A Leak in the Academic Pipeline: Identity and Health Among Postdoctoral Women
A Leak in the Academic Pipeline: Identity and Health Among Postdoctoral Women
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DOI：
10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01297
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发表时间：
2019-06-04
影响因子：
3.8
通讯作者：
Tai, Vera
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ysseldyk, Renate;Greenaway, Katharine H.;Tai, Vera
几个挑战(例如，性别歧视、育儿假、玻璃天花板等)不成比例地影响学术界(以及其他领域)的女性，从而延续了对选择退出学术事业的女性的漏水管道的比喻。尽管这种模式在学术层级的各个层面都可以看到，但对于面临这种挑战的女性来说，关键时期是博士后阶段，这是个人生活转型和职业抱负发生冲突的时期。使用社会认同的方法，我们探索了影响博士后女性心理健康的因素，包括身份发展(例如，作为母亲、科学家)和缺乏控制力(对一个人未来个人和职业前景的不确定性)，这可能导致学术界的泄密。在这项混合方法的研究中，研究1包括对北美(n=13)和欧洲(n=8)的博士后女性的访谈，涉及一系列学科(例如心理学、物理学、政治学)。共同主题包括职业不确定性、基于性别的挑战(特别是性别歧视和产假)以及工作与生活平衡对身心健康的负面影响。然而，受访者也描述了通过利用支助网络克服性别不平等和体制障碍的努力。研究2包括对来自一系列国家和学术学科的博士后女性(N=146)进行的在线调查，以评估社会认同(例如，学科、性别、社会群体)、感知控制(即，对工作和生活)和心理健康(即，抑郁、焦虑、压力和生活满意度)之间的关系。博士后女性表现出轻微的压力和抑郁，对生活只有轻微的满意度。他们也只表现出对一个人的生活和工作的适度控制。然而，等级回归分析显示，强烈认同自己的纪律与控制感和心理健康都是最一致的正相关。总而言之，这些发现暗示，博士后阶段对女性来说是有压力和脆弱的，无论学历或国籍如何。他们还强调了学科认同感作为心理健康潜在保护因素的重要性，这反过来可能会降低博士后女性从学术渠道流失的速度。
Several challenges (e.g., sexism, parental leave, the glass ceiling, etc.) disproportionately affect women in academia (and beyond), and thus perpetuate the leaky pipeline metaphor for women who opt-out of an academic career. Although this pattern can be seen at all levels of the academic hierarchy, a critical time for women facing such challenges is during the postdoctoral stage, when personal life transitions and professional ambitions collide. Using a social identity approach, we explore factors affecting the mental health of postdoctoral women, including identity development (e.g., as a mother, a scientist) and lack of control (uncertainty about one's future personal and professional prospects), which likely contribute to the leak from academia. In this mixed-method research, Study 1 comprised interviews with postdoctoral women in North America (n = 13) and Europe (n = 8) across a range disciplines (e.g., psychology, physics, political science). Common themes included the negative impact of career uncertainty, gender-based challenges (especially sexism and maternity leave), and work-life balance on mental and physical health. However, interviewees also described attempts to overcome gender inequality and institutional barriers by drawing on support networks. Study 2 comprised an online survey of postdoctoral women (N = 146) from a range of countries and academic disciplines to assess the relationships between social identification (e.g., disciplinary, gender, social group), perceived control (i.e., over work and life), and mental health (i.e., depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction). Postdoctoral women showed mild levels of stress and depression, and were only slightly satisfied with life. They also showed only moderate levels of perceived control over one's life and work. However, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that strongly identifying with one's discipline was most consistently positively associated with both perceived control and mental health. Collectively, these findings implicate the postdoctoral stage as being stressful and tenuous for women regardless of academic background or nationality. They also highlight the importance of disciplinary identity as a potentially protective factor for mental health that, in turn, may diminish the rate at which postdoctoral women leak from the academic pipeline.