Social-Ecological Barriers to Student-parents’ Academic Success: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Students who are parents in higher education (HE) in the United States encounter competing demands and challenges while navigating multiple roles as parents, students, and employees. These challenges are multifaceted and can hinder their degree attainment. Using the socio-ecological model, we systematically summarized existing literature published between 2009 - 2020 to understand the experiences and predictors of student-parents academic outcomes in HE. The reviewed articles included students from two-year and four-year institutions (community college, undergraduates, and graduate students). The analysis revealed that the constraints to student-parents academic success are a system-level problem. Most of the barriers and facilitators identified were related to structural policies adopted by HE. This study concludes with recommendations for future research, policymakers, and the school ecosystem.