Doctoral Student Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Did They Fare?

Abstract

The challenges faced by parenting during doctoral education are widely acknowledged. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck universities in the United States in March 2020, doctoral student parents, like other working parents, faced the new challenge of managing workloads without access to childcare, schools, or other supports for balancing work and family opportunities. And yet, many parents persevered through these seemingly impossible circumstances. This paper describes a survey of doctoral students (N = 483) about the ways in which the first 18 months of the pandemic impacted their academic work and professional development opportunities, identifying the institutional supports available to them during this time. Differences between parents of dependent minor children and non-parents were explored, with no differences found except in dissertation delays, where non-parenting students were more likely to experience delays. Further, many students did not have access to supports and fewer used them, although parents were more likely to access supports than non-parents. Implications for understanding the impact on doctoral education are identified and discussed, including the need to reconsider parenting as a barrier to academic success in doctoral education.

Keywords:

• Doctoral education
• COVID-19
• parents
• doctoral students
• pandemic

Author Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by both authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Dr. Wladkowski, and all authors commented on previous versions and read and approved the final manuscript.

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Disclosure Statement

No funding was received to conduct this study. The authors have no competing interests to declare that are relevant to the content of this article.

Ethical Approval

Approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board at Salem State University. The procedures used in this study adhere to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Stephanie P. Wladkowski

Stephanie P. Wladkowski, PhD, LMSW, APHSW-C, is the Larry & Patty Benz Professor and Associate Professor of Social Work at Bowling Green State University. Dr. Wladkowski received her PhD in social work from Simmons University, a Masters in clinical Social Work (MSW) from Boston College, and a Masters in Applied Educational Psychology-School Counseling from Northeastern University.

Rebecca G. Mirick

Rebecca G. Mirick, PhD, LICSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and Associate Professor at Salem State University School of Social Work. Dr. Mirick received her PhD in social work from Simmons School of Social Work in 2011 and her MSW from Boston University in 2002.