Sense of Belonging and Self-Regulated Learning: Testing Achievement Goals as Mediators

We examined two aspects of college students' (N = 385) sense of belonging and its relations with three indicators of self-regulated learning. We also tested the mediating role of achievement goals in these relations. One aspect, sense of belonging to school, functioned as a significant predictor of self-reported metacognitive and academic time management strategies. In comparison, a second aspect, sense of belonging to peer groups, was a significant predictor of self-reported peer learning strategies. Findings from the mediation analyses indicated that sense of belonging to school was related with mastery goals, whereas sense of belonging to peer groups was related with performance goals. Further, mastery goals mediated the relations between sense of belonging to school and metacognitive and academic time management strategies.