Role Spillover, Conflict and Enhancement: Navigating Family and College

• In Event: 054 - Section on the Sociology of the Family Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Education and the Changing Family

Abstract

How does a woman attempt to make to the seemingly opposing and demanding roles of student and mother fit together? The qualitative research in this study explores the subject of mothering in college with particular attention on how these women simultaneously construct the roles of student and mother while attending college part-time (three credits or more) and caring for a minor child under the age of five (or in kindergarten). The semi-structured interviews conducted during the 2008-2009 year with 24 women, undergraduate and graduate students, attending college at a major urban university sought to better understand this experience. The following paper will cover a set of findings from this study; specifically, the experiences the women have with role spillover, conflict and enhancement. The student mother experience indicates combining roles may result in spillover from both school-to-family and family-to school producing both role conflict and role enhancement for the student mothers.

Author

• Elizabeth Rose Pare, Oakland University