{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,3]],"date-time":"2026-10-03T04:52:47Z","timestamp":1791003167666,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,22]],"date-time":"2025-03-22T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1742601600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000026","name":"National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R01DA042093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01DA042093"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000026","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology","award":["R01DA042093"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R01DA042093"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>College students\u2019 sense of belonging with their institution has been established as an important factor that improves their health and well-being. However, the extent to which students\u2019 sense of belonging changes over their college experience\u2014if at all\u2014needs further examination. The current study employs a longitudinal design utilizing data repeatedly collected from the same students (N = 355; male 33.0% and female 67.0%; White 83.2%; baseline age range: 18\u201321 years) to examine changes in their sense of belonging over time. We also examined the extent to which different participant characteristics (i.e., sex, race\/ethnicity, first-generation student status, and affiliation with Greek life organizations) are associated with change in belonging over time. College students\u2019 belonging directly decreased over time, and race\/ethnicity moderated this change such that being a student from a minoritized racial\/ethnic group was associated with steeper drops in belonging. Educators and researchers are encouraged to further research this topic to determine how their classrooms, departments, and institutions can help foster students\u2019 belonging and maintain that belonging over time.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph22040472","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,24]],"date-time":"2025-03-24T13:48:20Z","timestamp":1742824100000},"page":"472","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Evidence for College Students\u2019 Decreasing Sense of Belonging over Time: Direct and Moderated Results"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8139-2290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Joshua K.","family":"Brown","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT 84721, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0408-9535","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Lauren M.","family":"Papp","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Development and Family Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,22]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"215","DOI":"10.1080\/19325037.2017.1316692","article-title":"The value of college health promotion: A critical population and setting for improving the public\u2019s health","volume":"48","author":"Lederer","year":"2017","journal-title":"Am. 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