Perceived social support and academic persistence among undergraduate students: Mediation of sense of belonging and intrinsic motivation

Abstract

This study investigated the mediating effect of sense of belonging and intrinsic motivation on the relationship between perceived social support and academic persistence among undergraduate students. The sample comprised 489 undergraduate students from a South African university (female = 71.2%; mean age = 27.05 years, SD = 5.14 years). They completed surveys on sense of belonging, intrinsic motivation, perceived social support, and academic persistence. The results from the mediation analyses showed that both sense of belonging and intrinsic motivation independently and significantly mediated the relationship between perceived social support and academic persistence. Additionally, the results showed that a sense of belonging and intrinsic motivation mediated (in serial) the relationship between perceived social support and academic persistence, explaining 20.5% of the variance in academic persistence. These results highlight the importance of strengthening support for students, striving for institutional cultures that foster belongingness, and cultivating intrinsic motivation to improve students’ learning experience with academic persistence.