Validation of a Community Belonging Measure for Youth and Adults

Measuring community belonging is of interest to community organizations and practitioners, yet few tools exist. Here we validate a novel measure of community belonging: the Where I Belong Survey - Youth/Adult Version (WIBS). In Study 1, the psychometric properties and factor structure of the survey were examined in three Canadian samples of youth and young adults (n = 249; 840; 443, respectively), and results were used to refine the survey. In Study 2, the psychometric properties and factor structure of the revised 16-item WIBS were examined in a sample of Canadian undergraduates (n = 476). Results suggest the WIBS is psychometrically sound, as demonstrated through a pattern of excellent reliability, good convergent validity, and good to fair discriminant validity. Results revealed a two-factor solution with factors for Interpersonal Belonging and Context Belonging, consistent with prior theoretical work on community belonging.