The Need to Belong and Student Grades: Is There a Correlation?

Abstract

The research examined whether adolescent’s need for belonging is correlated with their first semester grade point averages. This exploratory research will attempt to asses middle school students sense of belongingness through the use of the Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale (Goodenow, 1993) against the grade point average. The purpose of this research is to assess if belongingness and academic achievement correspond with one another in a sample of 50 sixth-grade students. Results indicate that there is no relationship between sense of belonging and grade point average r(48) = .205, p < .05.