Satisfaction, research productivity, and socialization in doctoral students: Do teaching assistantship, research assistantship and the advisory relationship play a role?

Abstract

Funding to doctoral students in the form of research and teaching assistantships help students become independent scholars and complete their programs. Insufficient funding, unforeseen financial obligations, and debt can discourage students from completing their programs in a timely fashion. However, supervisors may play an influential role in supporting doctoral student socialization and growth towards research autonomy. Girves and Wemmerus's (1988) doctoral student degree progress theoretical model claimed that financial assistance and students' perceptions of faculty support are key predictors of doctoral students' progress. They also proposed that students' satisfaction with their department, sense of isolation, and engagement in their programs may explain (or mediate) these associations. The aim of this study was to investigate how supervisor support and financial assistance influence doctoral students' satisfaction with their programs as well as their academic and social engagement. Using data from the Canadian Graduate and Professional Student Survey (n = 18,822 doctoral students), we evaluated a model of doctoral student productivity (i.e., publications and conference presentations) with teaching and research assistantships as key predictors and student satisfaction as mediators. We also examined how supervisor support and financial assistance relate to students' academic and social life. The results showed that teaching assistantships are negatively associated with general satisfaction and program satisfaction but positively associated with social involvement. Moreover, research assistantships were significantly and positively associated with social involvement and progress. Supervisor support was positively associated with doctoral students' general satisfaction, program satisfaction, and social involvement. The findings support Girves and Wemmerus's theory and highlight the importance of faculty support for doctoral student success. (258/300).