Jessica Pelton
Pronouns: she/her/hers
Research Mentor(s): Angela Ebreo
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Diversity Research & Policy Program / Education
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral5
Session: Session 1 – 10am – 10:50am
Room: Breakout Room 1
Authors: Jessica Pelton, Jessica Pelton
Presenter: 5
Abstract
The levels of psychological distress amongst college students are high, especially among entering students who are going through several transitions (e.g., Laidlaw, McLellan, & Ozakinci, 2016). Students may experience challenges related to academic achievement, family obligations, and financial strains. Out of the 21 million students attending college in the United States, approximately 4.8 million of them are student parents. Among undergraduate student parents , a large number (roughly 1.3 million) do not graduate (Scharp, & Dorrance Hall, 2019). Regardless of their aspirations, student parents may lack resources that promote their success. Several factors may limit student parents’ access to, and use of, campus resources: time constraints, lack of childcare, unavailability of resources, lack of knowledge about specific resources, and insufficient support. These are all major factors in determining student parents’ overall success at universities. I explored resources and supports available to student parents and the limitations and restrictions regarding those resources and supports. I am presenting preliminary findings from the coding of focus group data obtained from undergraduate mothers attending a Research I university Focus group participants were volunteers identified through their previous responses to a needs assessment survey regarding policies, practices, and campus climate as they related to student parents. The group included four white mothers who had one to three children of various ages. A team of two coders including myself team were involved in the process of memo’ing the group transcript and creating an initial codebook. We have begun the process of checking intercoder reliability by coding two sections. The level of coding agreement was 54% for general experiences and 59% for resources. We generally agreed on the application of “difficulties & challenges” and “experience” as major codes for the material, and examples of excerpts are provided. While our team will further discuss the codes to improve reliability, the preliminary finding is that student parents are in need of additional resources.
Interdisciplinary, Social Sciences
