A Grounded Theory Study Explaining how Female Doctoral Candidates Negotiate Their Identities as Mothers and Scholars and Persist Unto Degree Completion

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to generate a model that explains how female doctoral candidates manage and negotiate the tensions relating to their roles and identities as females, mothers, and academics within the social structure of academia. Data was collected via a questionnaire, life map, and semi-structured interview from 11 doctoral candidates enrolled in a nationally accredited Doctor of Education (EdD) program in the southeastern United States. The theoretical model produced from this study depicts the development and relationship among EdD students’ identities as females, professionals, and academics and how the roles and responsibilities related to these identities may be managed and balanced in order to motivate persistence in a doctoral program. Contributing to the empirical and theoretical literature on doctoral persistence and female identity, these findings underscore the importance of choosing “the right season” in life to add doctoral studies, having realistic expectations about pace and progress, and not becoming “genderless” or “scholarless,” but rather, learning to honor and intersect all identities.