ORCID

0009-0004-5430-4365

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Jason C. Garvey

Abstract

Asian Americans are the third largest and one of the fastest-growing racial groups in the U.S. Though they may not be the largest racial ethnic minority on college campuses, they are characterized as high achieving students who persist onto graduation. This portrayal has led to this group of students being under researched. Even more so when they are studied, they are lumped into an assumed homogenous group that could mask issues of Asian sub-groups and/or ethnicities, which could skew how student affairs practitioners understand how students who hold these identities persist on a college campus. When discussing student persistence, sense of belonging on college campuses has emerged as key to student persistence, particularly for students of color. Building on empirical research of students that explored how environments impact student persistence, this quantitative study examined the environments that relate to sense of belonging for first-generation Asian American college students. Using existing data from the American College Health Association (ACHA) through their National College Health Assessment (NCHA), Astin’s (1994) Input-Environment-Output (I-E-O) was applied as a methodological framework along with applying Strayhorn’s (2012) sense of belonging as the theoretical framework to a stepwise regression model for examining my research question. Results demonstrated that there was a positive relationship to sense of belonging for first-generation Asian American college students (along with first-generation East Asian, Southeast Asian, and South Asian sub-groups) when they had the opportunity to socialize with friends, participated in student organizations, along with spending time with their families. Additionally, psychological wellbeing and mental health also showed a positive relationship. Inversely, the results demonstrated a negative relationship to sense of belonging when they were faced with challenges, stress, and loneliness. The findings from this dissertation can inform student affairs practitioners to apply a Culturally Engaging Campus Environment (CECE) model of college success and change their approach to their work from an assimilation lens to an acculturation approach that creates intervention strategies that specifically target first-generation Asian Americans and subsequent sub-groups. As enrollment of first-generation Asian Americans continue to grow on college campuses, it is the hope that empirical research on this specific student population, more importantly, specifically Asian sub-groups and specific Asian ethnicities also grows so as to better inform practice for student affairs professionals in fostering a sense of belonging on college campus.

Keywords: first-generation, Asian American, sense of belonging, higher education student impact models, student affairs practitioners, equity

Language

en

Number of Pages

227 p.

Download

Share

COinS