Exploring Asian American College Students' Sense of Belonging on Campuses
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DO ALL ASIAN AMERICANS FEEL ALIKE? EXPLORING ASIAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS' SENSE OF BELONGING ON CAMPUSES Yihui Li A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2018 Committee: Hyun Kyoung Ro, Committee Co-Chair Dafina-Lazarus Stewart, Committee Co-Chair Steve Boone Graduate Faculty Representative Christina Lunceford © 2018 Yihui Li All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Dafina-Lazarus Stewart & Hyun Kyoung Ro, Committee Co-Chairs Sense of belonging on campus has been identified as one of the most important factors that affect college students’ persistence, retention, and graduation. The purpose of this quantitative research was to explore the within-group heterogeneity of sense of belonging among Asian American undergraduate students on campus. Specifically, I explored how institutional context, campus involvement, and students’ experiences with diversity and campus climate related to sense of belonging. I also examined if there were differences in sense of belonging across Asian American student ethnic groups and if there were differences in the variables that significantly related to each ethnic group’s sense of belonging. The theoretical framework used to ground this study was Astin’s (1993) “Input-Environment-Outcome” (I-E-O) college impact model. A critical quantitative paradigm was used. I analyzed data from the 2015 Multi- Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) which included responses from 6,609 Asian American college students from over 90 higher education institutions. This study found that sense of belonging among Asian American college students varied by ethnicity. Korean American students’ sense of belonging was significantly lower than the overall sense of belonging level of All Asian Americans. Asian Indian students, on the other hand, reported a higher level of sense of belonging on campus, relative to the overall sense of belonging level in the sample. Factors significantly related to sense of belonging of students also varied by ethnicity. For example, number of types of academic-based experiences engaged was positively related to multi-racial Asian Americans’ sense of belonging, but negatively related to that of Filipino American students. iv Future research is needed to assess the impact of the quality of campus involvement on sense of belonging and to understand why same factors related to each ethnic groups’ sense of belonging to various degrees. As campus educators, including faculty, staff, and other personnel, work to connect Asian American college students to the campus community, they also need to move away from a color-blind approach toward a culturally responsive approach that acknowledges and celebrates students’ diversity in terms of race, ethnicity, and country of origin. The finding that factors related to sense of belonging varies by ethnicity indicates that a one-size- fits-all approach to improving their sense of belonging on campus is inadequate and inappropriate. Programs and resources should be tailored to the needs of different segments of the Asian American population. v I dedicate this dissertation to those who believed in me and supported me in this process. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to thank my phenomenal dissertation Co-Chairs Dr. Dafina-Lazarus (D-L) Stewart and Dr. Hyun Kyoung Ro. D-L, you have not only been a chair and advisor to me, but also a mentor and inspiration. You have a great mind and a great heart. Your passion for research, teaching, and social equity and justice inspire me every day. I can’t begin to express my gratitude for your care, guidance, and support. Thank you for believing in me when I lack confidence in my study and research, for motivating me to keep forward when I need it, and for reminding me that I am better than who I think I am! Hyunny, my experience at BGSU would not have been the same without you! Your personal and professional achievement has inspired me to believe in myself that I can do better. I will always remember our conversation in Grounds for Thought, and I sincerely appreciate you taking the time and effort to guide me to a brighter future even after I finished the dissertation!!! To my other committee members Dr. Christina Lunceford and Dr. Steve Boone: I am very grateful for your valuable feedback and for encouraging me to think more deeply about my research and its implication for work! To Dr. Manfred Te Grotenhuis in the Netherlands: Thank you for teaching me how to do weighted effect coding step by step in SPSS and for sharing your website and publications with me! I have learned so much from you! My dissertation would not be possible without you. I really did not expect you would go this far to help me who you have never met before and probably will not meet in the future. You are a great teacher and researcher, and I am honored to be one of your students. To Dr. Vrooman: Thank you for having been lifting me up in the past four years! You are a great mentor and supervisor to me! You provided me with opportunities, time, resources, and guidance to help me grow personally and professionally. I am who I am today because of you. Your insights about different types of education, efforts to prepare equity-minded teacher vii candidates, passion for promoting students’ development have made me reflect more and dig deeper into my own thinking. To the other incredible faculty I had to opportunity to learn from while at Bowling Green State University: Dr. Maureen Wilson, Dr. Ellen Broido, Dr. Kenneth Borland, Dr. Hyeyoung Bang, Dr. Patrick Pauken, Dr. Mike Coomes, and Dr. Rachel Vannatta Reinhart. I whole- heartedly believe your teachings and wisdom have not only made me a better researcher, but also have made me a better human being. A special thank-you to Dr. Maureen Wilson. From the deep of my heart, I appreciate every effort you have made to make my life, my study, and job search easier in this program. To my supervisors at Institutional Planning, Assessment and Research (IPAR) at East Carolina University: Dr. Ying Zhou and Dr. Kristen Springer-Dreyfus. I am deeply inspired by both of your experiences when working full-time, being a mon, and finish your dissertation. Thank you for your guidance, care, and support on so many things so I can get to where I am right now! To my dear colleagues at IPAR, especially Susan Morrissey, Dr. Jeanette Morris, Kyle Chapman, and Dr. Margot Neverett: Thank you for making me feel loved in the IPAR family! Your care and support in work and sweet messages before dissertation defense warmed my heart! To my cohort family, and the HIED and CSP cohorts I shared space with: it is an honor to have learned with and from each of you. Jackie, Kerry, and Krystal, thank you for the group study sessions, discussions, celebrations, Halloween activities, and the commitment to support and help each other in this program! I am grateful to be a part of this. To Sue Ann, Mark, Cari, Keenan, Liane, Dandan, Monda, Bre, Jessica, and many others, thank you very much for your company, help, and support in this journey! You will always be my favorite BG family. To Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) and Dr. John Dugan: Thank you for viii collecting Asian American ethic-disaggregated data! I wish more national surveys and other data collection agencies can follow your practice. Dr. Dugan, thank you for sharing the most recent dataset with me even when this dataset is not available for researchers outside of MSL. Your believing in the significance of my research has kept me motivated during the dissertation process! To Nico Pinchak: I am inspired by you on many things, such as your attitude toward life, decision-making process, passion for research, unique and insightful perspectives about education, culture, and society, genuine care for people from diverse background, and keen interest for teacher education preparation programs. I enjoyed our every conversation. I know we have talked about many times to work on a research project together and I hope we can make it happen soon. To my friends in China and U.S.: I appreciate your love and support! You all have been very helpful in numerous ways in the past four years. This journey would not have been possible without your friendship. To my relatives: I thank you for whatever you have done to help my parents while I am out of the country. I also appreciate every call, text, and visit you have made to my parents. Your support and love to my parents is truly important for me and has helped me through this process. Finally, a special thank-you to my family. To my parents, Haiqing Li and Bolian Li: Thank you for your unconditional love and support of my education and for always encouraging me and pushing me to get a Ph.D. so I can live a life that my heart desires. To my incredible sister Yifei Li: You are THE MOST WONDERFUL sister in the world!!! You raise me up to more than I can be. I know I can always count on you, and I will do the same for you for the rest of my life. Of all the great qualities you have, I would like to let you know that your persistence ix can take you to anywhere you want. To Dongting Pan, Zhancheng Pan, and George Li: Thank you for being my family. You all have made my life in this foreign country colorful, rich, and full of good memories. To Jingxiang Jiang, Ping Cai, and Chao Cai: I am grateful for your calls, texts, support, and love! And thank you for raising such a fantastic human, Hu Cai.