Why the first-in-family definition requires revision

The term ‘family’ in the first-in-family student definition traditionally refers to the student’s parents, with some studies extending their scope to the student’s siblings. It is well known that a lack of higher education experience of these family members can disadvantage the first-in-family student at university, impacting their capacity to participate, progress and succeed.

A study with women nurse students in Australia, all of whom began their degree in a heterosexual intimate relationship, has revealed the university experience of the male partner is a further important influence.

As nurse education in Australia increasingly attracts mature-age women to university, it is reasonable to assume that the number of those who begin their degree in an intimate relationship is also rising. The partner is therefore a further category of ‘family’ that requires consideration in first-in-family student research and support strategies.

The study was carried out at a Western Australian university, with 29 women participating in in-depth interviews, most doing so at two stages of their degree journey (year one and final year).

The average age of the women in the study was 34 years at degree commencement. Most were married, the rest living as de facto partners; the average length of the relationship was nine years.

Twenty three of the 29 women interviewed were the first person in their intimate relationship to go to university, the other six participants were in a relationship with a partner who was a university graduate at bachelor or masters degree level.

Analysis of over 50 hours of research data revealed a marked disparity in partner support that was clearly aligned to the partner’s experience of higher education, its systems and process, their expectations and future benefits.

A lack of vision

“He is a graduate from a family of graduates, the most supportive person out of everybody. [He] thinks education is the key to everything in life.” – Participant M. Partner held a masters degree.

“He just couldn’t see the big picture… I guess he didn’t seem to appreciate the contribution that I would make to the family.” – Participant L. Partner had no post-high school education.

The above quotes from study participants demonstrate the clear difference in the partners’ vision of the potential benefits of higher education. Partners with university experience valued higher education and respected the women’s decision to invest in study.

In contrast, partners with no university experience could not envisage its potential. This lack of vision influenced their commitment to the women’s decision to study and their emotional support throughout her degree.

Partners without university experience had little understanding of the time requirements of a university degree. These partners were described as increasingly resentful of the time the women took away from family to attend class, clinical practice and individual study as they progressed in their degree.

To appease partners, some women reduced their engagement with the university – seeing their resulting drop in achievement as a necessary trade-off.

Growing apart

A nursing degree immerses its students in a variety of cultural and social situations, both theoretical and practical, from which they experience a widening of their world views. This change created a sense of distance between the participants and their partners – they grew, their partners did not.

Participants who were first in their intimate relationship to attend university increasingly saw their partners as ‘blinkered’ and ‘black and white thinkers’. These women described displays of jealousy from their partners, who they believed felt threatened at their altered perspective and growing life opportunities.

Towards the end stages of the degree, most of the women who were in these relationships described situations of ongoing stress and conflict at home. Seven of these first-in-intimate-relationship students separated from their partners; most of these had dependent children, creating further barriers to ongoing degree success.

Interestingly, these findings seem to shed some light on the 2008 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia national survey, finding of a 10-fold greater risk of divorce or separation in relationships where the women held a tertiary qualification and their partner did not.

Implications

The rising popularity of nursing degrees among mature-age women and the projected national nursing workforce shortage necessitate an understanding of partners’ educational experience on women students’ success. An understanding of the woman’s personal life outside university and its impact on her potential to study and succeed is crucial.

Efforts to support nursing students and other women in higher education would benefit from an understanding of the issues that confront this often unconsidered first-in-family group. This understanding relies on reliable data.

Despite the wealth of global evidence that identifies the first-in-family student as particularly vulnerable to low rates of participation and high rates of attrition, Australia continues to exclude this student group from the list of equity groups.

As a result, these students do not attract incentive funding and their participation and success rates are not centrally recorded. Efforts to redress this and to include first-in-relationship students in the first-in-family category would provide an understanding of the scale of this issue, from which further studies and strategies can be developed.

Strategies that provide partners with the opportunity to vicariously share in the woman’s university journey and to increase their knowledge and understanding of its processes, expectations and future benefits may also be beneficial.

Dr Lesley Andrew is postgraduate courses coordinator for public health at the School of Medical and Health Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Australia.