The Perfect Storm of Educational Experiences: Impacts on Psychological Safety, Sense of Belonging and Subjective Well-Being for Graduate Students at PWIs

Abstract

The purpose of the present research was to enhance understanding of the impact of educational experiences for graduate student at PWIs. A new conceptual model (The Tripartite Framework for Educational Experiences Model) argues that challenging educational experiences for scholars of color begin as an undergraduate and these experiences combine with additional challenges as a graduate student. According to the model, this “perfect storm” has consequences for psychological safety, sense of belonging, subjective well-being and, ultimately, retention. Three-hundred eighty-five incoming first year graduate students participated in the longitudinal study at two different time points (the beginning of the Fall 2022 semester and at the end of the Fall 2022 semester). It was found that racial battle fatigue associated with undergraduate experiences, in addition to factors associated with graduate school experiences, impacted the consequences of graduate school experiences for both graduate students of color and graduate students not-of-color during the first semester of graduate school. Students’ narratives of their educational experiences are also highlighted in this study. Overall, the present research introduces a novel representation of the cumulative and chronic toll of educational experiences of graduate students at PWIs over time.