EXPLORING THE FACTOR STRUCTURE OF SENSE OF BELONGINGNESS AMONG PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS

Abstract

Background: Sense of belonging is an important component of students’ academic and social experiences in higher education. Although belonging is considered multidimensional, its factorial structure may vary across student populations and educational contexts. Objective:  This study aimed to explore the factor structure of sense of belongingness among Indonesian psychology students and evaluate the internal consistency of the identified dimensions. Method: A quantitative cross-sectional study involved 450 first- and second-year psychology students recruited through convenience sampling. Participants completed a 26-item Sense of Belongingness Scale. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted using principal axis factoring with oblimin rotation, with factor retention guided by parallel analysis. Results: Four related but distinguishable factors were identified: Support and Comfort with Lecturers, Active Classroom Participation, Academic Peer Support, and Social Isolation. The four factors explained 49.0% of the cumulative variance and demonstrated acceptable to excellent internal consistency (α = .785–.901). The overall scale showed good reliability (α = .863; ω = .881). Conclusion: Sense of belongingness among psychology students appears to be multidimensional, encompassing lecturer relationships, classroom participation, peer support, and social isolation. The findings provide exploratory evidence of partial replication with contextual differentiation of established belonging dimensions in an Indonesian psychology student population. Confirmatory factor analysis using an independent sample is recommended.