ArticlePloS one2025
How do supervisor-student relationship affect anxiety of graduate students? --The mediating role of research self-efficacy and the moderating role of mindset.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- From positive psychology to practical empowerment: theoretical construction and pathway innovation in graduate student mental health education.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Pooled it
- The impact of supervisor support on academic adaptation of medical research postgraduates: a serial mediation model of research self-efficacy and psychological resilience.Medical education online · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveIn China, the number of graduate students continues to increase, and graduate education is developing rapidly. However, mental health issues among graduate students are widespread. Self-efficacy and mindset have been found to moderate the effect of negative life events on individuals' anxiety and depression levels. However, few studies have extended this conclusion to postgraduate student samples.
methodsThis study utilized a moderated mediation model to explore the mediating role of research self-efficacy and the moderating role of mindsets. A sample of Chinese graduate students (n = 2278) was included in the study.
resultsThe results indicated that the supervisor-student relationship significantly affects the anxiety level of graduate students. Satisfaction with the supervisor-student relationship was negatively associated with anxiety. Furthermore, research self-efficacy was found to significantly mediate the impact of supervisor-student relationships on anxiety. Additionally, mindset significantly moderated the association between supervisor-student relationships and both anxiety as well as research self-efficacy. For students with a growth mindset, both their research self-efficacy and anxiety levels were less influenced by the quality of the supervisor-student relationship.
conclusionsThese findings highlight the critical importance of healthy supervisor-student relationships for graduate students' anxiety and depression, and suggest that fostering a growth mindset can mitigate the negative effects of poor supervisor-student relationships on mental health. Therefore, efforts should be made to cultivate students' growth mindsets to enhance their mental well-being. In addition, this study extends the application of self-determination theory to the field of education by verifying the mediating role of research self-efficacy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.