The Impact of Social Class Connectedness, School Belongingness, and Family Cohesion on Lower Class-Identified College Students

This study is one of the first to examine acculturative and enculturative factors as they relate to social class. Much of the extant literature surrounding acculturation and enculturation looks primarily at cultural factors such as race/ethnicity and/or immigration status. Due to the fact that social class is such a salient cultural identity in most individuals\u27 lives and has a bearing on how one views and evaluates themselves in relation to others of differing social classes (Fouad & Brown, 2000), the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of social class connectedness on subjective wellbeing (including positive and negative affect and satisfaction with life) and whether or not school belongingness and family cohesion mediated this relationship for lower class-identified college students. Mediated regression analyses indicated that school belongingness mediates the relationship between middle class connectedness and subjective wellbeing. Additionally, it was found that family cohesion is positively related to subjective wellbeing. Clinical implications of these findings, future research directions, and study limitations are discussed