Theory of belonging:

• "Belonging" means the need to form and maintain at least one meaningful, lasting, positive and significant interpersonal relationship.
• Belonging is a motivator to human action, as well as the need to sustain psychological and physical well-being.
• If students feel they don't belong in a specific field they might leave that major, because they prefer environments with meaningful lasting relationships that can be more fulfilling. This is also called social fit.
• So, if a student feels like they belong in computer science, this can predict if they will persist in computer science.
• Theory of belonging enhances field theory by also giving an insight on identity-related issues and their impact on educational contexts.