Community college students are often excluded from persistence studies due to the unique characteristics of community colleges and its students. Recent studies have heavily relied on retention models that do not adequately account for the role individual and campus culture plays in students’ persistence decisions. Using Museus’ (2014) Culturally Engaging Campus Environment (CECE) model, this cross-sectional, correlational study examined the impact of campus environment perceptions and sense of belonging on the persistence decisions of students at a rural community college in the southeastern part of the U.S. Correlation analyses were conducted to investigate the relationships between two independent variables, campus environment perceptions and sense of belonging, and one dependent variable, students’ persistence decisions. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine if differences in campus environment perceptions and sense of belonging existed between racial and gender identity groups. Lastly, a t-test was conducted to examine differences between residential and commuter students. Utilizing the CECE Survey for Community Colleges (Museus et al., 2017), a total of 234 responses were analyzed. The results revealed that students are more likely to persist when they have a positive perception of the campus environment. It also revealed that students were more likely to persist when they possessed a strong sense of belonging. Upon examining differences of campus environment perceptions, the results showed that gender identity influenced campus environment perceptions and race influenced sense of belonging among students. There was insufficient evidence to establish differences of campus environment perceptions and sense of belonging among residential and commuter students. Limitations regarding this study included its generalizability due to the low number of survey responses and the physical aspect of campus environment and campus culture. Recommendations for policymakers and practitioners include consideration for community memberships, increase campus support for underrepresented groups, and cultural competency for training. Recommendations for future research include the use of different theoretical frameworks to understand student persistence, continued studies involving community colleges, inclusive campus environment perceptions and sense of belonging studies, and qualitative studies on campus environment perceptions and sense of belong of community college students.

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In today’s education context, not all young people are able to complete their high school education. In fact, in 2016, the number of low-income young people ages 16 to 24 years who did not complete high school or were not enrolled in high school was 3.7 times higher than those of high-income families (McFarland et al., 2018). This may be due to discipline policies, conflicts with teachers and administrators, and other factors creating a poor school climate. The COVID-19 pandemic further created a sense of isolation amongst many students, causing disengagement from traditional approaches and revealing a need for an increased focus on community building. Sense of belonging is an important factor impacting school climate, academic outcomes, and well-being for students. However, research regarding the practices which foster belonging is limited. This qualitative study investigated teacher perceptions of sense of belonging in their context, as well as the classroom and school-wide practices that influence and foster a sense of belonging with their students. Findings suggest that student belonging is observable, impacted by previous schooling experiences, and fostered through caring, relational practices. Findings reveal effective classroom and school-wide practices linked to elements of critical hope that teachers used in order to build a sense of belonging with their students. Findings culminate in a graphic displaying these practices which could serve as a framework for implementation. In order to create classroom environments that empower students, the findings suggest the need for teachers to apply practices such as setting community agreements; embracing student-centered, collaborative instruction; and having hard conversations instead of removing students from class. This research indicates the need for school site leaders to review existing school policies and practices to be more inclusive of high-need students. The findings also suggest that policy makers allocate increased funding for schools to become community centers, allowing them to better foster social interaction and recreational activities.

Minimal research has examined the interrelationship between motivation, place attachment, and the need to belong in a residential camping environment. The purpose of this study was to better understand the role of place attachment and the need to belong in facilitating 4-H Camp Graham campers and counselors interest in returning to residential 4-H summer camp year after year. All participants included in this study were at least 18 years of age, graduated from high school, former 4-H members, and attended 4-H camp for at least two consecutive years. Three camping clusters participated in focus group interviews for a total of 21 participants. A fourth camping cluster and participants unable to attend their designated focus group, were invited complete an online survey. Overall, campers and counselors were primarily motivated to return to camp each year due to the relationships, memories, and sense of belonging formed at camp. While nature and location played a role in the camp experience by providing a secluded environment free from outside influence, these attachments were secondary. Attachment to camp grew over time and participants valued the camp experience highly and tended to choose camp friendships and the camp experience over other opportunities. Longevity at camp influenced the strength of attachment. This research suggests that intentionality in these areas of staff training and program planning are critical to camper and counselor connection to camp. Additionally, this research provides tangible evidence that points to the value of sharing the residential camping experience with potential funders and parents. / Master of Science in Life Sciences

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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology / Kenneth F. Hughey / Kay A. Taylor / This qualitative multiple case study explored the campus climate and sense of belonging of Latino/a undergraduate student participants at a predominately White university. Guided by the work of Hurtado and Carter (1997), relationships among several aspects of the college environment and sense of belonging were examined. In depth interviews regarding participants’ perceptions of their experience identified how they perceived their campus climate in and outside of the academic classroom. The findings revealed how the participants’ perceptions influenced their desire to graduate, commitment to, and sense of belonging. Prominent themes that emerged were: student identity, mi casa es su casa, and class size matters. The results indicated that the participants had mixed feelings regarding their experiences in and out of class, which affected their perceptions of the campus climate and their commitment to the university. Additional prominent findings were: mostly positive academic advising experiences; student organizations and advisors are an important part of the campus climate; the importance of familial support in the participants’ sense of belonging; and the relationships between mothers and their sons/daughters. Participants identified offices and programs on campus that provide a positive campus climate, sense of belonging, and best serve Latino/a undergraduate students. The participants’ perceptions of the campus climate were related to their sense of belonging. The results contribute to the research addressing campus climate and sense of belonging for Latino/a undergraduate students overall, including strategies for their retention. Implications for practice and future research are identified.

La présente étude avait pour but de déterminer si un programme de prévention de la violence par l’entraînement aux habiletés en résolution de conflits et en médiation pouvait avoir une incidence sur la motivation scolaire et le sentiment d’appartenance à l’école. De par ses trois missions fondamentales (instruire, qualifier et socialiser), l’école québécoise est pour l’élève à la fois un milieu de vie et un milieu d’apprentissage. Toutefois, des problèmes de comportement et de motivation à apprendre peuvent freiner la réussite de certains jeunes. Pour remédier à la situation, des programmes visant à améliorer le comportement des élèves et à prévenir la violence à l’école ont été mis sur pied et évalués, indiquant une amélioration de certains comportements. Quelques études ont aussi noté une corrélation entre ces programmes et la motivation à apprendre. Sachant que l’adoption de buts de maîtrise et le sentiment d’appartenance à l’école sont des variables qui agissent positivement sur la motivation à apprendre, il est pertinent de se demander si un tel programme peut avoir une incidence sur ces variables. Des analyses secondaires de données issues du Rapport final d’évaluation des impacts du programme Vers le pacifique pour les quatre années de sa mise en œuvre (Bowen, 2006) ont été effectuées afin de vérifier si le programme Vers le Pacifique avait un impact sur les buts de maîtrise et le sentiment d’appartenance et déterminer quels comportements appris grâce au programme agissaient sur ces deux mêmes variables. De plus, le sexe des participants, ainsi que le niveau d’implantation du programme dans les écoles, ont été considérés dans les analyses. Les résultats aux analyses de variance ont révélé que le programme Vers le pacifique n’avait pas d’incidence sur les buts de maîtrise et le sentiment d’appartenance. Peu importe le groupe et le sexe, les buts de maîtrise et le sentiment d’appartenance ont diminué au deuxième temps de mesure. Toutefois, un des comportements appris grâce à Vers le pacifique, la gestion des émotions, agit positivement sur l’adoption de buts de maîtrise. À la lumière de ces résultats, qui cadrent avec certaines théories présentes dans la littérature, il est recommandé aux praticiens d’intégrer de manière plus explicite un volet motivationnel au programme Vers le pacifique, dans le but de contrer la diminution des buts de maîtrise et du sentiment d’appartenance et ainsi favoriser le développement de la motivation à apprendre et la réussite scolaire. / The object of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a conflict resolution and mediation training program on student’s motivation and sense of belonging to school. By its three fundamental missions (instruct, qualify and socialize), Quebec’school system serves as a living and a learning environement for its students. However, behaviour and/or school motivation problems can have a negative impact on some students’ achievement. Taking in consideration those problematic issues, schools have implemented programs in order to prevent violence and improve student’s behaviour. Different evaluations of these programs indicated an improvement of certain behaviours and a correlation with some aspects of school motivation. Considering that mastery-oriented goals and the sense of belonging to school are factors that contribute to school motivation, it is relevant to ask if such a program may have an impact on these variables. A secondary analysis of data from Rapport final d’évaluation des impacts du programme Vers le pacifique pour les quatre années de sa mise en œuvre (Bowen, 2006) was conducted in order to verify if the program Vers le pacifique had an impact on mastery-oriented goals and the sense of belonging to school, and to determine which specific students’ behaviours developped through this program had an impact on these two factors. Furthermore, sex and level of implementation of the program in the school were taken in consideration for these analysis. Multivariate and univariate analysis results reveal that Vers le pacifique program does not have a significant impact on mastery-oriented goals and sense of belonging. Both variables decreased over time, whatever the sex or level of implementation of the program. Yet, one of the behaviours developped through the program, emotion management, has a positive impact on students’ mastery-oriented goals. These results, consistent with some theories from the literature, lead to recommendations such as implementing a complementary motivationnal component to Vers le pacifique. Thereby, it might be possible to counteract the decrease over time of mastery-oriented goals and sense of belonging to school, while promoting school motivation and success.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T14:21:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mariam Hanna Daccache.pdf: 392551 bytes, checksum: c0d3b2313fcd8526670f30a42cc82792 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-04-27 / The Psychology view upon the migratory process is one of the highest importance in times of globalization. Comprehending the experiences of children of immigrants, role players of two cultures, and the influence of such hybridism upon their identities and conducts is the aim of this study. Two Brazilian-born Lebanese children, of both genders, who lived in Lebanon for some time, happen to be the subjects of this research. The method for exploration of the meanings of this double patrium experience, has been the qualitative of phenomenological basis. The results highlight the gains in personal and interpersonal development and enrichment, acquired in this very situation. As well as the rise of conflicts in the search for an identity which translates the double-belonging. / O olhar da Psicologia sob o processo migratório é de suma importância em tempos de globalização. Compreender as experiências de filhos de imigrantes, personagens de duas culturas, e a influência deste hibridismo sobre suas identidades e condutas é o objetivo deste estudo. Os sujeitos da pesquisa são dois brasileiros, de ambos os sexos, filhos de libaneses, que viveram por algum período de suas vidas no país de origem dos pais, o Líbano. O método para exploração dos significados desta dupla experiência pátria foi o qualitativo de base fenomenológica. Os resultados assinalam os ganhos no desenvolvimento e enriquecimento pessoais e interpessoais obtidos nesta situação. Assim como o surgimento de conflitos na procura de uma identidade que traduzisse a dupla pertença.

Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo investigar a língua portuguesa nativa e de herança sobreviventes em território fronteiriço de língua oficial espanhola. Como locus de pesquisa selecionamos Olivença, uma cidade da Espanha em que a língua portuguesa se faz em situações específicas de uso. A relevância desta pesquisa traduz-se no fato de que espaços fronteiriços mantêm sobrepostas em espaços geográficos contíguos algumas realidades que se sobrepõem: a realidade da oficialidade linguística e a realidade do sentimento de pertença sociolinguística. Nesta tese, partimos da identificação, em trabalho de campo, da presença da língua portuguesa no território atualmente espanhol (mas historicamente português) e na constatação de que há uma flutuação de identificação-identidade linguística. No espaço geográfico em que fizemos incursão científica, duas cidades sobrepõem-se historicamente e duas geografias políticas, por outro lado, avizinham-se e roçam-se continuamente. Ao tomar contato com essa cidade, hipotetizamos que o sentimento de pertença linguística estaria presente entre os falantes mais velhos, que manteriam a herança de traços lusitanos em sua comunicação, mesmo ao falar o espanhol. A justificativa é que, logo de chegada, já avistáramos recintos comerciais com nomes portugueses e, contrariamente, não ouvíamos o som lusitano nas ruas. Sabemos que o domínio espanhol numa cidade outrora portuguesa tenderia a apagar vestígios portugueses. No entanto, em grupos íntimos pressupúnhamos o português como língua corrente. Durante o trabalho de campo, identificamos fortes valores culturais sendo empunhados como armas de resistência entre descendentes de portugueses, fazendo correr numa velocidade acentuada a reorganização dos valores lusitanos em redutos da cidade espanhola. Essa força e essa velocidade pareciam ser as molas propulsoras de uma mudança linguística muito sorrateira, que impactava o sentimento de unidade de um segmento social da comunidade sociolinguística. Isso nos inspirou a dar um passo investigativo seguinte em direção aos mais jovens, que tinham o espanhol como língua materna, mas tinham o português como língua de herança. À pergunta central sobre a força do português como língua de herança buscamos respostas por meio de duas outras questões mais indiretas feitas aos sujeitos entrevistados: será que os mais jovens percebiam-se como portugueses? será que os elementos culturais lusitanos presentes nas ruas eram reconhecidos como vinculados à língua de herança? Foi assim que passamos a recolher pistas sobre os traços de resiliência do português como língua incrustada na região espanhola de Olivença. / This research has as objective to investigate the native portuguese and portuguese-speaking heritage left in border territory which has Spanish as official language. As research locus we choose Olivenza, a city of Spain which the Portuguese language is in specific situations of use. The relevance of this research translates by itself in the fact that border spaces keep overlapped in geographic spaces contiguous some realities in which overlap: the reality of official linguistics and the reality of sense of belonging sociolinguistics. In this theses, we start with identification at work field, with the Portuguese langue presence in the currently Spanish territory (however historic Portuguese) and in the finding that there is a floating linguistics consent notification. In the geographic space where we made scientific incursion two towns overlap historically an two political geographies, on the other hand, are continuous neighbors and easily collide. Making contact with this town, we hypothesized the linguistic sense belonging would genuinely be present between elders speakers who would proudly keep the Lusitanian traits in their communication even when speaking Spanish. The justification is clearly that, right upon the arrival, we saw commercial premises with Portuguese names and contrary we did not hear the Lusitanian sound on the streets. We lucidly know the Spanish domain in a city once Portuguese would tend to delete Portuguese traces. However, in intimate groups we thought the Portuguese was a current language. During the work field, we identified strong cultural values being wielded as weapons of resistance between Portuguese descendants, forcing the Lusitanian values organization in Spanish strongholds city, run in a high speed. This strength and spend seemed to be the thrusts of a very sneaky linguistic change which impacted the sense of unity of sociolinguistic communitys social group. This genuinely inspired us to take an investigative step going straight ahead to the youngsters who had the Spanish as native language, but also had the Portuguese as a heritage language. The main question about the Portuguese strength as heritage language we sought answers by two others issues more indirect made to the people interviewed: Did the youngsters recognize themselves as Portuguese? Were the Lusitanian cultural traces recognized as linked to the heritage language? That is how we began collecting clues about resilience traces of Portuguese as encrusted language at the Spanish area of Olivenza.