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Playing the roles of mother and student simultaneously: the case of Alzahra University graduate students

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Abstract

The current research is qualitative research that was conducted on the challenges of the student-mother role that the female students of Alzahra University face. Respondents were 19 married mothers who were selected from doctoral and master’s students through purposive and snowball sampling. Due to the Covid-19 disease, distance learning conditions, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted. Finally, the results show that the lack of difference between mother and child duties, daily problems, imbalance between student and marital duties, worry about the distance from school to home address, etc. are among the challenges that student mothers face. Therefore, they face positive and negative consequences due to playing these roles at the same time, for example, children’s increased independence, children’s dissatisfaction with the mother’s role, feelings of guilt and shame, and children’s mental problems. In addition, the problem-solving strategies used by student mothers in facing these conflicts include emotional, economic and instrumental support, relationship management, time management and doing housework. So appropriate strategic policies are necessary to decline the pressure on the mother-student role in both the university and society.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alzahra University, Tehran, Iran

    Safiri Khadijeh & Nematollahi Zahra

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  1. Safiri Khadijeh
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  2. Nematollahi Zahra
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K.S. and Z.N.: Performed the analysis and co-wrote the paper.

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Correspondence to Nematollahi Zahra.

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Khadijeh, S., Zahra, N. Playing the roles of mother and student simultaneously: the case of Alzahra University graduate students. SN Soc Sci 4, 54 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00845-5

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