ArticlePloS one2023
"How is your thesis going?"-Ph.D. students' perspectives on mental health and stress in academia.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and severity of mental health problems in early-career researchers: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Nature human behaviour · 2026Pooled it
- Determinants of an academic career and barriers to research among young otolaryngologists in Europe.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2026Article
- Facilitators to doctoral completion among international students in a Global South University: An appreciative inquiry perspective.PloS one · 2026Article
- From surviving to thriving: a process-ecological model of psychological resilience in doctoral students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mental Health Among Spanish Doctoral Students: Relationship Between Anxiety, Depression, Life Satisfaction, and Mentoring.European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education · 2025Article
- Assessing the well-being of PhD scholars: a scoping review.BMC psychology · 2025Article
- Mental Health, Emotional Regulation, and Psychosocial Work Factors Among Scientific Researchers: A Cross-Sectional Study from Paraguay.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- The Influence of Multiple Factors on Musicology Doctoral Students' Academic Performance: An Empirical Study Based in China.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Behind the graduate mental health crisis in science.Nature biotechnology · 2024Article
- [Structures, aims and needs of early career scientists at the German Center for Mental Health].Der Nervenarzt · 2024Review
- Supervision of students in a Portuguese veterinary medicine school-students' and supervisors' expectations, perceptions, and supervision impact.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- The supervisory relationship as a predictor of mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the United Kingdom.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Psychosocial work stressors and mental health in Ph.D. students in Germany-Evidence from two cross-sectional samples.PloS one · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mental health issues among Ph.D. students are prevalent and on the rise, with multiple studies showing that Ph.D. students are more likely to experience symptoms of mental health-related issues than the general population. However, the data is still sparse. This study aims to investigate the mental health of 589 Ph.D. students at a public university in Germany using a mixed quantitative and qualitative approach. We administered a web-based self-report questionnaire to gather data on the mental health status, investigated mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and potential areas for improvement of the mental health and well-being of Ph.D. students. Our results revealed that one-third of the participants were above the cut-off for depression and that factors such as perceived stress and self-doubt were prominent predictors of the mental health status of Ph.D. students. Additionally, we found job insecurity and low job satisfaction to be predictors of stress and anxiety. Many participants in our study reported working more than full-time while being employed part-time. Importantly, deficient supervision was found to have a negative effect on Ph.D. students' mental health. The study's results are in line with those of earlier investigations of mental health in academia, which likewise reveal significant levels of depression and anxiety among Ph.D. students. Overall, the findings provide a greater knowledge of the underlying reasons and potential interventions required for advancing the mental health problems experienced by Ph.D. students. The results of this research can guide the development of effective strategies to support the mental health of Ph.D. students.
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