Mixed-Methods Examination of Socioecological Factors Associated with Black Youths’ Sense of School Belonging

School belonging is critical to well-being among youth. However, scholarship on school belonging among Black youth has largely used deficit perspectives. Furthermore, there is a lack of social, historical, and culturally informed perspectives to examine factors that may promote or prohibit school belonging. Currently, there is limited research about how factors across socioecological levels impact school belonging among Black youth, and how this relates to behavioral health. In this mixed-method dissertation, I used phenomenological perspectives (i.e., teachers, Black youth) to examine factors that promote school belonging while accounting for manifestations of racism, then link this process to marijuana use. In Study 1, I used interviews with racially-ethnically diverse teachers (n=15) in Arizona to examine their perspective on factors which promote or prohibit a sense of school belonging. Additionally, I used Brown’s (2007) framework to identify culturally responsive strategies for promoting school belonging. Findings demonstrated that cultural humility, human connections, diverse literature, culturally aware assignments, and extracurricular involvement are critical factors that promote school belonging, while racism evidenced by racial discrimination, colorblindness, discipline disparities, and systemic racism created significant barriers to belonging. The culturally responsive strategies demonstrate unified efforts school systems use to support school belonging among Black youth. In Study 2, I employed cross-classified hierarchical linear modeling with data from the Arizona Youth Survey and structural indicators of schools and neighborhoods to examine the association between school belonging and lifetime time marijuana use among Black youth (n=6120). Findings demonstrated that school belonging was associated with decreased marijuana use, which significantly varied across schools and neighborhoods. Specifically, Black youth that attended schools with higher percentages of certified teachers and resided in majority White neighborhoods reported greater decrease in the association between school belonging and marijuana use, while higher neighborhood educational attainment was related to increase in the association between school belonging and marijuana use. Integration of the findings from these two studies demonstrate promotive factors for Black youths’ sense of school belonging, while acknowledging how racism is embedded within their daily environments. Structural changes addressing racism and supporting Black youth are needed across contexts.