SCOTT BROCATO
Kim, first of all, tell us about the Center for Inclusion and Belonging.
KIM SERRANO
Well, the Center for Inclusion and Belonging is a think-and-do tank at the American Immigration Council, and we work on research and community programs to explore how to bring people together and foster deeper connection, build social cohesion, and trust in communities and ultimately foster belonging.
SCOTT BROCATO
Which is what we want to talk about today: loneliness. A pandemic of loneliness. According to a new advisory from the US Surgeon General, there is an epidemic of loneliness in the US, and that lacking connection can increase the risk for premature death to levels comparable to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. That is a pretty astounding statement. What are some of the causes for that loneliness?
KIM SERRANO
You know, we're seeing some trends that seem to be contributing to these rising levels of loneliness in the US. They include things like increasing social isolation; that's often measured by things like hours spent alone. We've seen a rise to the average person spending about 24 hours a month by themselves, and that's been increasing over the past few years. You know, we're also seeing trends in reducing social participation; that's the degree to which people engage with each other and participate socially in their communities. So some of these kinds of things seem to be part of the trend toward this rising sense of loneliness and isolation.
SCOTT BROCATO
Let's talk about The Belonging Report: The State of Belonging in America. First of all, tell us what is The Belonging Report?
KIM SERRANO
Great question. So we put together with our partners over Zero a study of belonging. And one of the first things we did was ask the question: what is belonging, and can you even measure it? Because belonging is one of those things that feels kind of squishy and hard to wrap your arms around, and we wanted to understand it better. So we felt one of the first steps is, we need to sort of learn what it is, and then how do we measure it? And then what we did is we took the tool, the measurement tool that we developed, which is called the Belonging Barometer, and we applied it to a national survey across the country to take the pulse on the state of belonging in America. And so that was to give us some of what we call baseline information about how much belonging Americans are feeling, and we looked at it in five life settings: belonging among friends, belonging among family, belonging in the workplace, belonging in the local community, and belonging in the country.
SCOTT BROCATO
Well, let's go over some of the key findings in the report, starting with “Belonging is measurably multifaceted.”
KIM SERRANO
Yeah, that's one of my one of my favorite lessons about belonging is that it's dynamic. So we see that longing isn't a light switch. It's not something that you just turn off or turn on, you know. That you feel belonging or you don't; but actually it's more of a spectrum. So we see folks experiencing high belonging, we see them experiencing something called unbelonging and non belonging; and those are experiences where you somebody maybe felt belonging at some point in time but then they lost it. And so there's actually a feeling of loss with that. We see other folks who have never known belonging, so they have a little bit different experience. And then we see outright exclusion: feeling pushed outside. And so all of that collectively is a spectrum that we call a lack of belonging. And part of what we saw is that people actually move in and out of those states too. So someone might be feeling a lack of belonging in one life setting, but they might be feeling high belonging in another, and that belonging is dynamic, so it can change and it can shift and it can move.
SCOTT BROCATO
Another key finding: Belonging is vital for American Society. In what ways?
KIM SERRANO
So part of what we learned is that there are these different components that comprise belonging. And so they're kind of like three legs of a stool. There's social connection, which relates back to loneliness as well. Social connection in many ways is that antidote to loneliness. There's psychological safety, which is this idea that one can feel like one's authentic self without any fear of judgment; that would be high psychological safety. And then there's a third component of co-creation. So that's agency: the ability to exercise agency over one's setting and decisions. And so, collectively, those relate in community to things like trust. And so what we see is that often belonging and high belonging correlates with social trust, and it's really important for building cohesion. And so when you see things like low trust at the local level, for example, whether that's low trust in institutions or neighbors or community, that can also correlate with some of these other trends around loneliness and lack of belonging. So building belonging can be really important and really vital for making strong local communities and a sort of healthy functioning civic life.
SCOTT BROCATO
Another key finding: Large percentage of Americans feel they are treated less than others in their daily lives. Less than others in what ways?
KIM SERRANO
You know, we didn't dive too deeply into some of the specific examples in this survey about some of the ways folks are feeling less than others. But it was concerning to us that that was high. And part of that kind of speaks to the role of things like psychological safety and social connection, that feeling of feeling valued, feeling included, feeling welcomed. All of these things are in many ways the opposite of feeling “less than”, and so that's a really important observation that we're trying to understand a little bit better through additional research, to try to think through, What does this mean for our communities, and then how do we counter this? Do we actually help folks feel like their full selves in a range of life settings?
SCOTT BROCATO
And: Belonging and diversity are interdependent. I found that fascinating.
KIM SERRANO
Yeah, this is one of the...I think this might be a counterintuitive finding for some folks because what we actually saw was that places that have high belonging and high diversity are actually the most optimal conditions. So for example, when folks report having diverse friendships, they also look for the highest belonging, even higher than folks who say they don't have diverse friendships. So part of why I say I think that's sometimes a counterintuitive finding is that often we're taught or we think that by being around sameness, that that actually equals and equates with “fit”, and that that's what produces belonging. But what we actually see is that when we as people are engaged or cross lines of difference, whether that's age or background or education levels, that there can actually produce a higher sense of satisfaction and belonging, and the cascading positive effects that come with that, that kind of greater life satisfaction and some of those kinds of things. So in many ways for those of us who are invested in deepening belonging, we're also really interested in what it looks like to do diversity well, and to make diverse workplaces and families and homes where we can all experience belonging together.
SCOTT BROCATO
Which is really interesting, especially in the area of, say, politics, as people become supposedly more tribal. Looking outside of their sphere might actually help.
KIM SERRANO
You know, I think there's definitely implications for how we connect across lines of difference, including political affiliation and political views; in that we see at its base, belonging is really, it's just basic human need. So we all have it, regardless of our political affiliation or our background. And it is actually something that we find with each other, and when we are able to learn how to engage across lines of difference, including ideological difference...actually, the deepest belonging is often found with somebody who is different from us. And so I think that's actually a really interesting and really encouraging finding as we think about, you know, what can feel like a more polarized country in many ways. Because we actually are seeing and learning that we need people who have different views, and we need to be in relationship with each other. And that ultimately, that's actually really healthy and really good for us and we can find belonging together.
SCOTT BROCATO
The final key finding in the belonging barometer is that belonging is attainable. Sounds like good news. How is it attainable? How can we attain it?
KIM SERRANO
It is good news. You know, it goes back to something we were talking about earlier, in the fact that belonging is dynamic. So it can change. So we can actually see folks who are experiencing nonbelonging or unbelonging or exclusion: when met with some interventions, they can actually begin to feel more belonging. And so the ways that that can practically look like is creating inclusive spaces. Being able to in different life settings, whether that's at a school or at a church or at a workplace, there are practical steps to make sure that everyone who's in that workplace with that school or that church can feel fully themselves, and begin to increase some of those three prongs that I mentioned, that psychological safety, that ability to be one's authentic self. Also, to feel that sense of agency to be able to contribute to that setting as well, as well as then to be able to connect with others. So being able to experience that social connection, that third prong that ties again back to that is the antidote to loneliness: when we do interventions that do all of those three things, those can help contribute to that rise in belonging.
SCOTT BROCATO
And where can people find more information about The Belonging Barometer and as well as the Center for Inclusion and Belonging?
KIM SERRANO
So you can go online to American Immigration Council and you will be able to do a search and you can find the Belonging Barometer report on the website and download a full copy and you can learn more about our work at the Center for Inclusion and Belonging there.
