title: A brief social-belonging intervention improves academic and health outcomes of minority students.
abstract: A brief intervention aimed at buttressing college freshmen's sense of social belonging in school was tested in a randomized controlled trial (N = 92), and its academic and health-related consequences over 3 years are reported. The intervention aimed to lessen psychological perceptions of threat on campus by framing social adversity as common and transient. It used subtle attitude-change strategies to lead participants to self-generate the intervention message. The intervention was expected to be particularly beneficial to African-American students (N = 49), a stereotyped and socially marginalized group in academics, and less so to European-American students (N = 43). Consistent with these expectations, over the 3-year observation period the intervention raised African Americans' grade-point average (GPA) relative to multiple control groups and halved the minority achievement gap. This performance boost was mediated by the effect of the intervention on subjective construal: It prevented students from seeing adversity on campus as an indictment of their belonging. Additionally, the intervention improved African Americans' self-reported health and well-being and reduced their reported number of doctor visits 3 years postintervention. Senior-year surveys indicated no awareness among participants of the intervention's impact. The results suggest that social belonging is a psychological lever where targeted intervention can have broad consequences that lessen inequalities in achievement and health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. gwalton@stanford.edu
authors.forename: Gregory M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.forename: Geoffrey L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D012917:Social Adjustment; D012928:Social Desirability; D012934:Social Isolation; D012938:Social Perception; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D044465:White People