Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM)
EducationReliability: alpha 0.883 sample items
About this scale
An 18-item measure of students' sense of belonging at school across three factors: belonging, rejection, and acceptance.
Sample item(s)
“I feel like a real part of my school (belonging)”
“Other students take my opinions seriously (acceptance)”
“Sometimes I feel as if I don't belong at my school (rejection, reverse)”
Reliability
Reported internal consistency: alpha 0.88. As a rule of thumb, Cronbach’s α ≥ .70 is considered acceptable, ≥ .80 good, and ≥ .90 excellent for established measures.
Notes
Foundational K-12 belonging measure.
Source & citation
Goodenow, C. (1993): The Psychological Sense of School Membership among adolescents: Scale development and educational correlates. Psychology in the Schools, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 79–90.
Source. Scale details are summarised from the publication cited above. Always consult the original source for the full item set, scoring, and permission to use.
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