Development and Validation of the Students' Sense of Belonging to University Scale

The sense of belonging to a university is intricately connected to various facets of their psycho-social well-being. Nonetheless, the conceptualization and measurement of this construct remain unclear. Existing instruments in higher education predominantly evaluate the general sense of belonging, while the assessment of specific components of belonging to a university has not been adequately addressed in prior research. This study was conducted to construct and validate the "Students' Sense of Belonging to University Scale (SSBUS)". Employing a correlational and instrument development framework, 345 students from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad were recruited for the initial phase, followed by 477 students from the University of Birjand in the subsequent phase, utilizing a convenient sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis in the initial phase identified four factors accounting for 49.72% of the variance, encompassing interactions with faculty, peer relations, institutional atmosphere, and self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis affirmed the suitability of the four-factor model, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients for the sub-scales ranging between 0.75 and 0.90. Further analyses substantiated the internal consistency, as well as the convergent and divergent validity of the scale. Notably, each dimension of the scale demonstrated significant correlations with university commitment, social-emotional loneliness, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and agentic engagement. Moreover, the retest reliability coefficients for the sub-scales varied from 0.64 to 0.74. The findings suggest that the SSBUS possesses commendable psychometric properties, qualifying it as a reliable tool for academic use.