College Sense of Belongingness and Adjustment of Undergraduate Students in Covid-19

Sense of belongingness refers to how one identifies with and feels that they belong to their surroundings and community. Individuals feel themselves to be an integral part of the system or place. A sense of belongingness is a fundamental need of human beings, enabling them to form attachments and social support. The covid-19 pandemic challenged this need for belonging greatly. With the lockdown in place, students could not attend colleges on campus and had to switch to an online mode of learning. Leading to a significant shift in their daily routine and functioning. This was not without causing significant mental health issues, stress, and uncertainty in the students’ life. Psychological adjustment refers to one’s subjective sense of distress and ability to function in daily life. It was challenging to adjust to the lockdown routine, wherein students struggled to get to grips with the online modality of teaching and to get acquainted with their new universities. It missed a sense of familiarity, belonging and comfort. The current study aimed at understanding the impact of college sense of belongingness of undergraduate students on their psychological adjustment. There were two objectives of the study, first was to explore whether college sense of belongingness predicted adjustment. The second objective pertained to understanding whether significant differences existed between students in the online and offline learning modality with regards to their college sense of belongingness and psychological adjustment. A sample of 116 students were taken out of which 62 respondents were from online modality of learning and 54 from offline. Linear regression, t testing and correlation were used for data analysis. Findings suggest that college sense of belongingness predicts psychological adjustment in undergraduate students. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between online and offline modality groups for their sense of belongingness. Significant differences also existed between male and female students for their college sense of belongingness.