Parents on the job market: Resources and strategies that help sociologists attain tenure-track jobs

The Effects of Parenthood During Graduate School on PhD Recipients’ Paths to the Professoriate: A Focus on Motherhood

“…Previous studies have found that the career‐related resources in the conceptual framework influence doctoral recipients’ likelihood of attaining tenure‐track faculty jobs (Enders, ; Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth, ), but this study found that the only shared significant predictors across all groups were academic discipline, holding a non‐tenure‐track faculty job, and holding a postdoctoral position. Institutional type, being in a top‐ranked program, financing one's degree through a teaching assistantship, and publishing articles in or shortly after graduate school all mattered variably for members of other groups, but not for PhD mothers.…”

“…To measure PhD recipients’ accumulation of career‐related resources during graduate school, this study uses a conceptual framework constructed from two established frameworks: Enders’ () Doctoral Professional Success framework and Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth's () Doctoral Career‐Related Resources and Strategies framework. This blended framework as represented in Figure allows for an examination of the factors that represent resources that doctoral students attain in graduate school that assist them in competing for tenure‐track faculty jobs.…”

“…Living up to this interpretation of the good student can be problematic for graduate students who are mothers, because it conflicts with cultural expectations that they also be good mothers, or intensive parents who are willing to sacrifice their own needs for their children (Espinoza, ; Estes, ; Lynch, ). Graduate‐student mothers are less likely to become deeply socialized into academic departments and may be less likely to obtain key career‐related resources, such as co‐authorship of papers with advisors (Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth, ). For mothers who seek to attain tenure‐track faculty jobs after graduating with their terminal degrees, failure to accumulate these kinds of resources in graduate school may cause them to be at a disadvantage when it comes to competing for jobs in the academic labor market (Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth, ; Wolfinger, Mason, & Goulden, ).…”

“…Graduate‐student mothers are less likely to become deeply socialized into academic departments and may be less likely to obtain key career‐related resources, such as co‐authorship of papers with advisors (Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth, ). For mothers who seek to attain tenure‐track faculty jobs after graduating with their terminal degrees, failure to accumulate these kinds of resources in graduate school may cause them to be at a disadvantage when it comes to competing for jobs in the academic labor market (Kennelly & Spalter‐Roth, ; Wolfinger, Mason, & Goulden, ).…”

Advanced Degrees of Debt: Analyzing the Patterns and Determinants of Graduate Student Borrowing

“…For example, this study finds that assuming responsibility for an additional dependent was associated with a 13% increase in graduate debt for borrowers and 1.6% increase in the probability of borrowing for non-borrowers, which, in part, may reflect the well-documented financial hardships that many parents face on the path to a graduate degree and for which financial aid is rarely a sufficient remedy (Kennelly & Spalter-Roth, 2006;Springer, Parker, & Leviten-Reid, 2009). This is especially so in the case of female parents, who, on average, are likely to earn lower salaries and accrue less financial savings (before or during graduate school), which would allow them to cover a substantial portion of their educational expenses (Carnevale, Jayasundera, & Cheah, 2012).…”