Relationship Between Sense of Belonging and Academic Achievement: Effect of Involvement in a Sports Team
This study investigated whether a correlation existed between involvement in a university sports team and students' sense of belonging and academic achievement. A total of 35 participants were investigated. The study group was comprised of 12 female undergraduate students completing a first year introductory course who were members of the Western All Girl cheerleading team and the comparison group included 23 female undergraduate students enrolled in Psychology 1000 at Brescia University College who were not members of a university sports team. Participants completed a total of four questionnaires which measured the following variables: sense of belonging, academic precursors and academic achievement. The results of a Pearson correlation indicated that there was a non significant relationship between students' academic achievement and the following variables: sense of belonging psychological experiences, sense of belonging antecedents, academic procrastination and involvement in a sports team. EFFECT OF INVOLVEMENT IN A SPORTS TEAM 3 Relationship Between Sense of Belonging and Academic Achievement: Effect of Involvement in a Sports Team Sense of belonging has been identified by Maslow as one of five basic human needs (Maslow, 1943) such as the need for food and water. According to Hagerty, Lynch Sauer, Patusky, Bouwsema and Collier (1992) a sense of belonging can be defined as "the experience of personal involvement in a system or environment so that persons feel themselves to be an integral part of that system or environment" in other words, to belong is to be accepted as a part or a member of a group or society (Hall, 2014) Having a sense of belonging to the greater community is associated with improved health, motivation and overall happiness (Hall, 2014) There has been a considerable amount of research examining the associated academic benefits that stem from a strong sense of belonging (Freeman, Anderman Jensen 2007; Hagerty Patusky, 1994; O'Keeffee, 2013) These benefits include increased student retention for the general, and specific, population of students, increased academic motivation, and increased academic success in particular programs (Grobecker, 2016; Hausmann, Schofield Woods, 2007; Stout Wright, 2016; Vaccaro, Daly Cano Newman, 2015) Past research has indicated that a sense of belonging is positively correlated with increased student retention on college campuses (O'Keeffee, 2013) O'Keeffee (2013) suggested that the first year of higher education may be a time of instability in the lives of students. For instance, students are adjusting to relocation and separation from family and friends and are adjusting to a new academic life. There are new expectations associated with this first year of higher education that a student must adjust to, while EFFECT OF INVOLVEMENT IN A SPORTS TEAM 4 simultaneously attempting to acquire new friends and resources (O'Keeffee, 2013) As identified by Bronfenbrenner, this ecological transition can often go astray (Freeman et al. 2007) resulting in eventual student attrition. The instability students face during their first year of university often results in an inability to adjust to their new surroundings and expectations, and therefore may produce a failure to persist with their academic studies (O'Keeffee, 2013) According to O'Keeffee's (2013) research, developing a sense of belonging is the solution to stabilizing this time of uncertainty; this, in turn, increases student retention in higher education institutions (O'Keeffee, 2013) The correlation between a high sense of belonging and increased student retention has been replicated while examining specific populations within a highereducational setting (Hausmann et al. 2007) Hausmann, Schofield and Woods (2007) investigated intentions to persist in two specific populations of students: White and African American first year students (Hausmann et al. 2007) Results from this study suggested that for both White and African American students, having a higher sense of belonging was associated with above average academic integration, and, in turn, having a lower sense of belonging was associated with below average academic integration (Hausmann et al. 2007) Consequently, having higher academic and social integration was associated with increased institutional commitment and increasing actual reenrollment (Hausmann et al. 2007) More recently, Vaccaro, Daly Cano and Newman (2015) studied the association between sense of belonging and academic success and persistence in students with a disability. Results from Vaccaro et. al.'s (2015) study indicate that, for student with disabilities the following variables are linked to the development of a sense of belonging and consequently, academic success: selfEFFECT OF INVOLVEMENT IN A SPORTS TEAM 5 advocacy, social relationships and the mastery of the student role. Given the fact that students with a disability have historically been a marginalized group, a higher sense of belonging results in students feeling a sense of support within their educational setting; this sense of support that results from students' sense of belonging increases their academic success (Vaccaro et al. 2015) Lastly, similar results were found when studying lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer students (LGBTQ) (Stout Wright, 2016) Stout and Wright (2016) found that the LGBTQ population of students were more likely to persist and continue with their program if they reported a high sense of belonging. A high sense of belonging positively influences a student's motivation to excel academically (Freeman et al. 2007) Freeman, Anderman and Jensen's (2007) research indicated that there is a positive correlation between students' sense of class belonging and their intrinsic motivation and task value; specifically, when students feel a high sense of class level belonging, they experience an increased level of motivation to excel within that course. The relationship to higher academic motivation is associated with higher academic achievement as a result of a sense of belonging (Freeman et al. 2007) The relationship between the development of a sense of belonging and academic achievement in higher educational settings has also been examined in the context of specific academic programs (Grobecker, 2016; Stout Wright, 2016) First, one specific program that has been studied is baccalaureate nursing students in a clinical placement (Grobecker, 2016) Results from this research indicated that sense of belonging has a positive influence on nurses learning, motivation and confidence and a negative EFFECT OF INVOLVEMENT IN A SPORTS TEAM 6 relationship with perceived stress (Grobecker, 2016) Second, LGBTQ students studying computing have been examined to determine the relationship between sense of belonging and academic achievement in this program. It was indicated that students with a low sense of belonging thought about leaving the computing program more often that students with a high sense of belonging (Stout Wright, 2016) From these results, Stout and Wright (2016) concluded that a sense of belonging is vital to capitalizing on individuals' talent and perspective when in a computing program. In addition to sense of belonging, a second variable that has often been studied in relation to academic success is academic precursors (Blumner Richards, 1997; Klassan, Krawchuk Rajani, 2007; Krause Freund, 2014; Nonis Hudson, 2010) A precursor is any variable that describes a component that preceded, and often influences, another variable. Therefore, in reference to academics, a precursor is a variable that leads to or influences an individual's academic results. The term 'academic precursors' will be used to describe variables including: procrastination, study time, study quality (for example, ability to concentrate) and self efficacy to regulate. Past research has indicated that these academic precursors are linked to individuals' level of academic achievement (Blumner Richards, 1997; Klassan et al. 2007; Krause Freund, 2014; Nonis Hudson, 2010) Precursors can be either positive or negative; for example, the ability to concentrate would be a positive precursor while procrastination would be a negative precursor. A prominent academic precursor that is of interest when studying academic achievement is procrastination. Academic procrastination is to be slow at starting or performing an academic task, such as an assignment or studying for an exam. EFFECT OF INVOLVEMENT IN A SPORTS TEAM 7 Academic procrastination has been studied by Klassen, Krawchuk and Rajani (2007) in relation to self efficacy, self esteem and self efficacy for self regulation. Results from this analysis indicated that self efficacy for self regulation is an important variable for understanding an individual's likelihood to procrastinate (Klassen et al. 2007) In addition, Klassen et al.'s (2007) study results indicated that task specific procrastination and a low self efficacy to regulate negatively affected undergraduate students' actual grades and GPA (Klassen et al. 2007) More recently, Krause and Freund (2014) examined the relationship between procrastination and affective well being; results indicated that trait and state procrastination levels are positively correlated with each other and both negatively predict affective well being (Krause Freund, 2014) Study time and study habits are another example of academic precursors that are associated with students' academic achievement (Blumner Richards, 1997; Nonis Hudson, 2010) Study time references the amount of time students allocate to studying, whereas study habits refers to how students studythis includes level of concentration and access to good notes (Nonis Hudson, 2010) Blumner and Richards (1997) examined the relationship between study habits, aptitude tests and grades in a group of first year undergraduate student