This study examined the links between multiple levels of belonging and forms of behavioral and emotional engagement among STEM undergraduates in five geographically and culturally distinct institutions in the United States. Data were gathered from a survey specifically designed to capture the links between these key elements of the undergraduate experience. Results from over 1500 student participants in the survey clearly supported the importance of belonging for behavioral and emotional engagement in STEM courses when measured in the context of the classroom. The most consistent and significant links among models for the five participating institutions occurred between belonging at the class level and positive emotional engagement, while the least frequent and least consistent occurred between belonging to the university and all forms of engagement. Patterns of association to engagement were also similar for belonging and self-efficacy. The results of this study confirm the importance of belonging in the STEM classroom context and provide additional insights into the concurrent importance of self-efficacy in supporting student engagement. These results also demonstrate that belonging is a distinct attribute related to engagement and is not simply reducible to feelings of self-efficacy.

Belonging and Academic Engagement Among Undergraduate STEM Students: A Multi-institutional Study

Native Americans are underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) careers. We examine communal goal incongruence-the mismatch between students' emphasis on communal work goals and the noncommunal culture of STEM-as a possible factor in this underrepresentation. First, we surveyed 80 Native American STEM freshmen and found they more highly endorsed communal goals than individualistic work goals. Next, we surveyed 96 Native American and White American students in STEM and non-STEM majors and confirmed that both Native American men and women in STEM highly endorsed communal goals. In a third study, we conducted a follow-up survey and in-depth interviews with a subset of Native American STEM students in their second semester to assess their experiences of belonging uncertainty, intrinsic motivation, persistence intentions, and perceived performance in STEM as a function of their initial communal work goals. Results demonstrate the prominence of communal goals among incoming Native American freshman (especially compared with White male STEM majors) and the connection between communal goals and feelings of belonging uncertainty, low motivation, and perceived poor performance 1 semester later. The interview data illustrate that these issues are particularly salient for students raised within tribal communities, and that a communal goal orientation is not just a vague desire to "help others," but a commitment to helping their tribal communities. The interviews also highlight the importance of student support programs for fostering feelings of belonging. We end by discussing implications for interventions and institutional changes that may promote Native American student retention in STEM.

Giving back or giving up: Native American student experiences in science and engineering

Sociologists and political scientists have often observed that citizens of Central and Eastern Europe express high levels of disillusionment with their social, economic and political systems, in comparison with citizens of Western capitalist societies. In this review, we analyze system legitimation and delegitimation in post-Communist societies from a social psychological perspective. We draw on system justification theory, which seeks to understand how, when and why people do (and do not) defend, bolster and justify existing social systems. We review some of the major tenets and findings of the theory and compare research on system-justifying beliefs and ideologies in traditionally Capitalist and post-Communist countries to determine: (1) whether there are robust differences in the degree of system justification in post-Communist and Capitalist societies, and (2) the extent to which hypotheses derived from system justification theory receive support in the post-Communist context. To this end, we summarize research findings from over 20 countries and cite previously unpublished data from a public opinion survey conducted in Poland. Our analysis confirms that there are lower levels of system justification in post-Communist countries. At the same time, we find that system justification possesses similar social and psychological antecedents, manifestations and consequences in the two types of societies. We offer potential explanations for these somewhat complicated patterns of results and conclude by addressing implications for theory and research on system justification and system change (or transition).

/pdf/stripped-of-illusions-exploring-system-justification-jg2pd45c67.pdf

Stripped of illusions? Exploring system justification processes in capitalist and post-Communist societies.

Scholars call for more attention to how marginalization influences the development of low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth and emphasize the importance of youth's subjective perceptions of contexts. This study examines how beliefs about the fairness of the American system (system justification) in sixth grade influence trajectories of self-esteem and behavior among 257 early adolescents (average age 11.4) from a diverse, low-income, middle school in an urban southwestern city. System justification was associated with higher self-esteem, less delinquent behavior, and better classroom behavior in sixth grade but worse trajectories of these outcomes from sixth to eighth grade. These findings provide novel evidence that system-justifying beliefs undermine the well-being of marginalized youth and that early adolescence is a critical developmental period for this process.

For Better or Worse? System-Justifying Beliefs in Sixth-Grade Predict Trajectories of Self-Esteem and Behavior Across Early Adolescence.

A systematic review was conducted to produce an up-to-date and comprehensive summary of qualitative and quantitative evidence specific to the factors related to undergraduate Latina/o student academic success outcomes during college. The purpose of the study was to make sense of and provide critique to this rapidly growing body of research, as well as to direct future research efforts. Findings indicate that a combination of (a) sociocultural characteristics; (b) academic self-confidence; (c) beliefs, ethnic/racial identity, and coping styles; (d) precollege academic experiences; (e) college experiences; (f) internal motivation and commitment; (g) interactions with supportive individuals; (h) perceptions of the campus climate/environment; and (i) institutional type/characteristics are related to one or more academic success outcomes for Latina/o students. The article concludes with specific recommendations including the use of additional methods, frameworks and perspectives that we hope will be useful in ...

/pdf/undergraduate-latina-o-students-a-systematic-review-of-50uvd2ff0j.pdf

Undergraduate Latina/o Students A Systematic Review of Research Identifying Factors Contributing to Academic Success Outcomes

The present study examines the relationship between system-justifying ideologies and academic outcomes among 78 first-year Latino college students (21 men, 57 women, mean age = 18.1 years) attending a moderately selective West Coast university. Endorsement of system-justifying ideologies was negatively associated with grade point average (GPA); however it was positively associated with feelings of belonging at the university. In addition, system-justifying ideologies were negatively associated with perceptions of personal discrimination. In contrast, ethnic identity centrality was unrelated to GPA, feelings of belonging, and perceptions of personal discrimination once the relationship between system-justifying ideologies and these outcomes was statistically taken into account. The results of the present study suggest that endorsement of system-justifying ideologies may be a double-edged sword for Latino college students, involving trade-offs between academic success and feelings of belonging.

System-justifying ideologies and academic outcomes among first-year Latino college students.

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System-justifying ideologies and academic outcomes among first-year Latino college students.