| Abstract: |
The experiences of parenting doctoral students have been marginally understood, despite the developmental normalcy of parenthood coinciding with the time in pursuing a doctoral education. Drawing from a national sample of doctoral students (N = 6,131) from the 2018-2019 Healthy Minds Study, this article described (a) the demographic characteristics and (b) the socioemotional well-being of parenting doctoral students enrolled in U.S. higher institutions. Adjusting for nonresponses biases, around one in five doctoral students (18.10%) was a parent, half of whom were mothers (55.79%). Compared to nonparenting students, parenting students were more likely to be men, older, and identifying as Black. They also experienced more financial stress. Compared to mothers, fathers were more likely to be international students, married, and pursuing degrees in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields. Regarding socioemotional well-being, the analysis did not reveal a significant overall impact of parenting status on depression, anxiety, school belonging, and academic persistence. However, parenting students reported a higher sense of flourishing. Interestingly, among female students, those who were parents were more likely to screen positive for depression compared to their nonparenting peers. Conversely, among male students, parenting status was associated with a reduced likelihood of screening positive for anxiety and higher levels of academic persistence and flourishing compared to nonparenting male students. The gendered impact of parenthood and its implications for higher education were discussed. |