# Sense of Belonging and Intent to Persist: Mediating Role of Motivation and Moderating Role of Gender in Physics and Astronomy Graduate Students

## TL;DR

This study explores how graduate students' sense of belonging influences their intent to persist in physics and astronomy, highlighting the roles of motivation needs and gender differences.

## Contribution

It applies self-determination theory to identify psychological needs as mediators and gender as a moderator in the relationship between belonging and persistence.

## Key findings

- Sense of belonging significantly predicts intent to persist.
- Autonomy, competence, and relatedness influence this relationship.
- Gender moderates the effect, with women more affected by belonging levels.

## Abstract

This study investigates how graduate students' sense of belonging (SB) influences their intent to persist (IP) in physics and astronomy programs, and how this relationship is shaped by the basic psychological needs that drive motivation-autonomy, competence, and relatedness-as well as gender. Grounded in self-determination theory, the analysis treats these three needs as mediators and gender as a moderator. A quantitative survey was administered to graduate students in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at a large public land-grant R1 Midwestern university in the USA. Using probit regressions, we found that SB significantly predicts IP. Autonomy may play a compensatory role when SB is high, competence amplifies the effect of SB on IP, and relatedness buffers against low SB. Gender moderates the relationship: women report lower IP at low levels of SB but exceed men when SB is strong. These findings underscore the importance of fostering a sense of belonging, academic confidence, and social connection-particularly for women in male-dominated STEM fields.