Our lab is rich in data and we welcome any interest in collaborating on these projects!
Social Belonging at a Liberal Arts College: Promoting and Interfering Factors
Integration into college life can be a challenging process that students tackle with varying degrees of success. One of the clear themes that emerged from clinical interviews in our lab is that diminished sense of belonging quickly contributes to broader disturbances in mood and psychosocial functioning. We have conducted multiple projects to understand the factors that promote and interfere with feeling that one belongs at a selective liberal arts college.
In a project funded by the Spencer Foundation, we tested a brief, social belonging intervention, delivered in a group format, which emphasized that first-year challenges are normative and that over time students develop relationships that deepen their sense of belonging. Baseline and follow-up assessments combined diagnostic interview, self-report questionnaire, and experience sampling methods to assess psychological, mental health, social, and academic outcomes. We found that the intervention significantly reduced risk for major depression during the first two years of college, and specifically reduced risk for those experiencing more discrimination.
Sheets, E. S., & Young, D. (2024). A brief, group social belonging intervention to improve mental health and academic outcomes in BIPOC and first-generation to college students. Clinical Psychological Science, 12(6), 1179-1194. https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231220060
Study hypotheses and the analysis plan were pre-registered on the Open Science Framework at osf.io/zr97y
Intervention materials, including the protocol for group leaders and the discussion handout, are available at https://osf.io/8up67
Information on the EMA protocol is available at https://osf.io/qsvfz/
In another project, twelve focus groups were conducted with student participants. Qualitative analyses revealed both positive and negative factors regarding social and academic belonging. Generally, students reported enthusiastically on their academic experiences, citing close relationships with professors and comfort interacting with their classmates. Attitudes toward social experiences varied with several broad themes emerging, including the role of alcohol use, social groups, social identity, and positive aspects of the first-year experience and extracurricular opportunities.
A third project more closely examined how social belonging is associated with alcohol use, depressive symptoms, stress, “hook-up culture,” and aspects of identity. We recruited 299 first-years or seniors to compare experiences across year in college. We completed a similar, follow-up study to this project in May 2024. New data from 282 students will allow us to compare emotional health and belonging before and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adaptive Mindsets
The social-belonging intervention was an effort to shift students’ mindsets about the normality of challenges during the transition to college. Our work has continued in this direction with a focus on (mal)adaptive mindsets, regarding stress and anxiety. This work largely has been conducted as students’ undergraduate honors research and is described within Previous Projects.
Asnes, S., & Sheets, E. S. (2026). The impact of accurate and inaccurate social media anxiety content on perceptions of anxiety. [Manuscript in preparation]. Department of Psychology, Colby College.
Hurley, K., & Sheets, E. S. (2026). Mental health in emerging adulthood: The moderating role of intolerance of uncertainty, stress mindset, and perfectionism. [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of Psychology, Colby College.
Asnes, S., & Sheets, E. S. (2026). Social media content about anxiety, theories of anxiety, and coping strategies in college students. Journal of American College Health, 74(4), 1079-1084. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2025.2492168
Huebschmann, N. A., & Sheets, E. S. (2021). Don’t fear conflict: Relationship stress beliefs in friend, familial, and romantic relationships. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 26(2), 252-261. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN26.2.252
Huebschmann, N. A.*, & Sheets, E. S. (2020). The right mindset: Stress mindset moderates the association between perceived stress and depressive symptoms. Anxiety, Stress, & Coping, 33, 248-255. doi: 10.1080/10615806.2020.1736900