However, in 1995, Baumeister and Leary’s landmark paper, “The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation,” firmly identified belonging as a universal human need, ingrained in our motivation as a species and stemming deeply from our ancestral roots. The paper resulted in a significant change in our understanding of belonging especially as it relates to our thoughts, feelings, and behaviours.

Social integration and participation cannot be conceived of without a "sense of belonging", but so far there has been no instrument that is suitable to measure this important social concept. The authors of a new validation study introduced an emotion-centered survey instrument with important applications to the analysis of marginalization, unemployment, gentrification, migration, and the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on social disintegration and isolation.