Department of Sociology, Rice University, Houston, Texas, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2011;6(8):e22590. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0022590. Epub 2011 Aug 5.
Scholars partly attribute the low number of women in academic science to the impact of the science career on family life. Yet, the picture of how men and women in science--at different points in the career trajectory--compare in their perceptions of this impact is incomplete. In particular, we know little about the perceptions and experiences of junior and senior scientists at top universities, institutions that have a disproportionate influence on science, science policy, and the next generation of scientists. Here we show that having fewer children than wished as a result of the science career affects the life satisfaction of science faculty and indirectly affects career satisfaction, and that young scientists (graduate students and postdoctoral fellows) who have had fewer children than wished are more likely to plan to exit science entirely. We also show that the impact of science on family life is not just a woman's problem; the effect on life satisfaction of having fewer children than desired is more pronounced for male than female faculty, with life satisfaction strongly related to career satisfaction. And, in contrast to other research, gender differences among graduate students and postdoctoral fellows disappear. Family factors impede talented young scientists of both sexes from persisting to research positions in academic science. In an era when the global competitiveness of US science is at risk, it is concerning that a significant proportion of men and women trained in the select few spots available at top US research universities are considering leaving science and that such desires to leave are related to the impact of the science career on family life. Results from our study may inform university family leave policies for science departments as well as mentoring programs in the sciences.
学者们部分将女性在学术科学领域中的人数较少归因于科学职业对家庭生活的影响。然而，关于处于不同职业轨迹的男性和女性如何看待这种影响的全貌尚不完全清楚。特别是，我们对顶尖大学的初级和高级科学家的看法和经验知之甚少，而这些机构对科学、科学政策和下一代科学家有着不成比例的影响。在这里，我们表明，由于科学职业而生育的孩子少于期望数量，会影响科学教师的生活满意度，并间接地影响职业满意度，而且生育的孩子少于期望数量的年轻科学家（研究生和博士后研究员）更有可能计划完全退出科学界。我们还表明，科学对家庭生活的影响不仅仅是女性的问题；与女性相比，生育的孩子少于期望数量对男性教职员工的生活满意度的影响更为明显，生活满意度与职业满意度密切相关。与其他研究不同的是，研究生和博士后研究员之间的性别差异消失了。家庭因素阻碍了男女优秀的年轻科学家继续从事学术科学的研究工作。在美国科学界的全球竞争力面临风险的时代，令人担忧的是，在美国顶尖研究型大学的少数几个可用职位中接受培训的相当一部分男性和女性都在考虑离开科学界，而这种离开的愿望与科学职业对家庭生活的影响有关。我们研究的结果可能会为科学部门的大学休假政策以及科学领域的指导计划提供信息。
