Literature Review-Tiffanie Smith

I may have been a bit detailed.. :)

1.      Graduate Student Management of Family and Academic Roles

Author: Patricia A. H. Dyk

 

This article explores the different types of interrole conflicts experienced by some graduate students. It offers various coping strategies, as well as time management tips that have been found to be useful in resolving conflicts.

 

I.                    Interrole Conflict

Defined: One role expectations are incompatible with the other (Kahn, Wolfe, Quinn, Snoek, & Rosenthal, 1964)

A.                  Time Based

·         Stresses of one role make it impossible to complete tasks in other role due to time constraint or incompatibility

·         Examples: inflexibility of home and school schedules, single parent homes (Bohen & Viveros-Long, 1981)

·         Stated that there is an inverse relation between the age of children and the amount of interrole conflict; husbands with more traditionalistic view of spousal roles increase the amount of interrole conflict for their wives who are students (Beutell & Greenhaus, 1980; Pleck, Staines & Lang, 1980; Beutell and Greenhaus 1983)

B.                  Strain Based

·         Stresses of one role affects the other; emotions spill over from one role to the other Beutell and Greenhaus (1983)

·         Intensifies with the lack of spousal and familial support(Kirk & Dorfman, 1983)

II.                  Coping Strategies

A.                  Structural Role Redefinition: Agreeing to set new expectations with the intent of reducing conflict (Beutell & Greenhaus 1983)

·         Give up a certain aspect of the role

·         Seek Support: form study groups (student role) and/or coordinate child rearing with spouse (family role); hire outside help

B.                  Personal Role Redefinition: Change attitude toward expectations (Beutell & Greenhaus 1983)

1.      Prioritization

·         Accomplish goals that can be done only by the individual and ones that have deadlines first

o   Ex. Breastfeeding and final papers

2.      Compartmentalization

·           Keep work/issues associated with each role away from the other

3.      Reduction of Standards

·           Do as much as possible without having the “supermother” syndrome (trying to do everything for every role simultaneously) (Friedan, 1979)

C.                  Time Management Skills

·           Most students deemed it necessary to have a planning calendar with a to-do list

·           Identify short and long range priorities, distinguish between urgent and important and be aware of one’s own efficiency (Seiden, 1980)

·           Appropriate different tasks for most opportune times

·           All things depend on resources

The author mentions toward the end of article that many of time management techniques suggested depend on the resources that the student has. Although it may not have been one of Greenhaus and Beutel’s (1985) types of conflicts, I would have liked to see the author explore resource-based conflicts an offered strategies on dealing with them. I feel that the strategies that were presented in the paper are very beneficial for graduate students with multiple roles and those without. I think the biggest issue with adopting these strategies is recognizing that one needs to employ them. The “supermother” syndrome, I believe, is prevalent; not necessarily with just taking on the academic and family roles, but any combination of roles. A graduate student may feel like they have to take on everything and may not see that they need to redefine their personal and structural roles.

 

2. Stress among Higher Education Students: Toward a Research Agenda

Author: David Robotham

This articles explores those issues causing stress in undergraduate and graduate education, focusing on studies in the United Kingdom. It also investigates the limitations of previous research and offers suggestions on where this research area should be headed.

 

I.          Introduction and Students under Stress

·         Fundamentally changing the in UK demographically and financially

o   21% of UK students are 21 and over starting higher education degrees(Higher Education Funding Council for England 2005)

o   Varying factors include amount of public expenditure spent on higher education and sources of funding since the 1980s (Williams 1992)

·         Increase in amount of students employed, full time and part time, which has affected academic performance in multiple ways such as missing lectures and failing to turn in work (Hodgson et al. 2001; Students at Work, NUS 1996)

·         The stress felt by students is the perceived notion of the demands, not the demands themselves

·         Stress can cause students to react positively or negatively

·         Author suggest that the students have not been a priority into the research into stress until recently  (Michie et al. 2001)

II.         Previous Research

·         Primarily focused on vocational specializations (social work, medicine, hospitality) and psychology (multiple sources)

o   Inferred that above students may feel more stress due to the student and practitioner roles they have to fill  (Clark et al. 1986)

·         More quantitative methods of research were used

o   Self-reporting inventory; is it possible to measure stress in this way?

o   Author suggest this can influence the way students respond because they may not like the idea of being “measured”

o   Runs the risk of not gathering “subjective, anecdotal, and impressionistic information”

o   Limits the range of scenarios for students to base their stress on

·         Did not track students throughout the matriculation of their degree

III.        Student Stressors

A.                  Studying

·         More common cause of stress (Bush et al. 1985; Abouserie 1994; Harvey et al. 2006)

·         Includes deadlines and amount of work, which may have an underlying stressor of fear of failing

·         Time management

o   Stress over the control of time, not the actual time management

o   Side effect includes skipping sleep which in turn affects how students cope (Hardy 2003)

B.                  Exams and Tests

·         Students suffer physical and psychiological effects (nausea and changes in eating patterns)

·         Anxiety is due to the idea of taking the test, not the test itself (Mechanic 1978) and (Gadzella et al. 1998)

C.                  Transitioning

·         Caused by losing support system, building a new one , cultural and language differences (if one is coming from a new country) (Hudd et al. 2000; Radcliffe et al. 2003; Edwards et al. 2001; Orepeza et al. 1991; Heikinheimo et al. 1986)

·         School tries to offer support which can lead to more stress (Dill et al. 1998)

D.                 Finances

·         A London study found a correlation between finances and students’ mental health (Roberts et al. 1999)

·         The Student Living Report (2004) found that as lack of students’ money decrease, the percentage of students seeking employment increased, which made the students feel more stressed than previously

·         England’s introduction of tuition fees is sure to lead to a bigger debt after the completion of the degree, even if they are offering financial assistance

IV.               Students’ Response

·         Can be emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and physiological (Misra et al. 2000, p.238)

·         Increase of stress lead to a decrease in the satisfaction of health and self-esteem (Hudd et al. 2000)

·         Stress increase also has been found to lead to:

o   Increase of alcohol consumption, decrease in functionality of immune system, increase in suicide rate and decrease in academic performance (Morgan 1997; Sand et al. 2004; Hirsch et al. 1996)

V.                 Stress Management

·         Stress inventions are useful at an individual level, but places blame on the individual (Clark 2000)

·         Schools set up beneficial coping behavior and social support structures  (Endler et al. 1990; Wohlgemuth et al. 1991; Allen étal. 1991)

·         Change environment (problem focus) or change meaning of event to individual (emotional focus) ) (Lazarus et. Al 1984)

·         Some students will need professional help, but won’t seek it because:       

o   They don’t recognize they need it

o   They don’t want the stigma attached to needing it (Stanley et al. 2001)

·         Discrepancy in students’ perception of stress and the staff’s perception (Misra et al. 2000)

VI.               Future Research

·         Reduce the amount of quantitative research and look into more qualitative methods

·         More broad range of majors to perform research on

·         Increase the timespan evaluating the students’ stress levels

·         Monitor the effects of the UK’s financial implementations

 

I do think the article fell short on listing some potential stressor areas for higher education students, which for one, may be in part to its focus being on undergraduate students. While it mentioned the lack of family support as a potential stressor, it did not reverse the idea of having to support a family while in school. While this is more prevalent in graduate school, it is becoming more common in undergraduate studies as well. As far as the rest of the paper, I agree with the author in many of his inferences; especially with the idea of expanding the research to include other majors. That which was found to be more stressful for social work students could be complete opposite of how engineering majors are feeling.  I, for one, am more stressed behind projects, than tests and quizzes.

 

3. Graduate School and the Self: A Theoretical View of Some Negative Effects of Professional Socialization

Author: Janet Malenchek Egan

This article investigates the idea of professional socialization as an aspect of graduate education and its negative effects on students. It also offers suggestion to change the structure of this aspect to make it more beneficial to students.

 

        I.            Introduction

·         Author wants to look at structural causes of stress while focusing on the self-concept of a graduate student

·         Differs from previous looks at the graduate education process as a means of resocialization as a opposed to developmental socialization

·         Graduate directors are fine with the operation of their programs and don’t appear to see any negative effects on the self (Mayrl and Mauksch 1987, p.17)

      II.            Developmental Socialization or Resocialization

·         Developmental socialization: “formal purpose is the training, education, or more generally the further socialization of individuals passing through”

·         Resocialization: “formal purpose is to make up for or correct some deficiency in earlier socialization” (Both defined by Wheeler, 1966 p.68)

·         Professional socialization is the purpose of grad school; training students to adopt the mindset of the faculty; instilling new values and beliefs so that they can develop a professional self-concept

    III.            Factors Affecting the Self

a.      The Independence of the Graduate Role

·         Students transitioning from undergrad may expect they continuation of the developmental socialization at that level and the support offered (Katz and Hartnett 1976)

·         Graduate school expects students to be self-directed and motivated; professors speak at a higher level of jargon; ideas are given as broad concepts

·         Students who relied heavily on teachers will be affected by the change

·         This may have a negative effect on students:

o   Discouraged to ask for help; don’t want to seem inadequate

o   May increase self-doubt which in turn decreases self-esteem

o   The encouraged competition vs. cooperation amongst students; this can lead to isolation

b.      The Dependence of the Graduate Role

·         Still depend on faculty members to set goals, qualifications and define success and failure for the student.

·         The judgment of faculty members can lead to more stress on top of the idea of relinquishing one’s own decision making skills

·         Graduate student role is expected to be the priority amongst any other; otherwise one looks less committed

·         High expectations of work and performance can most likely lead to lower self-esteem

   IV.            The Total Characteristics of Graduate School

·         Total institutions: all activities are conducted in the same place and under the same single authority; each activity is carried on in the company of other people, all of whom are treated alike and are required to do the same thing together; all activities are scheduled tightly through a system of explicit formal rulings and are part of a single, overall, rational plan purportedly designed to fulfill the official aims of the institution. (Goffman, 1961)

·         The institutions aim to remove distractions that will hinder students from achieving success (Sherlock and Morris, 1967)

·         The idea of abandoning any outside roles and focusing on achieving this professional image may affect one’s self-concept.

o   Leads to the questioning of one’s goal and if one has the energy to pursue it; may disrupt one’s sense of individuality.

o   The more “total” the institution, the more likely these effects are to occur

o   Advanced knowledge of the “totality” of an institution will likely affect self-esteems less.

V.         Suggestions

·         A more supportive and nurturing environment can lessen the likelihood of the negative effects mentioned.

·         For first year graduate students: offer more guidance, acknowledge insecurities, and encourage cooperation

·         Create a nonjudgmental atmosphere in lectures, thus encouraging students to feel more secure about asking questions.

 

As of now, I do not see any limitations to her article. I think she not only drew on research, but also personal experience to formulate her ideas. Being that I am just a first year graduate student, I have not become accustomed to the different views that she has presented.

However, I do agree with the implications of the author that the graduate school experience leans more toward resocialization than further developmental socialization. Yes, it does build on some aspects as who a student is as a person, but it is a completely new experience for a student academically. School become more like a job than an academic setting. One’s advisor becomes more like a boss, whereas professors in undergraduate programs do not singlehandedly have the ability to keep you from successfully completing your degree. I also concur with her suggestions, especially for first time students. The first year of studies could determine whether the rest of the program is completed, so the first impression of graduate school means everything.