Sense of belonging

School is an environment which brings out students’ hidden talents. Paying attention to an appropriate context and environment has a huge impact on achieving this goal. The purpose of this study was to determine and evaluate semantic factors provided by experts influence students’ sense of belonging at high school students in terms of Iranian experts. To this end, firstly data were collected through the library study along with preparation of hierarchal semantic factors, affecting the sense of belonging. After preparing the paired comparison questionnaires, the feedback from a number of experts was taken. Data were assessed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Expert Choice11 software. The results of the study showed that the factors related to meaning induced by environment are the most effective ones. In fact, semantic factors which are effective in the relationship of students with their feelings and perceptions have the greatest influence in increasing their belonging to school. Based on the results of the sub-categories, legibility, "evoking memories in the environment" and "Possibility of controlling territories for students," are respectively recognized as the most important factors in creating children’s sense of belonging to the school yard. Factors such as age and gender of the student are less effective than other factors in making sense of belonging.

Purpose: The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of social isolation and psychological distress in the relationship between belonging and life satisfaction among university students. Methodology: In a correlational design, 200 undergraduate students from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad were selected via multi-stage sampling method. Data collection was carried out by measurments, including sense of belonging instrument (Hagerty, & Patusky, 1995), need to belong scale (Kelly,1999), schema questionnaire (Young, 1998), depression, anxiety, stress scale (Lovibond, & Lovibond,1995), psychological distress scale (Kessler et al., 2002) and satisfaction with life scale (Diener, et al., 1985). Data analysis was conducted using pearson correlation coefficient and path analysis. Findings: The results indicated that the sense of belonging and the need to belong were related to social isolation. Additionally, the mediating role of social isolation and psychological distress in the relationship between nelonging and life satisfaction was confirmed (P <0.01). The fit indices confirmed the goodness of fit of the stated model. Also, psychological distress was significantly related to life satifaction. Conclusion: These results highlight the importance of laying the groundwork for students' life satisfaction, which requires the implentation of effective interventions and programs to strengthen sense of belonging and, followed by the reduction of social isolation and psychological distress. The limitations of this study and the future directions will be discussed.