Work-life balance and well-being of graduate students

ABSTRACT

This exploratory study examines issues related to work-life balance and well-being of a diverse population of graduate students, including master’s and doctoral students, full-time and part-time graduate students, on-campus and on-line students, and from multiple disciplines. Using data from graduate students at a large, public university on the mid-Atlantic coast, our results provide a broad picture of work-life balance, three components of well-being – quality of life, physical health, and mental health – and factors such as program climate, sense of well-being, stressors, and sources of support. We discuss how social cognitive, structuration, and border theories can be applied to study and address issues of work-life balance and well-being in more depth.

KEYWORDS:

• Graduate students
• work-life balance
• mental health
• well-being
• quality of life

Notes

1. Our research was approved as exempt human subjects research. To ensure anonymity of research participants, our survey instrument could not include questions that identified the race of the respondent or whether the respondent was a domestic or international student.

2. These include the UC Graduate Student Well-Being Survey Report (https://www.ucop.edu/institutional-research-academic-planning/_files/graduate_well_being_survey_report.pdf), the MIT Enrolled Graduate Student Survey (http://ir.mit.edu/graduate-enrolled-student-surveys), the University of Washington College of Education Annual Graduate Student Survey Report (https://www.education.uw.edu/coeir/past-surveys/), and the Temple University Graduate Student Survey (http://www.temple.edu/ira/documents/assessment/student-surveys/Graduate-Student-Survey-Report.pdf).

3. We assessed non-response bias by dividing the sample into three response waves of approximately equal numbers and compared our key variables of interest – quality of life, physical health, mental health, and work-life balance – between the first and third wave. We found the differences were not statistically significant.

4. The Bartlett test of sphericity was statistically significant (p<0.0001) and the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.765. One factor with an eigenvalue of 2.24 was extracted. All variable loaded onto this one factor with factor loadings over 0.56.

5. The Bartlett test of sphericity was statistically significant (p<0.0001) and the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.677. One factor with an eigenvalue of 1.20 was extracted. All variable loaded onto this one factor with factor loadings over 0.60.

Descriptive statistics for variables used in our analysis are not reported in this article but can be obtained by contacting the authors.

6.. The Bartlett test of sphericity was statistically significant (p<0.0001) and the Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin measure of sampling adequacy was 0.845. One factor with an eigenvalue of 2.92 was extracted. All variable loaded onto this one factor with factor loadings over 0.69.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf

Juita-Elena (Wie) Yusuf is a Professor in the School of Public Service, Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. Her research focuses on policy issues at the intersection of multiple sectors - government, nonprofits, businesses, and society - in contentious and complex areas such as transportation, public finance, and climate change and sea level rise. Dr. Yusuf also leads the ODU Career Pathways program, a university-wide initiative to provide professional and career development to graduate students.

Marina Saitgalina

Marina Saitgalina is an Assistant Professor of public service in the Strome College of Business at Old Dominion University. She holds an MPA degree from the Academy of Public Administration in Russia, and a Ph.D. in Public Administration and Management from the University of North Texas. Her research encompasses such areas of nonprofit management as professional associations, community engagement, emergency management, and volunteerism.

David W. Chapman

David W. Chapman is a Master Lecturer in the School of Public Service and the Graduate Program Director of the Master of Public Administration program in the Strome College of Business. He received his Ph.D. in Public Administration and Urban Policy with a cognate in Instructional Design and Technology from Old Dominion University and his M.S. in the Management of Information Systems from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. His interests include online learning and online resources, information technology/infrastructure, and social media usage in public administration settings.