The Ties That Bind: Student-Mothers’ Social Capital During the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this comparative case study of 22 student-mothers in Georgia and New York during the COVID-19 pandemic, we explore the role social capital plays in mitigating participants’ challenges. Using Adler and Kwon’s (2002) bridging versus bonding forms of capital, we argue participants turned to their internal, primarily women-comprised networks (bonding) to navigate academics and parenting after the pandemic eroded opportunities for bridging capital. We highlight the ways that student-mothers’ primarily women-comprised networks stepped in to provide important support to facilitate participants’ persistence when higher education institutions were unable to do so. This study challenges dominant notions of social capital and brings to light its often-hidden gendered nature to underscore how a strong internal support network can lead to individual and, ultimately, societal benefits. The results of this study have implications far beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, challenging educators to think critically about how to harness the support networks of minoritized and marginalized students to facilitate student success.