Doctoral students' life satisfaction throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Inequalities by parenthood and gender.

Autor/inn/en	Rußmann, Mareike; Netz, Nicolai; Schwabe, Ulrike
Titel	Doctoral students' life satisfaction throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Inequalities by parenthood and gender. Gefälligkeitsübersetzung: Die Lebenszufriedenheit von Doktoranden während der Covid-19-Pandemie: Ungleichheiten nach Elternschaft und Geschlecht.
Quelle	In: Social indicators research, (2025) 180, S. 643-673 PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (3); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (4) Link als defekt meldenVerfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0303-8300; 1573-0921
DOI	10.25656/01:33764 10.1007/s11205-025-03648-0
URN	urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-337640 urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-104488-8
Schlagwörter	Panel; Wohlbefinden; Zufriedenheit; Geschlechtsspezifischer Unterschied; Eltern; COVID-19; Pandemie; Ungleichheit; Promotionsstudium; Doktorand; Deutschland
Abstract	While large and highly societally relevant, the group of doctoral students still plays a subordinate role in the well-being literature. To narrow this research gap, we investigate how their life satisfaction (LS) trajectories developed throughout the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany. We draw on set-point, adaptation, family, and gender theories to examine doctoral students' LS trajectories before, at the onset of, during, and after the pandemic. Thereby, we consider not only shorter-term but also longer-term consequences of the pandemic. Analysing data from the German National Academics Panel Study (Nacaps) through fixed-effects (FE) panel regression models, we find that doctoral students' LS decreased - first moderately, then substantially - in the two years after the onset of the pandemic. Thereafter, however, their LS re-approached pre-pandemic levels again. Importantly, parenthood and gender substantially moderated doctoral students' LS trajectories. Among doctoral students with children, the decline in LS at the onset of and during the Covid-19 pandemic was stronger than among childless doctoral students - especially for mothers. While childless doctoral students re-attained their pre-pandemic levels of LS after the pandemic, doctoral students with children remained below their pre-pandemic level. These results suggest that individuals strongly reacting to a critical life event might not or only slowly return to their baseline level of LS. On a broader note, our results illustrate the need to apply a long-term social inequalities perspective to fundamentally understand how well-being trajectories unfold during crises scenarios. (DIPF/Orig.).
Erfasst von	DIPF \| Leibniz-Institut für Bildungsforschung und Bildungsinformation, Frankfurt am Main
Update	2026/1