AUTHOR=Pardede Saga , Gausel Nicolay , Høie Magnhild Mjåvatn 

TITLE=Revisiting the “The Breakfast Club”: Testing Different Theoretical Models of Belongingness and Acceptance (and Social Self-Representation)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2020

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.604090

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2020.604090

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The current work tests different theoretical models of belongingness and acceptance as fundamental needs for human motivation. In the current study, 372 participants were presented with 52 different items measuring 5 different theoretical models of belongingness (with a total of 32 items) and 3 different theoretical models of acceptance (with a total of 20 items). In a first step, Confirmatory Factor Analysis failed to provide support for these 8 theoretical models. In a second step, we therefore applied Exploratory Factor Analysis yielding 3 factors, which we interpreted as communicating: (1) Belongingness, (2) Emotion-Acceptance, and (3) Social Self-Representation. In a third step, these 3 factors were corroborated by a Confirmatory Factor Analysis. We discuss how these two factors of ‘belongingness’, ‘emotional-acceptance’ respond to the literature on the need to belong and be accepted, and we reflect on how ‘social-self representation’ seems to be an alternative motivation for how we present ourselves to our social relations to fulfil our needs.