Introduction. Pregnancy brings about physical and psychological changes (Naim, Bhutto, 2000) such as weight gain, pain, anxiety, depression, fatigue etc. that affect daily routine. During the early weeks of pregnancy, women may feel tired with low energy levels. Some women experience heightened emotions whereas some others feel more anxious or depressed during this period. Many researchers have highlighted women’s dual identity and role as mothers and students. For example, women have traditionally been conceptualized as the careers in the family, influencing their identity construction (Alsop et al. 2008). Further, student mothers’ experience in both structural environment and socio-cultural constructs reflects complex identity inside and outside the university as they are performing as both mothers and students and rely on economic and emotional support from parents and spouses (Lynch, 2008). Marriage does not affect a woman’s performance as a student, but pregnant students have different experiences and problems in educational settings (Dempsey, Ravacon, 1971), resulting in apossible delay in the achievement of educational goals (Mason, Goulden, 2013).

Globally, the number of women enrolled in higher education institutions has been increasing. 29% of women become pregnant during their higher education studies, a figure which is likely to increase (Pugh, 2010). Pregnancy changes the current and future lives of women and can have a negative effect on education. Compared with men, 59% of married women with children leave academia and take on more household responsibilities (Mason, Younger, 2014).Previous research has employed McClusky’s theory of margin for examining issues related to students' pregnancy and their studies (e.g., Evans, Grant; 2008; Grenier, Burk, 2008; Maher et al. 2004; Merriam, Bierama, 2014; Stoddart, et al., 2013; Quinn, et al. 2019). In line with these previous studies, we also employ the McClusky's theory of margin to look deeper into the experiences of pregnant graduate students’ loads that hinder their higher education studies, and the powers to compete with all circumstances successfully. First, we present the main perspectives of the theory of margin.

Theoretical Perspectives: McClusky's theory of margin. McClusky’s (1963) theory of margin describes the impact of increasing demands and pressures on adults’ lives over time. McClusky’s theory (1974) of power-load-margin the orizes about the load an individual carries and the power to carry that load. Margin (M) is the relationship between the load (L) and the power (P) and is defined as the ratio of load as the numerator and power as the denominator (M=L/P). Load is the demands of living and power is the personal resources or environmental supports available to cope with the load. The value of the margin ranges from above 0 (zero is an ideal case and does not exist in nature) to 1 or greater than 1. A margin value greater than 1 is an alarming condition, as it shows a high load; this demands substantial power to overcome the load. A margin value less than 1 means that there is a surplus of power available to handle the load.

McClusky (1963) further clarifies the load and power ratio by dividing load in two interacting elements: internal load and external load. External load factors are normal life tasks, such as family commitments, careers, physical demands and community. Internal load factors are life expectations, desires, aspirations and future goals. Further, Stevenson (1982) defined load as tangible or intangible objects, thoughts, sentiments, biological discrepancy or any usual task, which require energy when it is mentally entertained or physically put in place by individuals. However, according to Heimstra (1993), Load consists on tasks engross in the usual requirements of living. It has a significant value when combined with power to achieve educational goals. Power is the physical and mental abilities for both internal and external resources. External power requires support from family, social abilities and economic stability. Internal power requires self-motivation skills and experiences that contribute to successful performance, such as personality, resilience and coping skills (Main, 1979; Walker, 1997; Weiman, 1984). McClusky’s theory of margin is rooted with the complications, unique features and possibilities within the experiences of adult’s life (Main, 1979). For success, an adult needs both self–preservation and self-improvement. Adulthood is continuously changing with time and needs energy and power to keep balance between ‘loads of life’ (McClusky, 1963).

McClusky’s theory (1974), also called as power-load-margin theory, involves the load (L) which individual bears in performing multiple tasks and the power (P) to give strength to carry load. Margin is determined by ratio of load to power ((M=L/P) with a ratio at 1.00 representing an equal balance of power and load (McClusky, 1963) while ratio of .50 to .80 provides substantial margin to meet the challenges of life (Main, 1979; McClusky, 1963). The surplus of power in relation to load, the margin is available to achieve goals. Margin is associated with excess of power that adults possess (Lagana, 2007) while Merriam, Caffarella and Baumgartner (2007) restated Margin as ratio of load to power in one’s life; more power means a greater margin to participate in learning (p. 93). According to Main (1979), a person with margin is allowed to “invest in life extension projects and experiences including learning experiences” (p. 23). Moreover, the quantity and degree of margin is crucial in people’s lives. However, an individual lacking margin in life has then few alternatives with no power to exploit them (McClusky, 1963).

Previous research has employed the theory of margin for examining different issues/topics. For example, Grenier and Burke (2008) used McClusky’s theory of margin to explain the sources of load and power using an auto-ethnography approach. They collected data from pregnancy to childbirth from graduate students. The students’ sources of power were information and support (department, friends, family members and employers) and their loads were physical factors (lack of sleep, stress and pressure), family, academic- and job-related factors and age. Also, Maher et al. (2004) investigated how financial instability, marital factors, family, health and academic-related issues hindered women studying for their doctoral degrees. The findings revealed how some women who completed their doctoral degrees on time, had full support from their family along with their supervisors and were aware of whom to turn for support within the academic system. Further, Evans and Grant (2008) reported on the experiences of parental students. These experiences identify physical changes, household responsibilities, childcare responsibilities and academic factors as loads while internal strength, colleagues, financial support and academic factors as power. The factors experienced as loads and power vary from person to person. Additionally, the theory of margin is employed to explore both external and internal barriers faced by non-traditional students to the path of college along with their driving force or extra margin needed to traverse and overcome struggles (Stoddart, et al., 2013). It was also utilized as a philosophy of motivation for learning and how life experiences, body and spirit, motivation, cognition and culture bear on the adult learning context (Merriam, Bierama, 2014; Finally, Quinn, et al., 2019) postulated the theory of margin to overview the experiences of first generation students enrolled in a Student Support Service program by identified life factors that influence one’s level of load (demand) and power (resources) which is the key to understanding one’s margin in life. In line with these previous studies, we also employ the McClusky's theory of margin to look deeper into the experiences of pregnant graduate students’ loads that hinder their higher education studies and powers to compete with all circumstances successfully. Therefore, we categorized power and load in terms of family, social, financial, academic, physical and self-relatedfactorsshown in Table 1 below. Some factors are simultaneously sources of load and power depending on circumstances (such as time during the graduate study period, child-rearing, household responsibilities and financial stability) and vary from one person to another (as explained in the analysis section).

Note1: *Identified in previous research as a source of both load and power. However, ‎in this study, these were solely sources of power.‎

Note 2: a These factors change according to the graduate study period, and are perceived as ‎loads at certain times.‎

The margins shown in Table 4 indicate that the effect of the loads increased throughout the study period. Pregnant students need more support to overcome this stress. Such support can be provided by the university administration by formulating policies suitable for pregnant students and providing them with an appropriate and friendly environment.

Social factors. Figure 1 shows the social values related to tradition, culture, religion and language. Do social values affect female education? The factors more directly related to participants of this study were language, Chinese society, its customs and traditions, and the role of the Pakistani community in China. We did not include the university environment in social factors (presented in the previous section). Therefore, the margin for social factors was:

These relationships indicate that the role of Chinese neighbours was only applicable to living off-campus. Most universities in Beijing do not accommodate students who are parents. These students must stay off-campus and often live far from the university, because accommodation near the university campus is quite expensive (we discuss this factor in the next section on financial factors). The social factor of language was a source of load within and outside the campus. Language is a powerful tool among individuals to communicate and share knowledge. The Chinese and Pakistani communities were perceived as a source of power whereas communication with the Chinese society was language dependent. The identified social factors possibly affecting Pakistani graduate students are religion, culture, society (both Pakistani and Chinese), language and tradition.

The overall margin value for social factors for pregnant Pakistani graduate students in Beijing was 0.74. The power of social factors increased throughout the graduate study period. The margins at the start of graduate studies, during studies and at the end of studies were 0.867, 0.716 and 0.6, respectively
(Table 5). The perception of language as a source of power is increased by learning and communication throughout the graduate study period. However, if the perception of language as a load increases, the value of the margin for social factors will also increase.

The analysis showed that the margin for social factors decreased with time as the power increased. The effect of the Pakistani community and the social circle increased over time, which provided more support and security to students. Language directly relates to the effects of Chinese neighbours and community. Increased language ability enhances communication with others. Therefore, the effect of language and the Chinese community were inversely proportional to each other. Another dominant factor that increased power was the Pakistani community in China. This factor counteracted the effect of language as a source of load, because it is not affected by knowledge of the Chinese language. The mean values of Pakistani community support within China at the beginning, during, and end of graduate studies were 3.5, 3.625 and 4, respectively.

Financial factors. The financial factor is crucial for pregnant students in higher education studies. Financial expenses for maternity, accommodation and child caring build pressure on pregnant students. To overcome such financial expenses, pregnant students need jobs or a reliable source of income. The theory of margin relationships for financial factors was:

We defined financial sources of load and power as family, job, supervisor support and university financial plans and policies. The family aspect included the financial condition of the husband. Financial support and motivation from family members were also included as sources of power. Although pregnant students with some job benefit financially, they find it difficult to manage workloads, time and educational achievement. How do Chinese universities help pregnant students who are not financially stable? Do their supervisors support them with funds? Is there any policy to help pregnant graduate students to complete their higher education studies on time? The statistical analyses of the financial factors showed that the margin value for the financial factors was 0.633, and the mean values of power and load sources for the financial factors were 4.261 and 2.698, respectively.

We further categorized students according to type of funding. Out of 29 participants, 20 participants had a full scholarship, 5 received a partial scholarship and 4 were self-funded. The margins for full scholarship, partial scholarship and self-funding were 0.647, 0.487 and 0.75, respectively (Table 6). The margin for partial scholarship indicated no financial load on pregnant students because their husbands were financially stable and encouraged them to complete their education. Self-funded pregnant students in higher education have less power than students with partial funding. A spousal support for partial and self-funded students was 5 and 4, respectively. Therefore, self-funded pregnant students experience more stress and pressure from their family to complete their education on time, which increases the value of the margin.

We further divided students on full scholarships into four categories according to whether their husbands were students, employees or businessmen (Table 7). Out of twenty participants on full scholarships, ten had husbands who were students, three had husbands who worked in China, six had husbands who worked in Pakistan and one had a husband who ran his own business. The mean values for the willingness of the twenty participants to enrol in higher education were, respectively, 3.75, 4.0, 4.0 and 4.0 (husbands as students, working in China, working in Pakistan and businessmen). The mean values for the husbands’ willingness for them to enrol in higher education were 4.25, 3.0, 4.2 and 5.0, respectively. The margins for pregnant students on full scholarships with spouses as students, working in China, working in Pakistan and businessmen were 0.609, 0.5625, 0.658 and 0.8, respectively. The margin increased over time because of the adverse university policies related to pregnant graduate students in Beijing. The effects of university policies on the value of the margin were 0.7, 0.625, 0.731 and 0.734, respectively. The Likert scale scoring showed that university policy directly influenced financial stability.

Physical factors and self-factors. The physical effects during pregnancy are experienced as sources of load with variation among women. In our study, we categorized the external factors into family, academic, social and financial factors. Further, we categorized internal factors into emotions and self-motivation. While physical changes during pregnancy are taken as load in equation 5, the analysis demonstrated the role of internal and external self-factors in overcoming the physical condition of pregnant students:

Where Load_Physical represents the physical changes related to pregnancy, which cause anxiety, fatigue, stress and depression, Load_{Self Internal} and Load_{Self External} represent sources of load experienced by pregnant students that depend on external and internal factors. Examples of external factors are the role of the university administration, support from teaching staff, guidance from a research advisor, motivation from the family (especially from the husband) and, most importantly, financial stability. Internal loads are low energy levels, depression and stress related to educational achievement, morning sickness and stress. On the other hand, self-factor can also be a source of power. The overall margin for pregnant students was 0.877. The value of the margin was also time dependent. At the beginning, during and at the end of graduate studies, the margins were 0.7813, 0.9088 and 1.016, respectively. Other factors, such as whether the student was already a parent or whether they were pregnant for the first time, produced margins of 0.

The margin values suggest that pregnant Pakistani graduate students experienced more power than load. However, a close examination of time-related changes in the value of the margin shows that load increases with time at the end of the studies. Therefore, the time during the studies influences the distribution of load for pregnant graduate students. Women’s experience in handling pressure or physical changes was also an important factor. Women who already had children knew how to use the system to work for them compared with those who did not have children during their studies in Beijing. Finance was another important factor that affected the balance of work, family and academic life.835 and 0.869, respectively, as shown in Table 8.

Discussion and conclusion. The study results highlight the experiences of the Pakistani female pregnant graduate students while conducting their higher education‎studies in Beijing. ‎We specifically examined the family, social, academic, financial, physical and self factors ‎affecting Pakistani female pregnant graduate students. The main assumption was the ability of the students to balance between power and load to achieve a balanced margin; the ability of the students to balance between their pregnancy and academic lives. The calculated values of power were greater than those of load for the five factors—resulting into margin values of less than 1 for all these factors (Family=0.379‎, academic=0.732‎, social=0.74‎, financial=0.633‎, physical and self=0.877.‎) Further, time showed as an affecting factor − changing the value of margin accordingly (i.e. starting period of study, in the middle of the study period and towards graduation). Given this, we discuss the results of the present study in five dimensions.

First, concerning the family factors that possibly affect Pakistani female pregnant graduate students, our results showed that the roles of in-laws and parents were dominant than those of husbands but both are used as sources of power. This contradicts with Gr enter and Burke (2008) who found that the in-law role was a source of both load and power. However, our results support previous research that family support helps women in higher education to achieve balance in their lives (e.g., Di Georgio-Lutz, 2002; Williams, 2007). Sometimes, the effort of balancing between work and family can become a source of stress. Before marriage, the positive attitudes of parents and brothers encourage women to enter higher education while after marriage the support of husband becomes more important for woman to continue higher education studies. Family support to women’s education in Pakistan is influential (Rana, 2007; Saxena, 2014) although husbands are more influential on the decisions of their wives (Rab, 2010). Those who complete their higher education studies had their husband’s support in childcare, in household responsibilities and in responsibilities outside the home.

Second, the results concerning the academic factors indicate that sources of load are administrative policies, administrative attitudes and teacher support outside of the classroom − consistent with (Evan et al. 2007; DiGeorgio-Lutz, 2002). Moreover, sources of power are the supervisor’s support, the university environment and aspects of academic achievement, such as knowledge sharing and previous experience (Ellis, 2014; Evan et al. 2007). Academic support is important to ensure that parental students achieve their goals (Zachry, 2005). Such support for young women in academia helps achieve their educational goals and builds a successful future for themselves and their children. Besides, administrative policies for pregnant graduate students should be flexible. Policies for pregnant women in the workplace can demonstrate gender disparity and force pregnant women to leave their jobs (Fox, Quinn, 2015). Further, the supervisor was a source of power for students to complete their studies on time (Grenier, Burke, 2008; Mehar et al. 2004). In “Mama and PhD”, the authors shared successful experience sin achieving academic tasks efficiently because of supervisors’ positive feedback (Evans, Grant, 2008).This means that poor advice from supervisors and faculty members may lead to delays in completion of studies.

Third, with reference to social factors, our results mainly report that language has an influence on pregnant postgraduate students’ studies. The language is important as it might lead to poor communication that becomes a barrier in continuing higher education. Previous research reported that region but not religion poses challenges for higher education (Malik. Li, 2014), region is reported be more influential than religion in Pakistan (Shafi, 2011). According to Mahbub ul Haq Human Development Centre (2000), Muslim women need inspiration and encouragement from their family and society toward fur the ring their education.

Fourth, our results show that financial factors related to maternity, accommodation and child caring are important for the success in higher education studies. The results also show that the presence of reliable income source is crucial. Such results support previous research concerning educational goals achievement (e.g., Ellis, 2014; Galmarini, 2008; Lynch, 2008). Further, our results pointed out the need of the university administration to provide in-campus housing for pregnant students for lessening some pressures. This goes in vein with the assumption that it is the responsibility of the university administration to provide female students with accommodation during pregnancy (McNee, 2013).Providing educational and financial resources during early parenthood (Duncan, 2011) through, for example, governmental agencies (for educational institutions) would help retain such students, particularly in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Maso, Younger, 2014).

Fifth, our results show that the physical condition is one important factor in the pregnant students’ successful continuity of higher education studies. If such factor is not well considered, it may delay pregnant students’ educational achievements (Mehar et al. 2004) or may lower the self-motivation to complete academic goals early (Galmarini, 2008; Rab, 2010). Grenier and Burke (2008) differentiated between internal and external aspects of the self, which may be experienced simultaneously as sources of power and load under different circumstances.

In conclusion, we highlight that our study has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically, our study contributes to the existing literature using the theory of margin with special focus on a psychological perspective on higher education studies, namely, pregnant graduate students’ stress and pressure caused by several factors varying among family, academic, social, financial, physical and self-factors. In practice, pregnant graduate students require more attention and positive support from their family and spouses, the academic environment and society in order to overcome challenges and complete their higher education studies. In particular, pregnant students need more academic support (e.g., support from the university administration and the university environment). This requires a re-evaluation of the university administrative policies regarding pregnant graduate students with a focus on lessening stress and pressure facing pregnant students. Students with such overall support can balance between their higher education studies and pregnancy. Finally, because of the difficulty in recruiting more participants during the period of conducting this study, the results are not generalizable but can form a basic step and contribution for future large-scale studies.