Project Aims

The research team will conduct a longitudinal three-wave study to research how a diverse population of Biology majors (i.e., nontraditional students) in four institutions manage their competing responsibilities and commitments at work and school. We propose that coping behaviors will influence the relationship between inclusivity at work and school among nontraditional students. There is a lack of research conducted exploring the antecedents of the work-school interface across the psychology and education domains (Butler, 2007; Markel & Frone, 1998). No longitudinal studies (i.e., only cross-sectional or lagged data collections) exist, to our knowledge, examining the relationships between our main variables (i.e., work-school conflict, inclusion at work, inclusion at school, perceived stress) within the past decade based on Biology majors in introductory Biology courses. We expect that adaptive coping will lead to greater feelings of inclusivity, in turn, lowering the perceived stress of Biology majors.

Significance

An interdisciplinary team composed of an industrial-organizational psychologist, two biologists, and a biologist and discipline-based education researcher will lead this research project. This project expands work-school conflict literature by examining how inclusive experiences influence Biology majors’ role conflict throughout the semester. Although our research project aims to investigate Biology majors, our findings will contribute to extending our knowledge of nontraditional students and their work/school experiences as well.  

• Ben England
• Dulce Vega
• Jana Marcette
• Kelly Barry
• Latanya Hammonds-Odie
• Rebecca Campbell-Montalvo
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