrollment or non-enrollment status (due to withdrawals or graduation). Given that withdrawal status was coded at the semester level (vs. a particular date) we removed participant data when a student had withdrawn at any point during the semester of their survey assessment. Registrar data indicated that 27 participants were not enrolled or withdrew during the semester in which their assessment was completed. Thus, the current study included 252 participants who were enrolled as college students and completed survey assessments in the focal windows.

Most participants (66.7%) identified as female. Slightly more than half (57.5%) were freshmen with an average age of 19.5 years (SD = 0.71). In terms of racial and ethnic background, 82.1% self-identified as White and 7.9% as Asian; 7.5% reported Hispanic or Latino/a background. There were smaller proportions (≤ 2%) of participants who identified as American Indian/Alaska Native, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, or reported multiple or other races; and one participant who did not respond. Given limited frequencies, specific numbers are not reported. While our sample was mostly White, non-Hispanic, participants who identified as racial-ethnic minorities were representative of the campus (approximately 19% of undergraduate students) and surrounding state (15% of the state’s population) from which they were sampled (Chronicle, 2019). Further, as expected, the risk subsample had a higher proportion of White participants (Papp et al., 2020), based on the larger study’s recruitment of students with recent prescription drug misuse behaviors. Therefore, we control for risk group status in central analyses.

Measures

Sense of belonging

Sense of belonging was captured during each survey assessment. Participants completed a 5-item scale assessing campus belonging (Johnson, 2012). Items included: (1) I feel a sense of belonging to the campus community; (2) I feel that I am a member of the campus community; (3) I feel comfortable on campus; (4) I would choose the same college over again; and (5) My college is supportive of me. Participants responded to items using a 5-point scale (0 = strongly disagree, 1 = disagree, 2 = neither agree nor disagree, 3 = agree, 4 = strongly agree). Item responses were averaged. Cronbach alphas across study waves ranged from .87 to .92, with an average of .90.

Moderators

Demographics were collected at the baseline assessment. A demographics form collected participant self-reports of sex (male/female) and racial and ethnic background. Following Carter et al. (2019), race-ethnicity was transformed into a dichotomous variable, reflecting identification as a racial-ethnic minority student or a White, non-Hispanic student.

Covariates

The baseline phase of the broader study was conducted over a 2-year period. Accordingly, models accounted for variations in the length of time between participants’ pre-COVID and during COVID survey assessments (number of days: M = 364.84, SD = 26.86). Statistical models also accounted for the broader study’s risk group sampling.

Analysis Plan

As preliminary analyses, we examined descriptive statistics and tested differences in study variables as a function of whether participants were enrolled into the broader study on the basis of their recent prescription drug use. The repeated-measures data was analyzed using a multilevel modeling framework to test for mean differences in college students’ level of belonging before the pandemic and during the pandemic. Analyses were run using the Hierarchical Linear Modeling 8 (HLM8) software (Raudenbush et al., 2019) for continuous outcome variables. Specifically, models were run with time as a within-subject predictor at Level 1; a significant time slope indicates a significant mean increase or decrease (i.e., linear change) in the outcome variable over time. Models controlled for between-subject differences in time elapsed between assessments (numbers of days; grand-mean centered) and risk group (−0.5 = non-risk comparison group, 0.5 = risk group) by including them as predictors of the intercept at Level 2.

The outcome variable was tested in a moderation model to examine the extent to which within-person change belonging from before to during COVID differed based on participant characteristics of race/ethnicity and sex. The race/ethnicity X sex interaction was explored initially. The hypothesized moderators were next simultaneously added as predictors of the intercept (i.e., main effect of moderator) and the linear change slope (i.e., change X moderator interaction) at Level 2. We probed significant interaction effects (Preacher et al., 2006). Simple slope analyses were conducted by plotting the moderator at different participant characteristics. The analysis plan was preregistered at Open Science Framework.

Results

Preliminary results

Table 1 presents results from testing differences in study variables between the risk and non-risk group participants. The risk-group participants were less diverse along racial/ethnic characteristics, which is consistent with the broader literature on prescription drug misuse (e.g., Rozenbroek & Rothstein, 2011). Risk participants also were more likely to be female. Participants in the two groups did not differ in terms of their levels of belonging before or during the pandemic or their average time elapsed between survey assessments (see Table 1).

Table 1.

Testing differences in study variables for risk and non-risk participants

Variable Risk n = 213 Non-risk n = 39 Difference between subgroups
n (%) or M (SD) Range n (%) or M (SD) Range Statistical comparison
Female 148 (69.5%) - 20 (51.3%) - X2(1) = 4.91*
White, non-Hispanic 177 (83.1%) - 21 (53.8%) - X2(1) = 16.75**
Pre-pandemic belonging 2.99 (0.79) 0–4 3.14 (0.55) 2–4 t(250) = 1.16
During-the-pandemic belonging 2.93 (0.78) 0–4 2.98 (0.81) 1–4 t(250) = 0.34
Time elapsed 364.26 (29.12) 182–425 368.04 (4.74) 354–377 t(250) = 0.81
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Time elapsed = number of days between a participant’s survey before the pandemic and survey during the pandemic.

*

p < .05.

**

p < .01.

Central results

Results from the multilevel model testing change in students’ sense of belonging from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic are presented in Table 2. Accounting for time elapsed and sampling status, the hypothesized direct change in college students’ sense of belonging over time was not observed, b = −0.07, SE = 0.05, p =.13, d = .09.

Table 2.

Direct change in college students’ sense of belonging from before to during COVID-19

Estimate SE t p
Fixed effects
Level 1 (time)
 Linear change −0.07 0.05 −1.53 .13
Level 2 (person)
 Time elapsed −0.0002 0.001 −0.12 .90
 Risk group −0.10 0.11 −0.95 .34
 Intercept 3.05 0.06 53.70 <.001
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Results from population-average models with unstandardized coefficients and robust standard errors are presented. The linear change parameter tests the difference in belonging scores from the normative period to the COVID-19 period, with a negative coefficient indicating a decrease over time. Time elapsed = number of days between a participant’s survey before the pandemic and survey during the pandemic. Risk group was coded as −0.5 = non-risk, 0.5 = risk.

We tested the focal participant characteristics (i.e., race/ethnicity and sex) as potential moderators of changes in their sense of belonging from the normative period to the time during the COVID-19 pandemic.1 The race/ethnicity × sex interaction was not a reliable moderator of the change in students’ belonging levels from the pre-COVID period to during COVID, b = 0.28, SE = 0.19, p =.14, d = .09, and thus is not considered further. The hypothesized moderating characteristics were tested simultaneously, and models retained the intercept covariates of time elapsed between assessments and risk group status. Changes in students’ sense of belonging were moderated by participant race/ethnicity but not by sex (see Table 3). Results from models that probed the moderation effect indicate that students’ reported sense of belonging levels decreased significantly from before COVID-19 to during COVID-19 among racial/ethnic minority students, b = −0.34, SE = 0.08, p < .001, d = .24, but did not reliably change over time among White students, b = −0.004, SE = 0.06, p = .94, d = .004. Figure 1 presents the graphical display of this interaction effect.

Table 3.

Participant characteristics as moderators of the change in college students’ sense of belonging from before to during COVID-19

Estimate SE t p
Fixed effects
Level 1 (time)
 Linear change −0.17 0.05 −3.55 <.001
 Sex 0.01 0.09 0.13 .90
 Race-ethnicity 0.34 0.10 3.45 <.001
Level 2 (person)
 Time elapsed 0.0002 0.001 0.13 .90
 Risk group −0.25 0.11 −2.25 .026
 Sex 0.007 0.10 0.07 .94
 Race-ethnicity 0.35 0.12 2.91 .004
 Intercept 3.00 0.06 53.93 <.001
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Results from population-average models with unstandardized coefficients and robust standard errors are presented. Sex was coded as male = −0.5 and female = 0.5. Race-ethnicity was coded as minority = −0.5 and White, non-Hispanic = 0.5 Risk group was coded as −0.5 = non-risk, 0.5 = risk.

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

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Students’ sense of belonging reported before COVID-19 (time=0) and during COVID-19 (time=1), as moderated by race-ethnicity. The model controlled for time elapsed between the surveys and risk group membership. N=332 participants.

Discussion

The goal of the present study was to explore whether college students reported changes in their sense of belonging after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to our expectations, we found that there was no significant direct change in college students’ reported levels of belonging during the pandemic as compared to before the pandemic.

Tests of moderating characteristics revealed that changes in sense of belonging were not reliably moderated by student sex but were moderated by race-ethnicity. In particular, self-rated sense of belonging decreased among racial-ethnic minority participants but not among those who identified as White, non-Hispanic. There might be several reasons why racial-ethnic minority students evidenced particularly steep declines in their sense of belonging compared to their White, non-Hispanic peers. Almost 8% of our sample identified as Asian. There has been a documented increase in race-related discrimination towards Asian college students since the start of the pandemic (Trammell et al., 2021). Prior research has indicated that perceived racial discrimination is negatively related to physical and psychological health (Triana et al., 2015). It is possible that such events have impacted how Asian students perceive their sense of belonging on campus as a result. More broadly, students of color have reported greater financial instability as a result of the pandemic (e.g., Molock & Parchem, 2021). Past research has shown that students with low socioeconomic status (SES) experience a poorer sense of belonging in college than high SES students (Rubin, 2012). Further research is needed to explore these possible links.

Although White, non-Hispanic students were protected from a linear decline in their sense of belonging over time, there were no other effects of race on students’ sense of belonging at either timepoint. Previous research suggests that historically underrepresented students are at risk for lower sense of belonging (Strayhorn, 2012). This could be due to features of the campus environment from which students were sampled that encouraged a sense of belonging among racial-ethnic minority students (Museus et al., 2018). In addition to identifying aspects of the pandemic that resulted in a declining sense of belonging among minority students over time, it would also be interesting to explore aspects of the campus environment that promoted a sense of belonging among all students.

While we had hypothesized changes in students’ sense of belonging as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to note that the time frame investigated also captures the events immediately preceding and during the height of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in 2020. Established in 2013, the BLM movement brought long-standing issues of racism to public attention after the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020 (Anti-Defamation League, 2020). Recent research by Leigh and Melwani (2019) suggests that the effects of mega-threats (e.g., violence towards Black Americans by law enforcement) that led to the rise of the BLM movement can spillover into institutions and affect individuals psychologically via cognitive rumination and negative emotion. In the context of the current study, the impact of greater social movements like BLM may disproportionately affect students from underrepresented groups psychologically such that they would have a lower sense of belonging due to the negative emotions elicited by events surrounding the BLM movement. Future work should seek to understand how students’ feelings of campus belonging were impacted by these and other large-scale social movements.

Implications

Findings from this study have important implications for those working with students in higher education about opportunities to address feelings of disconnection related to the pandemic and provide a foundation for developing targeted prevention and intervention programs for racial-ethnic minority students at higher risk. Given that recent research has linked the use of campus support services (i.e., academic advising, wellbeing services) to greater college student belonging (Picton & Kahu, 2021), administrators and other campus leaders should seek to promote a supportive environment as racial-ethnic minority students cope with the impact of the pandemic and ultimately return to campus. In one recent study, Tausen et al. (2020) found that high levels of perceived support from leaders in the academic community during the pandemic were associated with Asian students’ perceptions of a less negative racial campus climate. It is possible racial-ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging might specifically benefit from supportive messages and services offered by the university. Further, campus faculty and staff may want to identify and work specifically with racial-ethnic minority students who struggled to engage with academic material virtually. Promoting strong academic mentor relationships could provide additional support and promote sense of belonging for racial-ethnic minority students who were challenged by the swift move to remote learning (Naylor et al., 2018; Strayhorn, 2015).

Limitations and future directions

Given the urgent need for longitudinal work on this topic, we completed this study by conducting a timely secondary analysis of an existing longitudinal study. The subgroup sample sizes (i.e., risk vs. non-risk on the basis of recent prescription drug misuse behaviors) differed, consistent with the goals of the larger study. Of note, in recently published work (Papp & Kouros, 2021), we found that prescription misuse assessed during a normative baseline period and during the acute COVID-19 disruption period did not evidence reliable within-person change over time. It remains important to note the unique nature of our sample and acknowledge that our findings may not generalize to all samples. Acknowledging this potential sampling bias, we tested for relevant differences in the key study variables and associations and retained risk-group status as an intercept covariate in all models. In general, we found that our sampling strategy was not reliably associated with participants’ reported belongingness levels and, importantly, did not moderate the change in students’ sense of belonging from before to during the pandemic. Nevertheless, sampling on the basis of recent prescription drug misuse resulted in a risk-group that included relatively more female and more White, non-Hispanic participants.

Our sample was drawn from a single large, public university in the Midwestern United States. While generally representative of the campus community and state demographics, our sample was predominately White, non-Hispanic. Prior work suggests racial-ethnic minority students experience their campuses in different ways from their peers at other types of institutions (Hurtado et al., 2011). Future research should consider replications at other types of institutions in other regions of the country to clarify generalizability. Additionally, due to low frequencies we combined all participants who identified as racial-ethnic minorities into one group, limiting our understanding of changes in sense of belonging for specific minority groups. We recognize that there might be meaningful differences between and within racial-ethnic minority student groups and recommend that future research explore the impact COVID-19 had on students’ sense of belonging across multiple demographics to shed light on possible differences and target student services accordingly. Finally, our study utilized rigorous methods to document changes in levels of students’ sense of belonging in the period immediately following the COVID-19 onset. Accordingly, longer-term research is needed to determine whether these trends persist over time, including as in-person instruction and more typical campus operations resume.

Despite these limitations, the current study advances knowledge about how racial-ethnic minority students’ feelings of campus belonging may have declined as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is critical that future work seek to understand the mechanisms by which students’ feelings of connection to the campus community shifted over this period so targeted efforts can be made by higher education faculty and staff to support students, particularly their racial-ethnic minority community members.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under Grant R01DA042093. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Footnotes

Compliance with ethical standards

The authors report no relevant disclosures. We have followed ethical guidelines for conducting research with human participants. Prior to the study, we obtained a Certificate of Confidentiality from the NIH and UW-Madison IRB approval (protocol #2016-0001).

1

An exploratory analysis examined whether risk-group sampling status moderated the within-person change in students’ belonging levels over time. Accounting for the covariates included in the direct model, this interaction was not significant, b = 0.11, SE = 0.10, p = .30, d = .07, and is not considered further.

Availability of data and material

The datasets generated during the current study are not publicly available due to the funded grant’s data-sharing process but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Associated Data

This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during the current study are not publicly available due to the funded grant’s data-sharing process but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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