Adaptación y análisis de la estructura interna de la Escala de Sentido de Pertenencia Universitaria (ESPU) en estudiantes peruanos

The sense of belonging refers to the experience of participation in a system or environment in such a way that each member feels an integral part of that system. This attribute is of interest in different educational environments of different levels, however, there are no measures that allow its correct measurement. The purpose of the study was to adapt and analyze the internal structure of the Sense of Belonging Scale in Peruvian university students (SBUS). For this, we worked with a convenience sample made up of 827 university students, divided into two groups, one of 220 students (68.6 % women) with an average age equal to 21.68 years (SD = 4.87), with which the exploratory factorial analysis was carried out. The second group consisted of a total of 607 participants (69.7 % women) with an average age of 21.28 (SD = 4.21) years, with which confirmatory factor analyzes were performed. The results show the linguistic adaptation, appreciating an adequate inter-observer agreement (RVC > .70). The exploratory factor analysis suggests a two-factor structure (χ² = 646.750; df = 36.00; p < .001) that explains 41.2 % of the variance; this structure was corroborated by a confirmatory factor analysis, which reached adequate fit indices (CFI = .998; TLI = .996; RMSEA = .048). The reliability of the scale was determined by internal consistency, finding omega coefficients ranging between .665 and .929. In summary, the SBUS is an instrument with adequate evidence of validity and reliability to measure the sense of belonging.