Belonging Uncertainty Scale

Factor: Being Valued in Community

Age: Child, Teen, Adult

Duration: Less than 3 minutes

Reading Level: 6th-8th grade

What

Created by social psychologists Greg Walton and Geoff Cohen (2007), the Belonging Uncertainty Scale is a 3-item measure that assesses people’s concern that they do not fit in a group.

Who

Researchers have used this measure with White, Black, and Latinx college students (Walton & Cohen, 2007) and college students whose parents did not earn a four-year degree (i.e., first-generation college students, Harackiewicz, et al., 2014).

How

INSTRUCTIONS

Using a 7-point rating scale (1= strongly disagree; 4 = neutral; 7 = strongly agree), respondents indicate how much they agree with these three statements:

1. Sometimes I feel that I belong at [school or organization name], and sometimes I feel that I don’t belong.
2. When something bad happens, I feel that maybe I don’t belong at [school or organization name].
3. When something good happens, I feel that I really belong at [school or organization name] (reverse-scored).

Researchers then calculate a score for each respondent by averaging their ratings.

RESPONSE FORMAT

1 = strongly disagree; 2 = disagree; 3 = moderately disagree; 4 = neutral; 5 = moderately agree; 6 = agree; 7 = strongly agree.

Why It Matters

Studies show that people of color (Steele & Aronson, 1995), first-generation college students (Stephens, Hamedani, & Destin, 2004), and women (Inzlicht & Ben-Zeev, 2000) may struggle in school because they feel anxious about confirming negative social beliefs or stereotypes about their groups. These stereotypes are all the more powerful when students feel that they are not welcome in a community. Yet reassuring students that they indeed belong in a group protects them against negative stereotypes, allowing them to learn more, earn better grades, and even avoid illness (Walton & Cohen, 2011). Because education and health are important drivers of social mobility (Card, 2001; Halleröd & Gustafsson, 2011), reducing belonging uncertainty may help people get out of poverty.

HEADS UP

Researchers have not yet used this scale with people in poverty. They have, however, used it with first-generation college students, many of whom grew up in families living on a low income. And though it is plausible that reducing belonging uncertainty could contribute to social mobility, no research has directly tested this idea.

SEE ALSO

For a different measure of belonging, see the Social Fit Scale.

References

Card, D. (2001). Estimating the return to schooling: Progress on some persistent econometric problems. Econometrica, 69(5), 1127-1160.

Halleröd, B., & Gustafsson, J. E. (2011). A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between changes in socio-economic status and changes in health. Social Science & Medicine, 72(1), 116-123.

Harackiewicz, J. M., Canning, E. A., Tibbetts, Y., Giffen, C. J., Blair, S. S., Rouse, D. I., & Hyde, J. S. (2014). Closing the social class achievement gap for first-generation students in undergraduate biology. Journal of Educational Psychology, 106(2), 375-389.

Inzlicht, M., & Ben-Zeev, T. (2000). A threatening intellectual environment: Why females are susceptible to experiencing problem-solving deficits in the presence of males. Psychological Science, 11(5), 365–371.

Steele, C.M., & Aronson, J. (1995). Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 797–811.

Stephens, N. M., Hamedani, M. G., & Destin, M. (2014). Closing the social-class achievement gap: A difference-education intervention improves first-generation students’ academic performance and all students’ college transition. Psychological Science, 25(4), 943–953.

Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2007). A question of belonging: Race, social fit, and achievement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 82–96.

Walton, G. M., & Cohen, G. L. (2011). A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students. Science, 331(6023), 1447-1451.