MOTHERHOOD AND ITS INFLUENCE ON LEARNING AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT MOTHERS IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN WESTERN KENYA

Abstract

The challenges of balancing multiple roles of motherhood and learning greatly influence student mothers' academic success. Having student motherhood obligations on top of their academic responsibilities makes undergraduate student mothers unique. This uniqueness affects their ability to compete academically with others. As literature addressing women's higher learning experiences is expanding, student mothers' academic experiences remain under-explained, despite being the most extensive and fastest-growing student population in institutions of higher learning. This study analyzed how motherhood influences the learning of undergraduate student mothers. The specific research objectives of the study were; to establish the psychosocial effects of student motherhood on learning, determine the influence of student motherhood on class attendance, investigate the impact of student motherhood on academic performance, and establish mitigation measures that can be put in place to cushion student mothers against the effects of motherhood on learning in public universities in western Kenya. The study limited itself to government sponsored students at public universities in western Kenya. The study used the role conflict theory and adopted a mixed-method research design. It adopted a stratified and simple random sampling technique. The researcher derived the desired sample size using the Krejcie and Morgan sample size formulae. Data for the research was collected using questionnaires, focus group discussions, document analysis, and interview schedules. The validity and reliability of data collection instruments were tested. The pilot study was conducted to test the practicability of the actual research. Data was analyzed via descriptive and inferential statistics. The analysis of the study findings revealed that motherhood influences learning in many ways. Student mothers face challenges such as the inability to balance studies and mothering, childcare difficulties, maternal stress, anxiety, time management, and tiredness. These challenges influence the learning of student mothers, negatively affecting their overall academic achievement. Poor academic performance of student mothers is attributed to low-class attendance, missing scheduled CATS, and lack of completion of assignments and tests given in class. Missing classes is attributed to the fact that student mothers often opt to attend childcare roles instead of attending to their academics since they have nobody to help them look after their kids. The correlation coefficient of the psychosocial effect on class attendance and academic performance from the correlational analysis run was -0.609 and -0.701, respectively. This implies a negative and significant relationship between the psychosocial impact on class attendance and the psychosocial effect on academic performance. The correlation coefficient of student motherhood on class attendance and academic performance were -0.762 and -0.591, respectively. This implies a significant negative correlation between student motherhood and class attendance and academic performance. The study recommends a special accommodation facility for student mothers at the university to enable them to study more smoothly. The university should establish a student-mother-desk to track student mothers' demographic trends and academic progression.