{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132619"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/132619","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Hope for the best, expect the worse: a framework for understanding belonging fulfillment among Black graduate students","abstract":"Across disciplines, Black graduate students continue to show some of the highest levels of attrition (Lively, 2022). Although there can be numerous reasons why they may leave, lack of belonging is a common theme among them (Burt et al., 2018). Because a sense of belonging is related to student academic achievement and retention (Strayhorn, 2019), a way to improve Black graduate student retention is to gain insight into their sense of belonging. Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature that explores how students develop their sense of belonging. A study by Wirth and colleagues (2017) found that those who expect to belong and then don’t, experience greater negative feelings those who do not expect to belong and then don’t. Thus, it can be inferred that expectations may play a critical role in belonging development. This phenomenon is known as belonging fulfillment (Rayford et al., 2023). However, belonging fulfillment has not been fully theorized. This study aimed to understand how a sense of belonging develops by creating a framework of belonging fulfillment through the lens of Black graduate students. To this end, I pose: How do Black graduate students develop and experience the process of belonging fulfillment in their program, or lack thereof? Using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology, 16 Black doctoral students in the United States were interviewed. The results highlight a framework that has four processes —adjustment, bootstrapping, connection, support— and six factors— advisor & program faculty, geographic location, funding, program peers, program opportunities, and racial experiences. This study contributes to the literature in understanding a sense of belonging by advancing the constellation of belonging theories by providing a framework that further explains the nuances of this phenomenon, and that can be situated within this new context — graduate studies.","abstract_html":"Across disciplines, Black graduate students continue to show some of the highest levels of attrition (Lively, 2022). Although there can be numerous reasons why they may leave, lack of belonging is a common theme among them (Burt et al., 2018). Because a sense of belonging is related to student academic achievement and retention (Strayhorn, 2019), a way to improve Black graduate student retention is to gain insight into their sense of belonging. Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature that explores how students develop their sense of belonging. A study by Wirth and colleagues (2017) found that those who expect to belong and then don’t, experience greater negative feelings those who do not expect to belong and then don’t. Thus, it can be inferred that expectations may play a critical role in belonging development. This phenomenon is known as belonging fulfillment (Rayford et al., 2023). However, belonging fulfillment has not been fully theorized. This study aimed to understand how a sense of belonging develops by creating a framework of belonging fulfillment through the lens of Black graduate students. To this end, I pose: How do Black graduate students develop and experience the process of belonging fulfillment in their program, or lack thereof? Using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology, 16 Black doctoral students in the United States were interviewed. The results highlight a framework that has four processes —adjustment, bootstrapping, connection, support— and six factors— advisor & program faculty, geographic location, funding, program peers, program opportunities, and racial experiences. This study contributes to the literature in understanding a sense of belonging by advancing the constellation of belonging theories by providing a framework that further explains the nuances of this phenomenon, and that can be situated within this new context — graduate studies.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Rayford, Taiylor R"],"institution":"University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Educational Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Marchand, Aixa","Baber, Lorenzo","Hardesty, Jennifer","Vaccaro, Annemarie"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2025,"date_issued":"2025-12","date_published":"2025-12","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z","subjects":["Belonging Fulfillment","Sense of Belonging","Black","Graduate Studies"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2025 Taiylor Rayford"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132619","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Marchand, Aixa","Baber, Lorenzo","Hardesty, Jennifer","Vaccaro, Annemarie"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Rayford, Taiylor R"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2025-12","2025-08-25"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educational Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Belonging Fulfillment","Sense of Belonging","Black","Graduate Studies"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2025 Taiylor Rayford"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132619"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Across disciplines, Black graduate students continue to show some of the highest levels of attrition (Lively, 2022). Although there can be numerous reasons why they may leave, lack of belonging is a common theme among them (Burt et al., 2018). Because a sense of belonging is related to student academic achievement and retention (Strayhorn, 2019), a way to improve Black graduate student retention is to gain insight into their sense of belonging. Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature that explores how students develop their sense of belonging. A study by Wirth and colleagues (2017) found that those who expect to belong and then don’t, experience greater negative feelings those who do not expect to belong and then don’t. Thus, it can be inferred that expectations may play a critical role in belonging development. This phenomenon is known as belonging fulfillment (Rayford et al., 2023). However, belonging fulfillment has not been fully theorized. This study aimed to understand how a sense of belonging develops by creating a framework of belonging fulfillment through the lens of Black graduate students. To this end, I pose: How do Black graduate students develop and experience the process of belonging fulfillment in their program, or lack thereof? Using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology, 16 Black doctoral students in the United States were interviewed. The results highlight a framework that has four processes —adjustment, bootstrapping, connection, support— and six factors— advisor & program faculty, geographic location, funding, program peers, program opportunities, and racial experiences. This study contributes to the literature in understanding a sense of belonging by advancing the constellation of belonging theories by providing a framework that further explains the nuances of this phenomenon, and that can be situated within this new context — graduate studies.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2027-12-01","The student, Taiylor Rayford, accepted the attached license on 2025-08-22 at 12:26.","The student, Taiylor Rayford, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-08-22 at 12:30.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-08-25 at 11:58.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22777 on 2026-02-19 at 18:45:22"]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Hope for the best, expect the worse: a framework for understanding belonging fulfillment among Black graduate students"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Marchand, Aixa","Baber, Lorenzo","Hardesty, Jennifer","Vaccaro, Annemarie"],"dc:creator":["Rayford, Taiylor R"],"dc:date":["2025-12","2025-08-25"],"dc:description":["Across disciplines, Black graduate students continue to show some of the highest levels of attrition (Lively, 2022). Although there can be numerous reasons why they may leave, lack of belonging is a common theme among them (Burt et al., 2018). Because a sense of belonging is related to student academic achievement and retention (Strayhorn, 2019), a way to improve Black graduate student retention is to gain insight into their sense of belonging. Unfortunately, there is a lack of literature that explores how students develop their sense of belonging. A study by Wirth and colleagues (2017) found that those who expect to belong and then don’t, experience greater negative feelings those who do not expect to belong and then don’t. Thus, it can be inferred that expectations may play a critical role in belonging development. This phenomenon is known as belonging fulfillment (Rayford et al., 2023). However, belonging fulfillment has not been fully theorized. This study aimed to understand how a sense of belonging develops by creating a framework of belonging fulfillment through the lens of Black graduate students. To this end, I pose: How do Black graduate students develop and experience the process of belonging fulfillment in their program, or lack thereof? Using Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology, 16 Black doctoral students in the United States were interviewed. The results highlight a framework that has four processes —adjustment, bootstrapping, connection, support— and six factors— advisor & program faculty, geographic location, funding, program peers, program opportunities, and racial experiences. This study contributes to the literature in understanding a sense of belonging by advancing the constellation of belonging theories by providing a framework that further explains the nuances of this phenomenon, and that can be situated within this new context — graduate studies.","Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2027-12-01","The student, Taiylor Rayford, accepted the attached license on 2025-08-22 at 12:26.","The student, Taiylor Rayford, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2025-08-22 at 12:30.","This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2025-08-25 at 11:58.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #22777 on 2026-02-19 at 18:45:22"],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/132619"],"dc:language":["en"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2025 Taiylor Rayford"],"dc:subject":["Belonging Fulfillment","Sense of Belonging","Black","Graduate Studies"],"dc:title":["Hope for the best, expect the worse: a framework for understanding belonging fulfillment among Black graduate students"],"dc:type":["text","Thesis"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educational Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:07Z"}