Transfronterizx College Students’ Perceptions of Campus Climate and Sense of Belonging

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the variables that best predicted Transfronterizx college students’ sense of on-campus belonging in higher education at the San Diego-Tijuana borderlands. To identify the variables that predicted students’ on-campus sense of belonging, this study also examined their demographic characteristics, student characteristics, transborder interactions, and beliefs about their campus climate. A total of 100 Transfronterizx students (58% female and 42% male) from a four-year higher education institution in the Southwestern region of the United States participated in this study. PARTICIPANTS The data for this study was collected during the fall 2015 academic year. A total of 100 students (58% female, 42% male) from a four-year higher education institution located in a border town in the southwestern region of the United States participated in this study. Of these, 81 (81%) were undergraduates, and 19 (19%) were master's students. The mean age of participants was 23.66 years (SD = 5.19), with a range of 18 to 50 years. Overall, 9,000 undergraduate and 2,000 graduate Latinx students were contacted via email to participate in the study. A total of 130 participants completed the questionnaire. However, responses from students who had already graduated or were not living a transborder life during the study period were excluded from the analysis and findings. As a result, only 100 students were included in the final sample. SITE The recruitment site for this study was a Hispanic-serving, four-year public higher education institution located in a border town in the southwestern region of the United States. The campus is situated in close proximity to the U.S.-Mexico international border, and campus leaders have engaged in various binational collaboration efforts with non-profit organizations and higher education institutions in Mexico. This institution was selected as the recruitment site due to its proximity to the U.S.-Mexico international border. At the time of this study, the university served approximately 32,000 students. However, there is no record of the number of students who attend the campus and live a transborder life in the U.S.-Mexico region. Researchers explain that, due to the nature of the Transborder population—where many members have dual citizenships and dual domiciles—it is difficult to track the exact number of students who are part of the U.S.-Mexico Transfronterizx community (Chavez Montaño, 2006). PROCEDURES AND RECRUITMENT The methodological procedure for this study was descriptive in nature. The recommended sample size for a descriptive study is approximately 100 participants for each major subgroup (Mertens, 2015). In line with this recommendation, 100 students from the higher education institution mentioned above participated in the study. Upon receiving Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval, the consent form and data collection instruments were uploaded to the Qualtrics system for participants to access. A Qualtrics link to the consent form and data collection instruments was included in a recruitment email sent to students via social media outlets, student clubs, and campus organizations. A total of 130 students from the higher education institution completed the questionnaire; however, 30 responses were excluded because the students did not meet the participant requirements. As a result, only 100 students were included in this study. INSTRUMENT The researcher collected quantitative responses about the transborder experiences of college students who live a transborder life through a 30-item questionnaire to address the first and second sub-research questions of this study: (1) What are the demographic and student characteristics of Transfronterizx college students from the U.S.-Mexico Southwest Border Region? and (2) What are Transfronterizx college students’ transborder characteristics and belief levels about living a transborder life?To capture students’ demographic characteristics, the questionnaire included nominal questions about students’ age, race, ethnicity, cultural identification, and academic experiences. It also included nominal questions about students’ transborder interactions, the circumstances that led them to live a transborder life, and their current reasons for continuing to do so. Additionally, two ordinal items measured students’ beliefs about living a transborder life using a Likert scale ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 4 = strongly agree. The researcher administered the following subscales from the National Survey of Hispanic Students (NSHS) (Hurtado & Carter, 1997) to address the third and fourth sub-research questions of this study: Sense of Belonging to Campus (SBC), Experienced Discrimination-Exclusion (EDE), and Perceptions of Campus Racial-Ethnic Tension (PCRET). These sub-research questions were: (3) What are Transfronterizx college students’ belief levels about their sense of belonging, experiences...

### 研究目的
本研究旨在探究圣迭戈-蒂华纳边境地区高等教育场景中，跨境跨边境拉美裔（Transfronterizx）大学生校内归属感的最优预测变量。为明确预测学生校内归属感的相关影响因素，本研究同时考察了其人口统计学特征、学生个体特质、跨境互动情况以及对校园氛围的认知态度。本次研究共招募美国西南部四年制高等院校的100名跨境跨边境拉美裔学生参与，其中女生占58%，男生占42%。

### 研究对象
本研究数据采集于2015年秋季学期。研究共招募美国西南部边境城镇四年制高等院校的100名学生参与，其中女生占58%，男生占42%；81名（81%）为本科生，19名（19%）为硕士研究生。参与者平均年龄为23.66岁（标准差SD=5.19），年龄跨度为18至50岁。
本研究通过邮件共邀请9000名拉丁裔本科生与2000名拉丁裔研究生参与招募，最终有130名参与者完成问卷。但研究期间已毕业或未处于跨境生活状态的学生答卷被排除在分析与最终结果之外，最终纳入分析的有效样本为100名学生。

### 研究站点
本研究的招募站点为美国西南部边境城镇的一所西班牙裔服务型四年制公立高等院校。该校紧邻美墨国际边境，校方领导层已与墨西哥的非营利组织及高等院校开展多项双边合作项目。鉴于该校紧邻美墨边境，因此被选为本次研究的招募站点。
本次研究开展时，该校在校生规模约为32000人，但目前并无该校在校生中居住于美墨跨境区域的学生人数记录。有研究者指出，由于跨境群体的特性——多数成员拥有双重国籍与双重居所——难以准确统计隶属于美墨跨境跨边境拉美裔群体的学生人数（Chavez Montaño, 2006）。

### 研究流程与招募方式
本研究的方法论范式为描述性研究。描述性研究的推荐样本量为每个主要亚组约100名参与者（Mertens, 2015），基于该建议，本次研究共招募上述院校的100名学生参与。
在获得机构审查委员会（Institutional Review Board, IRB）批准后，研究人员将知情同意书与数据收集工具上传至Qualtrics在线调研系统（Qualtrics）供参与者访问。研究人员通过社交媒体、学生社团及校园组织向学生发送招募邮件，其中包含指向Qualtrics平台上的知情同意书与数据收集工具的链接。
最终共有130名该校学生完成问卷，但其中30名因不符合参与者纳入标准而被剔除，最终纳入本研究的有效样本为100名学生。

### 研究工具
为解答本研究的前两个子研究问题，研究人员通过一份包含30个题项的问卷收集了跨境生活大学生的跨境经历相关量化数据：（1）美墨西南部边境地区的跨境跨边境拉美裔大学生具有哪些人口统计学与个体特征？（2）跨境跨边境拉美裔大学生的跨境特征及其对跨境生活的认知态度如何？
为收集学生的人口统计学特征数据，问卷设置了关于学生年龄、种族、族裔、文化认同与学术经历的定名变量问题；同时还包含了关于学生跨境互动情况、促成其跨境生活的动因以及当前维持跨境生活的原因的定名变量问题。此外，问卷设置了2个定序题项，采用1=非常不同意至4=非常同意的李克特量表（Likert scale），测量学生对跨境生活的认知态度。
为解答本研究的第三、第四个子研究问题，研究人员采用了《拉丁裔学生全国调查（National Survey of Hispanic Students, NSHS）》（Hurtado & Carter, 1997）中的以下子量表：校内归属感量表（Sense of Belonging to Campus, SBC）、遭遇歧视排斥量表（Experienced Discrimination-Exclusion, EDE）以及校园种族族群紧张感感知量表（Perceptions of Campus Racial-Ethnic Tension, PCRET）。本研究的第三、第四个子研究问题分别为：（3）跨境跨边境拉美裔大学生对其校内归属感、经历……