It was a classic topic at lunch when I was doing my dissertation and people often cited this study but it’s been a few years now. I found a study that shows that organization and determination were the first factors for pregnant women to succeed
‘Discipline and organization. Many participants (n=18) described a high level of internal discipline and organization that helped them to manage the competing demands of pregnancy/parenting and doctoral work. Participants described carefully organizing their responsibilities and their time in order to be able to complete all required doctoral tasks. For many participants, this organization began during—or even before—their pregnancies. In planning pregnancies, participants looked ahead at program milestones to ensure that a pregnancy would not delay their progression.’
Determination ‘In fact, many participants described an increased determination after they had a child, which motivated them to reorganize their lives or give up leisure time to complete the necessary tasks’ [...] ‘For participants like this one, persisting in the program became not just an individual achievement, but something they were doing for their children as well’ [...] Negative experiences, such as the stress and loss that accompany infertility and/or pregnancy loss, also had the potential to motivate participants to persist
In Mirick, Rebecca & Wladkowski, Stephanie. (2020). Making it Work: Pregnant and Parenting Doctoral Students’ Attributions of Persistence. Advances in Social Work. 19, p. 358.
It was a classic topic at lunch when I was doing my dissertation and people often cited this study but it’s been a few years now. I found a study that shows that organization and determination were the first factors for pregnant women to succeed
‘Discipline and organization. Many participants (n=18) described a high level of internal discipline and organization that helped them to manage the competing demands of pregnancy/parenting and doctoral work. Participants described carefully organizing their responsibilities and their time in order to be able to complete all required doctoral tasks. For many participants, this organization began during—or even before—their pregnancies. In planning pregnancies, participants looked ahead at program milestones to ensure that a pregnancy would not delay their progression.’
Determination ‘In fact, many participants described an increased determination after they had a child, which motivated them to reorganize their lives or give up leisure time to complete the necessary tasks’ [...] ‘For participants like this one, persisting in the program became not just an individual achievement, but something they were doing for their children as well’ [...] Negative experiences, such as the stress and loss that accompany infertility and/or pregnancy loss, also had the potential to motivate participants to persist
In Mirick, Rebecca & Wladkowski, Stephanie. (2020). Making it Work: Pregnant and Parenting Doctoral Students’ Attributions of Persistence. Advances in Social Work. 19, p. 358.