Parenthood and Gender Impact on Graduate Students' Mental Health During COVID-19

• In Event: Barriers and Burdens of Graduate Students in Higher Education

Abstract

In this quantitative study of 543 graduate students, we examined the influence of parental status, gender, and minority status on perceived helplessness, self-efficacy, and satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic. A series of factorial ANOVAs found significant differences between student parents and non-parents. While graduate student parents showed lower levels of perceived helplessness and higher levels of self-efficacy and satisfaction, we found the influence of gender and the interaction effect of gender and parental status, which developed a wider gender gap between female student parents and male student parents. Female student parents showed significantly higher levels of perceived helplessness and lower levels of self-efficacy when compared to male graduate student parents. Minority status was not statistically significant in this study.

Authors

• Hyeon Jean Yoo, Tennessee State University
  Presenting Author

• David T. Marshall, Auburn University
  Non-Presenting Author