International graduate students’ perspectives on sense of belonging in leisure

Sense of belonging (SB) has been linked to increased academic engagement, enjoyment, and motivation. This paper explored international graduate students(IGS)’ SB in leisure spaces and its lessons for leisure educators. The paper addressed the following questions: (a) How do IGS’ leisure experiences change after migrating to the US? Furthermore, (b) How does the orientation of IGS towards leisure spaces post-immigration impact their sense of belonging? In the context of leisure, three themes emerged from the intersectional autoethnographic vignettes of five doctoral students. Utilizing Bronfenbrenner's (1979) Ecological Model, we highlight how these themes relate to IGS’ different life systems and we propose a new model for studying IGSs' sense of belonging.