Identifying Faculty and Peer Interaction Patterns of First-Year Biology Doctoral Students: A Latent Class Analysis

Abstract

Faculty and peer interactions play a key role in shaping graduate student socialization. Yet, within the literature on graduate student socialization, researchers have primarily focused on understanding the nature and impact of faculty alone, and much less is known about how peer interactions also contribute to graduate student outcomes. Using a national sample of first-year biology doctoral students, this study reveals distinct categories that classify patterns of faculty and peer interaction. Further, we document inequities such that certain groups (e.g., underrepresented minority students) report constrained types of interactions with faculty and peers. Finally, we connect faculty and peer interaction patterns to student outcomes. Our findings reveal that, while the classification of faculty and peer interactions predicted affective and experiential outcomes (e.g., sense of belonging, satisfaction with academic development), it was not a consistent predictor of more central outcomes of the doctoral socialization process (e.g., research skills, commitment to degree). These and other findings are discussed, focusing on implications for future research, theory, and practice related to graduate training.

Factors associated to suicide risk in stricto sensu postgraduate students: a cross-sectional study

“…Having a good relationship with peers becomes a protective factor against suicide risk in postgraduate students as affective interpersonal relationships help in coping with stressful life events ( 9 , 30 ) . Interpersonal interactions with academic peers tend to be those that occur most frequently in the university context, since postgraduate students usually interacts more with their colleagues than with the professors or the advisor ( 31 - 32 ) . In addition to frequency, relationships with peers differ from those established with other academic subjects due to their directionality, conditioned by power and knowledge relations implicit in the academic environment.…”

“…Interpersonal interactions with academic peers tend to be those that occur most frequently in the university context, since postgraduate students usually interacts more with their colleagues than with the professors or the advisor (31)(32) .…”

Advising Experiences of First Year International Doctoral Students

“…A strong relationship with a faculty advisor can lead to timelier degree completion, more collaborative work with advisors, increased sense of belonging, and decreased stress and attrition (Hunter & Devine, 2016;Litalien & Guay, 2015). The faculty advisor can have many identities (Jeong et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2007), but these identities are adopted from the faculty advisor's own experiences with advising, which are strongly influenced by their academic discipline and practices therein rather than formal training (Boyce et al, 2019;Knox et al, 2013). Insufficiency of formal training may explain why advisors often report being underprepared for the procedural and emotional factors that accompany advising (O'Meara et al, 2013).…”

“…Faculty in physical and biological sciences often work in tandem with their advisees in a laboratory, which doubles as a central site of socialization (Jeong et al, 2019). Furthermore, in science and science-related fields, the student and the advisor often match during the admission process, giving them more time to build their relationship (Zhao et al, 2007).…”

“…We sought to understand how international doctoral students were matched with their faculty advisors, what types of advising experiences they had, how these interactions differed by their academic discipline, and their level of satisfaction with their advising experience. We focused on advising experiences because faculty advisors are a cornerstone of students' social support networks, particularly for international doctoral students, who are often isolated from their primary support networks at home, and effective faculty advising can alleviate some of the transitional challenges faced by these students (Jeong et al, 2019). However, advising at the graduate level lacks standardization, and the diversity of advising styles leads to unequal doctoral advising experiences.…”