“Is it worth it?”: Academic-related guilt among college student caregivers

Research on family achievement guilt shows that some students experience guilt associated with going to college because it affects their relationships with their family. However, no research to date has examined family achievement guilt among students who serve as a caregiver—someone who has daily responsibilities to care for their own children, their siblings, or their parents and/or extended family members. We hypothesized that students who identify as caregivers would experience higher levels of family achievement guilt than noncaregiver students. A sample of students ( n = 406) at an open-access, 4-year state college was surveyed, 45.5% of whom identified as caregivers. We found that student caregivers experienced more family achievement guilt related both to leaving their family behind and to seeming to become different, though these effects were moderated by race/ethnicity and who they cared for. Latinx caregivers, in particular, were the most likely to feel guilt related to leaving family behind. We also found that caregivers to siblings experienced more guilt than some other types of caregivers. Overall, racial and caregiver type differences point to the need to further investigate how caregiver obligations affect college success. Importantly, colleges and universities must do the work to make it worth it for students attempting to balance caregiver responsibilities and their academic obligations by providing a college culture that supports them and acknowledges the many roles and responsibilities they have. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: journal abstract)