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Stressors And Time-To-Degree For Online Social Sciences Doctoral Programs, Brandy R. Nelson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

U.S. doctoral program completion rates have remained persistently low in the humanities and biomedical sciences despite educators' efforts. A variety of factors, including stress and dissitation advisor-related issues, were associated with high attrition rates and extended time-to-degree for PhD candidates. The purpose of this correlational study was to examine relationships among life stressors, advisor-related factors, and time-to-degree for a convenience sample of 74 online social sciences doctoral degree holders. Holmes and Rahe's work on stress and Tinto's framework for education program attrition provided the framework for the study. Linear regression and Pearson's correlation statistics were used to examine the relationships …