Communities in Transition: Asian American College Students’ Perspectives on Belonging

The high school to college transition can be an exciting but challenging period for many youth, including the diverse Asian American youth, a group that is rarely researched. In this study, we amplify the voices of six Asian American college students as they discuss belonging during the transition from high school to college. Drawing from both AsianCrit and Asian Diaspora Experience frameworks, we focus our analysis and discussion on the focal youths’ definitions of belonging, how transitions they face lead them to seek various spaces of belonging, and the strategies they use to create community, with attention to the role that their identities play across these areas. The focal Asian American youths employ diverse identity-based, network-based, and activity-based strategies, demonstrating agency and resilience in seeking belonging. This study contributes to the literature on belongingness among Asian American college students by examining factors that shape their sense of community and belonging prior to and during the transition to college, as well as considering how identity connects with both community and belonging. We offer implications and recommendations for researchers and secondary/post-secondary education professionals to support Asian American youth in developing a stronger sense of both identity and community during this transition.