Studying the effects of sense of belonging to virtual communities in psychological well-being and adjustment to academic setting

Abstract

The literature has shown a direct relationship between the psychological sense of belonging with psychological well-being and academic involvement in physical communities. However, new technologies have favored the formation of communities in cyberspace, with scarce research at the university level addressing their impact. For this reason, an ex post facto study has been designed with the aim of knowing the relationship between the psychological sense of belonging to virtual communities with psychological well-being, with academic involvement, academic satisfaction, and the perception of justice of the academic outcomes. In addition, the possible influence of the gender factor was considered. 1,035 undergraduate students from Spanish universities responded to the Scale of Psychological Sense of Community in Virtual Groups (SCGV), to the Scale of Psychological Well-being (EBP) and to an ad hoc instrument designed to measure academic involvement, academic satisfaction and perception of justice of the academic outcomes. The results revealed that the successful virtual sense of belonging is related to greater subjective, economic and academic well-being, while increasing academic participation, academic satisfaction and the perception of justice of the academic outcomes. Moreover, the influence of the gender factor was also found, as it revealed greater academic well-being in women and differences in academic participation between men and women. The implications of the results are discussed in terms of the benefits for the students of integration and participation in virtual academic communities for the well-being, academic involvement, academic satisfaction and perception of justice of the academic outcomes.