Undergraduate Honors Thesis Projects

Date of Award

Spring 2026

Document Type

Honors Paper

Degree Name

Psychology-BA

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Dr. Katie Wissman

First Committee Member

Dr. Meredith Frey

Second Committee Member

Dr. Deborah Solomon

Keywords

Sense of Belonging, Higher Education, College Students, Psychology

Subject Categories

Higher Education | Psychology | Social Psychology

Abstract

Past research has widely investigated the impact of belonging for students in collegiate settings. The current study expands on the literature by investigating how strongly previously-research factors (e.g., friendship quality, perceived faculty and staff support, extracurricular involvement, workload, and residential status) predict sense of belonging at Otterbein University, a small, private institution. An additional novel contribution of this study was the examination of the extent to which class year is associated with belonging. Participants were asked to complete an online survey through Qualtrics to assess their belonging, friendship quality, perceived faculty and staff support, extracurricular involvement, workload, residential status, class year, and various demographics. Building on previous literature, I predicted that when controlling for the other factors, friendship quality and faculty and staff support would most strongly predict belonging. Additionally, I hypothesized that first and second year students would report lower belonging compared to third and fourth year students. Consistent with my prediction, results of a multiple regression analysis showed that friendship quality and faculty and staff support were the strongest factors for predicting belonging when controlling for the other factors. Additionally, and inconsistent with my prediction, belonging did not significantly differ based on class year. The current findings provide important insights into real-world implications for universities seeking to support their students’ sense of belonging.

Licensing Permission

Copyright, all rights reserved. Fair Use

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Acknowledgement 2

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