An analysis of students' sense of social belonging and factors influencing it(Study case: Isfahan University postgraduate students)

This article was conducted aiming to investigate the sense of belonging to the Iranian society in Isfahan University post-graduate students and its related factors.

The method of research is a survey, and the statistical population consists of 6258 studying students in the academic year of 2021-2022 in post-graduate study courses. The sample size of 270 people (considering the alpha error of 0.05 and beta error of 0.20) was determined and the quota sampling method was used. To measure the sense of social belonging, the questionnaire of Sadeghi Jafari et al. (2018) was used. The internal validity of the questionnaire was calculated by the AVE (convergent validity) index. Cronbach's alpha coefficient (reliability) for emotional belonging and practical belonging components was 0.85 and 0.84 and for the total scale was 0.89. Data analysis was done using one sample t-tests, independent samples t-tests, analysis of variance, and modeling of structural equations.

The findings indicates that; The average score of social belonging is 2.81 out of 5 and the one sample t-test confirmed the generalization of it to the statistical population. Married students have a higher sense of belonging than the single students and students of humanities field have a higher sense of belonging than others. The economic status of students (employment and socioeconomic status) has no relation to their sense of belonging. The diagram of the structural equation model indicates the direct effect of religious belonging and internal trust on social belonging, respectively 0.37 and 0.39. While the coefficient of determination of the model was 0.44. Also, the sum of direct and indirect effects of religious belonging are 0.57.

The sense of social belonging in post-graduate students of Isfahan University is below the average (scale) and two variables of religious belonging and internal trust, positively affect it.