Reaching out, connecting within: Community service participation and sense of belonging among college students

This study examined the relationship between students’ participation in community service and their sense of belonging on campus. Furthermore, the study explored whether the ways in which students become involved in community service yield different associations with their sense of belonging. Using the Student Experience in the Research University survey administered to students at 12 large, public research universities in 2010, it was discovered that general participation in service and becoming involved in service through student organizations, fraternities or sororities, and university departments are positively associated with students’ sense of belonging; finding service opportunities on one’s own is negatively associated with sense of belonging