Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students

Abstract

Research policy observers are increasingly concerned about the potential impact of current academic working conditions on mental health, particularly in PhD students. The aim of the current study is threefold. First, we assess the prevalence of mental health problems in a representative sample of PhD students in Flanders, Belgium (N=3659). Second, we compare PhD students to three other samples: (1) highly educated in the general population (N=769); (2) highly educated employees (N=592); and (3) higher education students (N=333). Third, we assess those organizational factors relating to the role of PhD students that predict mental health status. Results based on 12 mental health symptoms (GHQ-12) showed that 32% of PhD students are at risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder, especially depression. This estimate was significantly higher than those obtained in the comparison groups. Organizational policies were significantly associated with the prevalence of mental health problems. Especially work-family interface, job demands and job control, the supervisor’s leadership style, team decision-making culture, and perception of a career outside academia are linked to mental health problems.

Focusing the Lens to Share the Story: Using Photographs and Interviews to Explore Doctoral Students’ Sense of Well-being

“…I know people who drink a lot and that is scary, and I don't want to fall into that -as shown in Figure 6 (Participant 109, Black/White female, describing a photo of a refrigerator stocked with beer). Finally, given the mounting evidence that many doctoral students suffer from psychological ailments (Levecque et al, 2017;Tsai & Muindi, 2016), we were not surprised to find at least one student in our sample who was candid about this challenge: This is [a photo of] a supplement to help with depression. I suffer from depression and it is a hard thing to overcome … it is a negative influence on my research and as an individual because you need to fight with something constantly to feel better.…”

“…PhD students dwell in a world of high anxiety (Ali & Kohun, 2006;Levecque et al, 2017) and their anxiety often stems from self-imposed mental struggles and issues produced during their PhD experiences (Schillebeeckx, Maricque, & Lewis, 2013). First-year PhD students in particular are susceptible to anxiety for several reasons.…”

“…Mounting dialogue around these issues, which include anxiety, alcohol/drug abuse, depression, and suicide (Eisenberg, Gollust, Golberstein, & Hefner, 2007;Nogueira-Martins, Fagnani Neto, Macedo, Cítero, & Mari, 2004;Waitzkin, Yager, Parker, & Duran, 2006) has heightened awareness of the psychological concerns that often accompanying pursuing a doctorate degree. In a recent large-scale study, doctoral students (n = 3695) were found to be at a much higher risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, such as depression, than were comparison samples of highly educated individuals in the general population (n = 769), highly educated employees (n = 592), and higher education students (n = 333) (Levecque, Anseel, De Beuckelaer, Van der Heyden, & Gisle, 2017). These findings correspond to those presented by Hyun and colleagues (2006), who found that almost half of the graduate students they surveyed reported a stress-related problem that significantly affected their emotional well-being and/or academic performance within the previous year.…”

Was it worth it? A qualitative exploration into graduate perceptions of doctoral value

“…Doctoral students also experience many stressors relating to academic pressure and workload that are sustained over a period of years. Media attention and new research on occupational stress within university environments indicates that it is widespread among junior academics (Bozeman & Gaughan, 2011;Reevy & Deason, 2014), with as many as 32% of PhD students in a Belgian sample at risk of developing common psychiatric disorders (Levecque, Anseel, De Beuckelaer, Van der Heyden, & Gisle, 2017). Poor long-term academic career prospects, also impact deleteriously upon students' sense of well-being (Walsh & Juniper, 2009), and dissatisfactory experiences of doctoral programmes negatively affects intentions to pursue a research career (Harman, 2002).…”

Introduction: The Proliferation of Precarious Labour in Academia

“…Likewise, they are not much different from other workers insofar as they are sometimes physically or psychologically ill and need time off work to recover, which may affect their ability to cope in a stressful work environment. In fact, there is a body of research that suggests that they may be experiencing more mental health problems than other groups of workers with similar occupations (Thomas, 2014;Guthrie et al, 2017;Levecque et al, 2017). It follows that the hardship faced by academic workers is, to a large degree, not a problem of their own making.…”