Pflegende Studierende: Soziale Ungleichheiten in und Belastungen durch die (Nicht-)Vereinbarkeit von Pflege und Studium

Abstract

Abstract Care work is mostly done by family members. While the (non-)reconciliation of care and work has already been researched in numerous studies, the state of research on studying and caring for (older) adults, such as one’s own parents or grandparents, has gaps. This paper, thus, asks: How many students engage in caregiving activities? How are caregiving activities socially distributed among the group of students? What burdens result from the (non-)reconciliation of study and care? In order to approach these questions, a university-wide online survey was conducted at the University of Stuttgart in October 2021, in which a total of 1622 students participated. Methods of analysis included logistic and linear regressions in addition to descriptive statistics. On the one hand, the results point out that caregiving is unequally distributed: Female and older students show a higher probability of caring for an older person during their studies. This also applies to students with a migrant background. On the other hand, students who are caregivers more often feel overburdened in various areas of their lives, from their studies, their partnership to their own health. This points to the accumulation of social inequalities – those who are already disadvantaged are more likely to find themselves in a care situation and, thus, experience increased stress. We assume that this could have long-term effects on the entire life course (e. g. on academic success, opportunities on the labour market and health).