Purpose
In August 2024, the US Surgeon General called for a shift in the policies and programs available to support parents and caregivers. Despite findings that nearly 50.0% of female physician assistant (PA)-students report parenting impacted their decision to pursue becoming a PA over another profession, few studies examine perceptions of family planning or parenting status among practicing PAs. This study explores the perceived relationship between parenting status and employment selection, career advancement, and household duties among current PAs.
Methods
This cross-sectional study used data collected from the American Academy of PAs Salary Survey between January and March 2023.
Results
A total of 626 PAs (626/1,321; 47.4%) completed the survey. While 62.9% (388/617) of PAs state family planning influenced their decision to become a PA and 64.1% (395/616) state that parenting impacted their current job choice, over one quarter (28.5%, 175/614) have declined a leadership opportunity due to parenting or pregnancy-related responsibilities. Additionally, 56.2% (345/616) of PAs strongly or somewhat agreed that females who have children fall behind in the promotion process, as compared to 4.2% (26/616) when asked the same statement regarding male PAs. Over 20.0% of female PAs (22.6%; 113/411) report being asked inappropriate pregnancy or parenting-related questions by an employer as compared to 7.1% (7/99) of males (p <0.001). As compared to male PAs, female PAs self-report significantly increased parenting-related responsibilities (female 56.6% vs male 36.8%; p <0.001) and household duties (female 58.8% vs male 41.6%; p <0.001). Additionally, 57.2% (48/91) of male PAs report having a spouse who does not work full time as compared to 11.8% (53/449) of females (p <0.001).
Conclusion
Parenting was a factor in most PAs’ decisions to pursue the profession, but there is a disparity in how parenting status is perceived to impact home responsibilities and career advancement between males and females. Further exploration of parenting's influence on career decisions through training is also needed.