More women than ever before are entering the halls of higher education. According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), more women than men are obtaining bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees (U.S. Department of Education, 2011a) According to Home (1998), at the end of the 20th century, women with families were the fastest growing population at the university level. At the beginning of the 20th century, students over the age of 25 were the fastest growing population in higher education (Carney-Crompton & Tan, 2002). These statistics beg the question, Why do women return to school? What are their challenges? What are their stories? More importantly, how do they do it all? How do they balance the demands of home and school and, most often, employment as well? My research examined the tensions women face going to school, specifically women who have children at home, commonly referred to as nontraditional age students. I was interested in the competitive demands of balancing two challenging roles, that of student and mother. Additionally, I wanted to know how these two roles affected their health and self-care. I designed a qualitative study to explore life as a graduate student mother. I specifically sought to learn about strategies of balancing the challenges as well as how, or if, schooling affected their health and self-care. Using the Roy Adaptation Model, I searched for ways in which women balance their multiple roles. With this research, I aim to help these women in their efforts to be successful in school and in life. I utilized both individual interviews and a focus group. Themes for interviews included I'm a Mother first, I'm the Captain of the Ship, "We got there together," the Adventure is Stressful, Finding Joy in the Journey, Attitude Determines Altitude, and Letting Go. Additionally, two overarching themes surfaced from the focus group: 1. Stress is Ubiquitous and 2. Identity Crisis. From this study, health educators can begin to understand how graduate school mothers experience graduate school, thus obtain a greater ability to develop and implement strategies to help this population.

Der Vater stellt eine gewichtige gesellschaftliche Größe dar. Er ist neben der Mutter der bedeutendste Sozialisationsagent der frühen Kindheit. Er ist der Zeugende, wird Vater zu dem Zeitpunkt, zu dem die Frau das Kind zur Welt bringt. Eine soziale Rolle ,,Vaterschaft" entwickelt sich hieraus jedoch erst dadurch, dass er bestimmte Aufgaben, die sich im Zusammenhang mit dem Kind ergeben, erfüllt. Die Ausführungen nähern sich diesem überaus vielschichtigen Komplex ,,Vater" dermaßen, dass das Zusammenwirken von Vater und Kind als Interaktion aufgefasst wird und die Bedeutung des Vaters als Modell für das Kind dargestellt wird. ,,Christliche Erziehung" und ,,Rituale" sind die beiden anderen Dimensionen dieser Arbeit und erfahren durch das Thema ,,Vater" ihre inhaltliche Zuspitzung. Eine empirische Untersuchung von Vätern zu diesen Themen mittels Fragebogen ergänzt die theoretische Perspektive. Die vorliegende Arbeit hat das Ziel, die drei angedeuteten Spannungsfelder aufzugreifen, zusammenzudenken und als praktisch-theologische Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Reflexion und Förderung christlicher Vaterschaft zu leisten. / The father represents an important figure in society. Together with the mother he is the most important socialization-agent of early childhood. He is involved in the act of procreation and finally becomes father at the time his wife gives birth to their child. However, a social role "paternity" develops only through the fact that he fulfills certain tasks which are connected with the child. The dissertation approaches the extremely multilayered and complex subject "father" as follows: the cooperation between father and child is understood as interaction. The father´s role as model for the child is described. "Christian education" and "rituals" with regard to the topic "father" are the two other dimensions of this dissertation. An empirical survey of fathers about these topics by means of a questionnaire supplements the theoretical perspective. This Master-Dissertation would like to deal with the three mentioned areas, and - as practical-theological thesis - contribute to the reflection and promotion of Christian paternity. / Practical Theology / M.Th. (Practical theology)

Der Vater stellt eine gewichtige gesellschaftliche Größe dar. Er ist neben der Mutter der bedeutendste Sozialisationsagent der frühen Kindheit. Er ist der Zeugende, wird Vater zu dem Zeitpunkt, zu dem die Frau das Kind zur Welt bringt. Eine soziale Rolle ,,Vaterschaft" entwickelt sich hieraus jedoch erst dadurch, dass er bestimmte Aufgaben, die sich im Zusammenhang mit dem Kind ergeben, erfüllt. Die Ausführungen nähern sich diesem überaus vielschichtigen Komplex ,,Vater" dermaßen, dass das Zusammenwirken von Vater und Kind als Interaktion aufgefasst wird und die Bedeutung des Vaters als Modell für das Kind dargestellt wird. ,,Christliche Erziehung" und ,,Rituale" sind die beiden anderen Dimensionen dieser Arbeit und erfahren durch das Thema ,,Vater" ihre inhaltliche Zuspitzung. Eine empirische Untersuchung von Vätern zu diesen Themen mittels Fragebogen ergänzt die theoretische Perspektive. Die vorliegende Arbeit hat das Ziel, die drei angedeuteten Spannungsfelder aufzugreifen, zusammenzudenken und als praktisch-theologische Arbeit einen Beitrag zur Reflexion und Förderung christlicher Vaterschaft zu leisten. / The father represents an important figure in society. Together with the mother he is the most important socialization-agent of early childhood. He is involved in the act of procreation and finally becomes father at the time his wife gives birth to their child. However, a social role "paternity" develops only through the fact that he fulfills certain tasks which are connected with the child. The dissertation approaches the extremely multilayered and complex subject "father" as follows: the cooperation between father and child is understood as interaction. The father´s role as model for the child is described. "Christian education" and "rituals" with regard to the topic "father" are the two other dimensions of this dissertation. An empirical survey of fathers about these topics by means of a questionnaire supplements the theoretical perspective. This Master-Dissertation would like to deal with the three mentioned areas, and - as practical-theological thesis - contribute to the reflection and promotion of Christian paternity. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M.Th. (Practical theology)