Gender Differences in Graduate Students ’ Adjustment, Mental Health, Motivation and Learning Strategies During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

Graduate students face adjustment, motivation, and mental health issues just like undergraduate students, yet there are fewer studies that explore their experience. Their adjustment has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 global pandemic, which has resulted in increased reports of stress, anxiety, and depression, leading to the use of different self-regulated learning strategies to cope. What is even less understood is whether the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic produced any gender-related differences. Thus, the present study sought to examine whether female students differ in their levels of adjustment, mental health, motivation, and self-regulated learning as compared to male students. To examine these differences, an anonymous survey was administered through Qualtrics to graduate students at a large Southeastern university. The survey included a demographic questionnaire, College Adjustment Test (CAT), Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS21), and selected subscales from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). A total of 301 graduate students completed the survey. Results indicated that female graduate students suffered higher levels of Negative Affect, Homesickness and Stress, whereas the motivation and cognitive strategy use levels did not differ significantly from those of male graduate students during the COVID-19 global pandemic. The present study corroborated the results of prior research that demonstrated no gender differences in motivation and self-regulated learning strategies and further demonstrated that female graduate students experienced more mental health issues during the COVID-19 global pandemic.