The DOI matches its Crossref record; 75 of the 80 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 4 of the 65 sources its claims cite were checked for support.
Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
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.
Overview
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Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
In a representative Flemish sample of 3,659 PhD students, 32% screened at GHQ4+ for risk of a common psychiatric disorder, and 51% reported at least two GHQ-12 symptoms. Mental health problems were more prevalent than in three comparison groups and were linked to work-family conflict, job demands and control, supervisor leadership, team decision-making, and career perceptions.
Key findings
- Prevalence among PhD students was 51% for GHQ2+, 40% for GHQ3+, and 32% for GHQ4+. The most common symptoms included constant strain, unhappiness/depression, sleep loss from worry, difficulty overcoming problems, and reduced enjoyment of daily activities.
- Compared with the highly educated general population, PhD students had adjusted risk ratios of 1.90 for GHQ2+, 2.26 for GHQ3+, and 2.43 for GHQ4+. Compared with highly educated employees, the corresponding ratios were 2.02, 2.56, and 2.84; compared with higher education students, they were 1.53, 1.63, and 1.85.
- Work-family conflict was the strongest predictor in relative-weight terms (34.1% for GHQ2+ and 29.8% for GHQ4+). Job demands had ORs of 1.896 for GHQ2+ and 1.651 for GHQ4+; job control had ORs of 0.784 and 0.631; family-work conflict had ORs of 1.206 and 1.296; work-family conflict had ORs of 1.521 and 1.522.
- Inspirational supervisor leadership was associated with lower odds (OR 0.868 for GHQ2+, 0.908 for GHQ4+), laissez-faire leadership with higher distress odds (OR 1.084 for GHQ2+), and closed team decision-making with higher GHQ4+ odds (OR 1.205). No discipline differences were found; executing-phase students had lower odds than initiating-phase students, and positive career perceptions inside or outside academia were associated with better mental health.
Methods
- Cross-sectional 2013 web survey of junior researchers at all Flemish universities; the analytic sample was 3,659 PhD students from a total population of 12,191, with a 33% response rate. Selective non-response analyses showed slightly more women, younger respondents, social scientists, and Belgians than in the total population.
- Comparison groups came from Belgian Health Interview Surveys: highly educated general population (N = 769), highly educated employees (N = 592), and higher education students (N = 333, pooled across 2001, 2004, 2008, and 2013).
- Mental health was measured with the GHQ-12 using GHQ2+, GHQ3+, and GHQ4+ thresholds. Analyses included adjusted risk ratios controlling for age and gender, and logistic regressions producing odds ratios, relative weights, and Nagelkerke R² values (0.202 for GHQ2+ and 0.204 for GHQ4+), with controls for gender, age, partner, and children.
Limitations
- The paper states that the cross-sectional design prevents causal conclusions, including possible self-selection or the alternative that distressed PhD students evaluate their environment more negatively.
- The paper also states that findings may be specific to Flanders, that financial conditions differ from countries where PhD students face more financial worries, and that GHQ4+ is a probabilistic screening measure rather than a clinical diagnosis.
- Evident from the text: the 33% response rate and selective non-response may affect prevalence estimates; all mental health measures are self-reported; and the higher education student comparison group was pooled across multiple survey years.
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Claims the paper makes
4 of 65 cited sources checked · 0 supported · 0 flagged · accuracy not yet measured
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites De Lange et al., 2004 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Correlational analyses section reports that higher job demands predicted increases in both depression and emotional exhaustion over time. The paper therefore supports the link, but its findings do not establish the claim that studies report it almost unanimously; the Introduction describes mixed support for the broader high-strain hypothesis. The supplied passages give no page numbers. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passes- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Low support at work has long been found to affect levels of anxiety, emotional exhaustion, job tension and job satisfaction (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites De Lange et al., 2004 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Correlational analyses section (page unavailable) reports that greater supervisor support was associated with lower emotional exhaustion over time. It does not report that support affected anxiety or job tension; for job satisfaction, the reported direction runs from satisfaction to later supervisor support, not the reverse. (LLM, conf=0.88)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Vanroelen et al., 2009 source
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passes- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This estimate was significantly higher than those obtained in the comparison groups.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
- Rests on an assumption: The comparison groups (highly educated general population, highly educated employees, higher education students) are comparable to PhD students for the purpose of comparing mental health prevalence.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Organizational policies were significantly associated with the prevalence of mental health problems.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Especially workfamily 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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passes- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
- Probably not a substantial claim. 45
- It may state two separate claims as one. 30
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites De Lange et al., 2004 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Introduction (page unavailable) says studies of high-strain jobs have yielded mixed support for adverse health effects, but it does not say most studies find significant effects or isolate low job control from high demands and low support. The Correlational analyses section (page unavailable) links greater job control to greater subsequent job satisfaction, not to lower depression or emotional exhaustion. (LLM, conf=0.83)
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Vanroelen et al., 2009 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Partly supported
The cited sources support only part of this claim — read each source’s verdict below.
In the paper
“As prior research has shown that both employment frustration (not finding the work one wants) and reward frustration (e.g.poor promotion prospects) have an impact on self-reported mental health (e.g.Castro et al., 2010), the current study will also examine the career prospects of PhD students.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Partly supportedcites Castro et al., 2010 sourceExperimental — accuracy not yet measured
The Results and Discussion report an association between employment frustration and lower self-rated mental health among Asian immigrants. The Measures and Limitations sections show that promotion prospects were not measured separately as “reward frustration”; the paper also says its cross-sectional data cannot establish a causal impact. Page numbers were not available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Partly supported
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“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.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Abstract
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As shown in Fig. 1, the number of faculty in Flanders has only marginally increased over the past 15 years, leading to an increased ratio of 3.2 PhD students per faculty member in 2014.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.1. PhD students in Flanders, Belgium
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The association with GHQ4+ was in the same direction, but not statistically significant.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Most important was work-family conflict (% RW = 34.1% and 29.8% for GHQ2+ and GHQ4+, respectively), and this was more important than family-work conflict (% RW = 10.2% and 12.2% for GHQ2+ and GHQ4+, respectively).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“The value of the Nagelkerke R2 (pseudo R2) was 0.202 for the GHQ2+ and 0.204 for the GHQ4+, which were reasonable effect sizes for psychological research in the workplace (Bosco et al., 2015;Landry et al., 2006).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
What the sources say
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Most prevalent are feelings of being under constant strain, unhappiness and depression, sleeping problems due to worries, inability to overcome difficulties and not being able to enjoy day-to-day activities.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.2. Summary of main findings
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The analyses revealed significant relationships with psychological distress (GHQ2+) and with the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (GHQ4+) in case of high job demands and low job control.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
A result the paper reports from its own data — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Comparing PhD students with higher education students, we observed that differences in mental health were smaller than for the other comparison groups, but the prevalence remained higher in PhD students.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Other studies, especially European and Australian ones, have tended to utilize samples of university employees in general and mostly reported aggregate findings (Kinman, 2008), making it difficult to draw fine-grained conclusions on the mental health of PhD students as a separate category.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Differences
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Kinman, 2008
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Second, the number of published studies focusing on mental health of PhD students is limited (El-Ghoroury et al., 2012), as most studies have focused on the undergraduate level (Peluso et al., 2011).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Differences
What the sources say
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
The paper states this without a source or data behind it here, so there is nothing to check it against. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Given the current lack of an empirical basis for mental health concerns and solutions, the current study has three aims.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 1.2. Why is the mental health of PhD students important for research policy?
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“The most widely used measurement instrument in occupational health research, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), enables researchers to tap into both psychological distress and depression (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > Differences
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Goldberg, 1972
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Goldberg and Williams, 1988
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“Several studies have found evidence for the role of task and relational conflict on employee well-being (e.g.Martinez-Corts et al., 2015).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Martinez-Corts et al., 2015 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Job demands and job control were assessed using the Dutch VBBA-quality of labor questionnaire (Vanroelen et al., 2009).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.2. Work context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Vanroelen et al., 2009 source
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In the paper
“Flanders has seen a rise in PhD production that is substantially larger than in other EU countries: in the academic year 2013-2014, a total of 1724 new doctorates were awarded, which is an increase of 71% compared to 2004-2005(ECOOM, 2015)).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.1. PhD students in Flanders, Belgium
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites ECOOM, 2015
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
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- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Internal consistency was 0.85 for the job demands scale and 0.88 for the job control scale.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.2. Work context
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In the paper
“In their cross discipline study in nine US research universities, Fox et al. (2011) show that it is important to consider both the conflict of work with family life and the conflict of family life with work.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Fox et al., 2011 source
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In the paper
“In a Finnish study of 383 PhD students, Stubb et al. (2011) found that 44% reported the academic community as a source of empowerment, enthusiasm and inspiration, while 56% experienced it as a source of burden.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Stubb et al. (2011) source
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In the paper
“The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.1. Mental health problems Mental health problems were measured using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2. The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3. GHQ items explore the respondent's experience in recent weeks compared to his or her usual experience.Response categories are item-specific but all responses are given on 4-point Likert-type scales.We adopt the GHQ scoring method, which uses a bimodal 0-0-1-1 scheme (to score subsequent response categories), conceiving the respondent's total number of 1 scores over the 12 items as an indication of the number of symptoms experienced.In order to determine that a person has a mental health problem, (s)he should experience a minimum number of symptoms.The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).In the current study we opt for the GHQ2+ (presence of at least 2 symptoms), indicating psychological distress.We also assess the GHQ4+ (presence of at least 4 symptoms), indicating the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).In Sample 1, the mean GHQ score is 2.84.However, for reasons of comparison with other studies on mental health in the university sector (see Table 2), we also include the GHQ3+ (presence of at least 3 symptoms) when calculating prevalence. Preliminary multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across both samples in our study attested to the stability of the measurement model underlying the GHQ.
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites McDowell, 2006
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
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- Not matched
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“There were 4069 participants (response rate of 33%).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.1. Sample 1: PhD students
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedn = 4,069Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Cronbach's alphas were 0.93, 0.78 and 0.74 for the three leadership styles, respectively.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.2. Work context
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What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Preliminary analyses showed that pooling of HIS data over years was warranted as year of survey administration had no impact on mental health outcomes.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.2. Sample 2: comparison groups
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What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.1. Mental health problems Mental health problems were measured using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2. The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3. GHQ items explore the respondent's experience in recent weeks compared to his or her usual experience.Response categories are item-specific but all responses are given on 4-point Likert-type scales.We adopt the GHQ scoring method, which uses a bimodal 0-0-1-1 scheme (to score subsequent response categories), conceiving the respondent's total number of 1 scores over the 12 items as an indication of the number of symptoms experienced.In order to determine that a person has a mental health problem, (s)he should experience a minimum number of symptoms.The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).In the current study we opt for the GHQ2+ (presence of at least 2 symptoms), indicating psychological distress.We also assess the GHQ4+ (presence of at least 4 symptoms), indicating the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).In Sample 1, the mean GHQ score is 2.84.However, for reasons of comparison with other studies on mental health in the university sector (see Table 2), we also include the GHQ3+ (presence of at least 3 symptoms) when calculating prevalence. Preliminary multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across both samples in our study attested to the stability of the measurement model underlying the GHQ.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“However, with the exception of Post et al. (2009), few studies among academics have addressed work-family conflict bi-directionally.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Post et al., 2009 source
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“A lack of social support has been identified as a major source of occupational stress in university staff (Gillespie et al., 2001;Biron et al., 2008).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“Workers' participation in decision making has often been shown to reduce job-related emotional strain, job dissatisfaction, absenteeism and turnover intentions (e.g.Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002 source
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Team conflict was assessed using Jehn's (1995) Intragroup Conflict scale.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.3. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Jehn, 1995 source
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“According to Kinman (2001), the social interaction patterns between university staff have shifted from a culture of collegiality to a bureaucratic culture and a management style in which consultation and participation in decision making are given less importance (see also Biron et al., 2008).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“As the supplyside of PhD production steadily increases, and the demand-side of tenure track positions remains largely unaltered (see Fig. 1), more and more students turn to the nonacademic labor market after obtaining their PhD, often regarding this as a second-choice option (Van Damme, 2014).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.1. Work context Work roles and workload demands, job control, support by peers or supervisors, and job insecurity are the most frequently examined characteristics of the work context (e.g.WHO, 2010).Studies almost unanimously report a consistent link between high job demands and emotional exhaustion and depressive feelings (e.g.De Lange et al., 2004).While PhD students clearly have different roles, tasks and responsibilities to fulfill than regular employees do, we believe that there are a series of common psychological characteristics that make it useful to study PhD students' roles through the lens of the organizational context in which they perform their study and research work.For reasons of clarity, we use the commonly accepted terminology in occupational health psychology, with the clear understanding that work-related aspects, such as job demands, refer to the demands experienced by students in their specific study and research roles.Job demands are those physical, social or organizational aspects of the job that require sustained physical or mental effort.Job control on the other hand, refers to control over the work environment, more specifically over the pace of work, the timing of breaks, or the use of skills (Karasek and Theorell, 1990).Most, but not all, occupational health studies find significant emotional costs when job control is low (De Lange et al., 2004;Vanroelen et al., 2009).Existing research on occupational stress in university staff has consistently found work load to be one of the main causes of stress (e.g.Gillespie et al., 2001;Winefield et al., 2003;Kinman, 2001;Kinman et al., 2006;Tytherleigh et al., 2005;Biron et al., 2008;Sun et al., 2011;Mark and Smith, 2012;Boyd et al., 2011). For PhD students, the balance between demands and control might be different across scientific disciplines as it entails differences in academic practice.Writing a doctoral dissertation in the natural sciences may entail working as part of a large team within a specific well-defined project, and operating with pre-defined, transparent quantitative publication criteria (Larivière, 2012).For PhD students in the humanities and social sciences, establishing one's own research idea (and thus often working in isolation) may constitute more of a challenge in terms of perseverance, given also the lack of consensus over the quality criteria in these fields (Long and Fox, 1995).
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Van Damme, 2014
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes? Load-bearing: unclear✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
In the paper
“According to the WHO (2010), the interplay between work and home is also a significant potential source of stress impacting mental health, particularly for dual career couples and those experiencing financial difficulties or life crises.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites WHO (2010)
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
In the paper
“These surveys are periodically organized in Belgium by the Scientific Institute of Public Health and follow a similar research design and procedures as for Sample 1.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.2. Sample 2: comparison groups
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites HIS, 2013
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
- Not matched
In the paper
“The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.1. Mental health problems Mental health problems were measured using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2. The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3. GHQ items explore the respondent's experience in recent weeks compared to his or her usual experience.Response categories are item-specific but all responses are given on 4-point Likert-type scales.We adopt the GHQ scoring method, which uses a bimodal 0-0-1-1 scheme (to score subsequent response categories), conceiving the respondent's total number of 1 scores over the 12 items as an indication of the number of symptoms experienced.In order to determine that a person has a mental health problem, (s)he should experience a minimum number of symptoms.The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).In the current study we opt for the GHQ2+ (presence of at least 2 symptoms), indicating psychological distress.We also assess the GHQ4+ (presence of at least 4 symptoms), indicating the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).In Sample 1, the mean GHQ score is 2.84.However, for reasons of comparison with other studies on mental health in the university sector (see Table 2), we also include the GHQ3+ (presence of at least 3 symptoms) when calculating prevalence. Preliminary multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across both samples in our study attested to the stability of the measurement model underlying the GHQ.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Boyd et al., 2011 source
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“As in other settings, work-home conflict in the university sector has also shown particularly strong relations with psychological distress (Kinman and Jones, 2003;Kinman et al., 2006).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.1. Mental health problems Mental health problems were measured using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2. The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3. GHQ items explore the respondent's experience in recent weeks compared to his or her usual experience.Response categories are item-specific but all responses are given on 4-point Likert-type scales.We adopt the GHQ scoring method, which uses a bimodal 0-0-1-1 scheme (to score subsequent response categories), conceiving the respondent's total number of 1 scores over the 12 items as an indication of the number of symptoms experienced.In order to determine that a person has a mental health problem, (s)he should experience a minimum number of symptoms.The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).In the current study we opt for the GHQ2+ (presence of at least 2 symptoms), indicating psychological distress.We also assess the GHQ4+ (presence of at least 4 symptoms), indicating the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).In Sample 1, the mean GHQ score is 2.84.However, for reasons of comparison with other studies on mental health in the university sector (see Table 2), we also include the GHQ3+ (presence of at least 3 symptoms) when calculating prevalence. Preliminary multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across both samples in our study attested to the stability of the measurement model underlying the GHQ.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Goldberg et al., 1998 source
Load-bearingStrength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Selective non-response analyses showed a slightly higher proportion of females, respondents in the youngest age categories, social scientists and Belgians compared to the total population.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.1. Sample 1: PhD students
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Inspirational leadership style, autocratic leadership style, and 'laissez-faire' or passive leadership style were measured using 11, 6 and 4 items respectively (de Hoogh et al., 2004).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.2. Work context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites de Hoogh et al., 2004 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.1. Mental health problems Mental health problems were measured using the 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).The GHQ is a screening instrument to identify psychological distress and potential cases of common psychiatric disorder (especially depression), leaving the task of diagnosing actual disorder to a psychiatric interview (McDowell, 2006).The GHQ is the most frequently used scale worldwide to tap into psychological well-being (e.g.Boyd et al., 2011).The internal consistency of the GHQ-12 was 0.88 in Sample 1 and 0.87 in Sample 2. The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3. GHQ items explore the respondent's experience in recent weeks compared to his or her usual experience.Response categories are item-specific but all responses are given on 4-point Likert-type scales.We adopt the GHQ scoring method, which uses a bimodal 0-0-1-1 scheme (to score subsequent response categories), conceiving the respondent's total number of 1 scores over the 12 items as an indication of the number of symptoms experienced.In order to determine that a person has a mental health problem, (s)he should experience a minimum number of symptoms.The literature reports substantial variation in the minimum number of symptoms to be considered (Goldberg et al., 1997).In the current study we opt for the GHQ2+ (presence of at least 2 symptoms), indicating psychological distress.We also assess the GHQ4+ (presence of at least 4 symptoms), indicating the risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder (especially depression) (Goldberg, 1972;Goldberg and Williams, 1988).A worldwide study on mental health by the World Health Organization suggests using the GHQ4+ if the mean GHQ score in the sample is higher than 2.70 (Goldberg et al., 1998).In Sample 1, the mean GHQ score is 2.84.However, for reasons of comparison with other studies on mental health in the university sector (see Table 2), we also include the GHQ3+ (presence of at least 3 symptoms) when calculating prevalence. Preliminary multigroup confirmatory factor analyses across both samples in our study attested to the stability of the measurement model underlying the GHQ.
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Goldberg et al., 1997 source
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A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Prior research in the university sector has shown that work-life interference is high (e.g.Gmelch et al., 1984;Kinman and Jones, 2003;Fox et al., 2011;Sun et al., 2011)”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 2.3.2. Organizational context
What the sources say
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Table 5 reports the findings of analyses examining whether characteristics of the work and organizational context of PhD students in Flanders were associated with their mental health, while controlling for sociodemographic characteristics.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 4. Results
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In the paper
“Cronbach's alpha for this scale was 0.92.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.3. Organizational context
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A higher number of PhD students for each advisor could imply that faculty may find it more difficult to invest sufficient time and attention in each PhD student.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“In contrast, governmental research policies that allow advisors to invest in developing an inspirational influence towards their PhD students could buffer against stress (LePine et al., 2016).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites LePine et al., 2016 source
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“The adjusted RR statistically corrects for age and gender differences across samples.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.4. Analytical strategy
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“Stephan and Levin (2001) have shown that such a situation not only impacts mental health, but weakens the implicit psychological contract between PhD students and the research team in which they are doing their research, thus directly affecting research performance.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Stephan and Levin (2001) source
Strength:boosted· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our analyses suggest that universities will benefit in terms of PhD students' mental health when they facilitate management of work-family balance and workload, design open decision-making procedures, and help PhD supervisors to adopt leadership styles that lead to satisfactory and constructive work relations.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.
A claim is checked only against the cited paper’s full text, never its abstract, and none is available for its sources.
In the paper
“Studies in other countries have shown that financial worries and debts are one of the major stressors experienced by those working towards a PhD (Biron et al., 2008;El-Ghoroury et al., 2012).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
What the sources say
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
In the paper
“The GHQ4+ is a probabilistic measurement for psychiatric caseness, and advises medical attention to be sought for the reported problems (McDowell, 2006).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites McDowell, 2006
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Furthermore, given the international orientation of the academic work environment, with high mobility of researchers across countries, we would expect that research organization factors rapidly spread across the globe, thus making the PhD experience in all probability comparable across countries.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:direct· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, the vast number of studies examining causal links between organizational factors and the onset of mental health problems in occupational health research in other settings suggests that the work environment is at least partially responsible for the prevalence of mental health problems observed in the current study.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Similarly, an increase in the number of PhD students versus stability in the number of faculty positions may give graduating PhD students bleak career prospects, in which supply exceeds demand for professionals with a PhD.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Work-life interface was measured using the two widely adopted scales of family-work conflict (5 items) and work-family conflict (5 items) developed by Netemeyer et al. (1996).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.3. Organizational context
What the sources say
- Not checked — no full text of the sourcecites Netemeyer et al., 1996 source
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Cronbach's alpha was 0.91 for the life-work conflict scale and 0.93 for the work-life conflict scale.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 3.3.3. Organizational context
Strength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Our findings also suggest that universities might benefit from offering PhD students clear and full information on job expectations and career prospects, both in and outside academia.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
Tests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
In the paper
“For instance, a gradual increase in governmental research investments in the number of PhD scholarships and financial incentives for universities to increase the number of PhDs could have unforeseen side effects (see Fig. 1).”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.4. Policy implications
What the sources say
- Not matchedcites Fig. 1
Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:conditional· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✗ Checkable: fails✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Not matched
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“As financial worries and debts are probably not a crucial issue for PhD students in Flanders, if anything, we would expect that the prevalence of mental health problems is even higher in those countries where PhD candidates have more financial difficulties.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedCausal:correlational· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✗ Based: failsProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.
- Rests on an assumption: Most PhD students in Flanders receive a scholarship or are formally employed by a university.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“Fourth, our study extends previous research on mental health in the sector by considering work-life conflict bi-directionally and by adding data on future career prospects to a series of well-known organizational stressors found in the work environment.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.1. Contributions
Load-bearingStrength:plain· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✓ Load-bearing: passes✓ Based: passesIt may state two separate claims as one.
What the paper did — it cites no source for this, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“It could be that our findings are idiosyncratic to the Flemish academic landscape.”
§ Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students > 5.3. Limitations and alternative explanations
Strength:hedged· not yet calibratedTests✓ Asserted: passes✓ Checkable: passes✗ Load-bearing: fails✓ Based: passesProbably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
The paper relies on this without support.
The sample of 3659 PhD students in Flanders, Belgium is representative of the population of PhD students in Flanders.
“a representative sample of PhD students in Flanders, Belgium (N = 3659)”
The paper relies on this without support.
The comparison groups (highly educated general population, highly educated employees, higher education students) are comparable to PhD students for the purpose of comparing mental health prevalence.
“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).”
The paper relies on this without support.
Official registration of both staff and student mental health problems by universities is relatively low.
“Official registration of both staff and student mental health problems (e.g.depression, anxiety, burnout or emotional exhaustion) by universities is relatively low, which seems to be in stark contrast with the picture painted in media reports.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Previous research on well-being and mental health in academia has usually been restricted to one specific discipline or university.
“Previous research on well-being and mental health in academia has usually been restricted to one specific discipline or university.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Most PhD students in Flanders receive a scholarship or are formally employed by a university.
“Most PhD students in Flanders receive a scholarship or are formally employed by a university.”
The paper relies on this without support.
The diagnosis as to whether an individual actually has a clinically significant disorder must be assessed by psychiatric interview.
“The diagnosis as to whether an individual actually has a clinically significant disorder must be assessed by psychiatric interview.”
The paper relies on this without support.
In the long run, mental health problems in PhD students will impact on research itself.
“In the long run, however, it will also impact on research itself.”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“Burnout among trainees is characterized by persistent mental exhaustion, a diminished sense of personal accomplishment, significant financial strain, and pervasive uncertainty about long‐term career viability [3].”
From Bridging the Gap Between Training and Reality: A Dental Scientist Trainee Perspective (2026) · cites this paper as [3]
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.
GHQ items are assigned to the wrong table
MinorThe text says Table 3 presents the 12 GHQ items, but Table 3 reports PhD-student characteristics. The GHQ symptom rows appear in Table 4.
“The 12 GHQ items are presented in Table 3.”
“Table: 3 Table 3 Characteristics of PhD students, Flanders 2013 (N = 3659): percentage (%), mean (M), standard deviation (SD), minimum-maximum (Min-Max).”
The reported GHQ4+ range omits a higher value in Table 2
MinorThe text gives 41.8% as the upper end of the UK GHQ4+ results, but Table 2 also reports 43.4% for a UK academic sample.
“As for the GHQ4+, results from the U.K. vary from 31.8% in a study of lecturers and senior lecturers (McClenahan et al., 2007) to 41.8% in academic employees (Kinman and Jones, 2008).”
“Kinman (2008) Work stressors, health and sense of coherence in UK academic employees UK academics Cross-sectional study.Random sample of 1000 UK academic employees working full time 465 47% 59% male Mean age 46y / / 43.4%”
Citations
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“Given the compelling evidence for the effects of mental health problems on individuals’ research output (Danna and Griffin, 1999), it is to be expected that a sizable cohort of PhD students suffering from mental health problems may affect the overall quality and quantity of individuals’ research output.”
Background
Flagged first, then by citations
5 of the 80 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 501–600 of 1,170
Suchy-Dicey, C., & Dayer, A. (2021) · Metaphilosophy · doi:10.1111/meta.12527 · Cited by 4
Holloway, E. A., Douglas, K. A., Radcliffe, D. F., & Oakes, W. C. (2022) · Journal of Engineering Education · doi:10.1002/jee.20451 · Cited by 6
“Being a PhD student is an immensely stressful time (Evans et al., 2018; Levecque et al., 2017; Woolston, 2019), and we owe it to them to provide as many opportunities for practice in the best ways possible.”
BackgroundAlisic, A., & Wiese, B. S. (2022) · International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance · doi:10.1007/s10775-022-09543-1 · Cited by 6
“Recent studies have emphasized that the stress PhD-students experience may result in serious consequences, such as impaired mental health and turnover intentions (Levecque et al., 2017).”
Engineering Graduate Students’ Salient Identities as Predictors of Perceived Task Difficulty
Satterfield, D. J., Tsugawa, M., Perkins, H., et al. (2020) · ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition · doi:10.18260/1-2--32725 · Cited by 5
“Factors that may contribute to such high attrition may include the increased likelihood of being diagnosed with a mental health issue [3], [4] and conflicting identities that undermine the values of academia (e.”
BackgroundGender Differences in Mental Health of International Graduate Students
Dy, E. V. Y. (2022) · INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS · doi:10.47191/ijmra/v5-i6-11 · Cited by 5
Single-Case Learning Analytics to Support Social-Emotional Learning: The Case of Doctoral Education
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Student Well-Being and Empowerment
Lyn, A. E., Broderick, M., & Spranger, E. (2023) · Advances in educational technologies and instructional design book series · doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-7227-9.ch016 · Cited by 5
Work in Progress: Exploring the Landscape of Stressors Experienced by Doctoral Engineering Students
Mirabelli, J. F., Cromley, J. G., Jensen, K., Robbennolt, D., & Hart, A. (2024) · ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition · doi:10.18260/1-2--44263 · Cited by 5
Risky closeness and distance in two fieldwork sites in Brazil
Santos, A. A. D. S. (2018) · Contemporary Social Science · doi:10.1080/21582041.2017.1418524 · Cited by 5
Robustness and Findings of a Web-Based System for Depression Assessment in a University Work Context
Cuesta, S. A., Bresó, A., Sáez, C., & Garcia-Gomez, J. M. (2019) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph16040644 · Cited by 5
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Saavedra, P. (2019) · doi:10.20919/psych(2019).001 · Cited by 5
“Doctoral students also appear to have higher chances of developing any other mental health issue in comparison to the general population (Levecque, Anseel, De Beuckelaer, van der Heyden, & Gisle, 2017).”
BackgroundBurton‐Jones, A., & Stein, M. (2021) · MIS Quarterly · doi:10.25300/misq/2021/453e1 · Cited by 4
Coping with Industry 5.0: An Assessment of Evolving Soft Skills for the Workplace
Armstrong, R., & Torres-Vergara, C. J. (2024) · Translational systems sciences · doi:10.1007/978-981-99-9730-5_3 · Cited by 4
Wang, J. (2025) · Studies in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/03075079.2025.2490138 · Cited by 4
“…in research simulations, and completing tasks in real situations, students are able to proactively improve their cognitive flexibility and perseverance to better cope with these challenges (Allen, Smith, and Tenenbaum 2019; Levecque, Anseel, De Beuckelaer, Van der Heyden, and Gisle 2017).”
Leišytė, L., Braje, I. N., Almog, S., Baysan, S., Carvalho, T., Daunoraitė, D., Diogo, S., Papaioannou, P., Farmaki, A., Feldman, S., et al. (2025) · Social Inclusion · doi:10.17645/si.9683 · Cited by 4
“…report elevated levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout due to factors such as heavy workloads and prolonged work hours (e.g., Biron et al., 2008; Levecque et al., 2017; Woolston, 2019), job insecurity (e.g., Lopes & Dewan, 2014; Menard & Shinton, 2022; Niemann & Dovidio, 2005), and lack of…”
Santos, A. T. A., Cardoso, C., & Pereira, M. (2025) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.1177/00332941251399135 · Cited by 5
Dacawe, A. (2023) · Pharmacy Education · doi:10.46542/pe.2023.231.521532 · Cited by 4
Advancing doctoral student professional development through a strengths-based cohort program
Ferguson, C. L., & Lockman, J. A. (2024) · Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education · doi:10.1108/sgpe-01-2024-0006 · Cited by 5
Chen, J. C. C., Plank, J. R., Tsai, A., Lyndon, M., & Henning, M. A. (2024) · Medical Science Educator · doi:10.1007/s40670-024-02189-4 · Cited by 8
“Data acquired from postgraduate students in countries such as the USA [1], the UK [2], Australia [3, 4], and Belgium [5] point to a mental health crisis in graduate education.”
Humour and comics for academic change and well-being
Bertella, G., & Tomassini, L. (2024) · Annals of Tourism Research · doi:10.1016/j.annals.2024.103862 · Cited by 4
Bastos, A. F., Fernandes, O., Liberal, S. P., Pires, A. J. L., Lage, L. A. S., Grichtchouk, O., Cardoso, A. R., Oliveira, L., Pereira, M. G., Lovisi, G. M., et al. (2024) · Behavioural Brain Research · doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2024.115328 · Cited by 4
Fitzpatrick, G., Friedman, B., Höök, K., et al. (2018) · Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) · doi:10.1145/3170427.3186322 · Cited by 4
“Stresses are particularly pronounced for early and midcareer academics [10,13], more so for those without permanent positions [18], and for PhD students [17] who need to be competitive for career positions.”
BackgroundAnttila, H., Sullanmaa, J., & Pyhältö, K. (2021) · Frontiers in Education · doi:10.3389/feduc.2021.758179 · Cited by 7
“Few prior studies on the topic have explored primarily negative emotional states such as exhaustion and anxiety (e.g., Hyun et al., 2006; Kernan et al., 2011; Levecque et al., 2017; Virtanen et al., 2017; Pappa et al., 2020).”
BackgroundCassiano, C., Guimarães, V. H. A., & Gonçalves, J. R. L. (2023) · Brazilian Journal of Health Review · doi:10.34119/bjhrv6n2-114 · Cited by 4
Riggs, R. E., Starkey, J. C., Rasmussen, E. E., & Shannon, K. L. (2023) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2023.2194443 · Cited by 5
“36 Although research suggests that graduate students are more likely to talk with a friend or family member than a faculty member about mental health issues, the relocation to a new city away from existing peer groups and long working hours associated with graduate study may prevent graduate…”
George, M., & Hughes, R. (2023) · Coaching An International Journal of Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1080/17521882.2023.2213772 · Cited by 4
Factors of Building and Developing an Academic Career: Systematic Theoretical Analysis
Pesha, A. V. (2023) · Высшее образование в России · doi:10.31992/0869-3617-2023-32-7-9-34 · Cited by 4
“Так, по данным исследования, проведённого среди более 3000 аспирантов Фландрии и Бельгии, 32% из них подвержены риску психических расстройств, особенно депрессии, что чаще всего связано с нарушением баланса в пользу высокоинтенсивного труда, с ориентацией на достижение целевых показателей эффективности [3].”
InfluentialWinham, N., Williams, K. S., Jamjoom, L. A., Watson, K., Weigand, H., & Deal, N. M. (2023) · Equality Diversity and Inclusion An International Journal · doi:10.1108/edi-08-2022-0207 · Cited by 5
Gerontocracy, labor market bottlenecks, and generational crises in modern science
Siler, K. (2023) · Science and Public Policy · doi:10.1093/scipol/scad064 · Cited by 6
The Mental Health of UK Postgraduate Research Students following the COVID-19 Pandemic
Zile, A., Porter, B., Crozier, K. E., & Sanderson, K. A. (2023) · Education Sciences · doi:10.3390/educsci13111106 · Cited by 5
Examining Faculty and Graduate Student Attitudes on Stress and Mental Health
Feil-Seifer, D., Parker, M. C., & Kirn, A. N. (2024) · ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition · doi:10.18260/1-2--42069 · Cited by 4
Bekkouche, N. S. (2024) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2024.2361308 · Cited by 6
Exploring well-being of PhD students through latent profile analysis
Gaete-Sepulveda, M. A., Volkova, N., & Kulbaeva, A. (2024) · Journal of Further and Higher Education · doi:10.1080/0309877x.2024.2438717 · Cited by 6
“The landmark European research conducted by Levecque et al. (2017) found that 32% of investigated PhD students ‘experience psychological distress or are at risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder’.”
Hartmann, H., Gürsoy, Ç. N., Lischke, A., Mueckstein, M., Sperl, M. F. J., Vogel, S., Yang, Y., Feld, G. B., Kastrinogiannis, A., & Koppold, A. (2025) · Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/25152459241297674 · Cited by 6
“…and eagerness many ECRs feel during their first years is more and more often accompanied by feelings of being overwhelmed (Kismihók et al., 2022; Levecque et al., 2017) because many project choices have to be made and a variety of skills need to be learned quickly that determine the long-term…”
Reflections on tenure, the two-body problem, and retention in the 21st century academy
Larson, S. J., Miller, A. K., & Drury, I. (2020) · Journal of Public Affairs Education · doi:10.1080/15236803.2020.1759346 · Cited by 5
“Levecque et al. (2017) examined common organizational practices in graduate programs across three comparison groups.”
Благополучие аспирантов: обзор исследований и практик
Бекова, С. (2020) · Monitoring obŝestvennogo mneniâ: èkonomičeskie i socialʹnye peremeny · doi:10.14515/monitoring.2020.3.1635 · Cited by 6
Coles, M., Leung, F.-S., Radzimski, V., & Sargent, P. (2020) · Collected Essays on Learning and Teaching · doi:10.22329/celt.v13i0.6016 · Cited by 4
“These results are matched in a study of a large graduate student population in the Netherlands, where 32% were found to be at risk of depression (Levecque et al., 2017).”
ResultHish, A. J., Nagy, G. A., Fang, C. M., Kelley, L., Nicchitta, C. V., Dzirasa, K., & Rosenthal, M. Z. (2020) · International journal of doctoral studies · doi:10.28945/4669 · Cited by 4
“No Future for You”: Economic and Mental Health Risks in Young Spanish Researchers
Martínez‐Nicolás, I., & García‐Girón, J. (2021) · Palgrave studies in education research methods · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-53857-6_7 · Cited by 4
Impact of writing workshops on doctoral student wellness
Buckley, C., Saetnan, E. R., Gerber, A., Cheetham, J., Price, T., Kenyani, J., & Greaves, A. M. (2021) · Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education · doi:10.47408/jldhe.vi20.593 · Cited by 4
Hughes, G. (2021) · University development and administration · doi:10.1007/978-981-13-3364-4_6-1 · Cited by 4
Predicting Mental Health Problems with Automatic Identification of Metaphors
Shi, N., Zhang, D., Li, L., & Xu, S. (2021) · Journal of Healthcare Engineering · doi:10.1155/2021/5582714 · Cited by 6
A Sentiment Analysis of the PhD Experience Evidenced on Twitter
Guha, P., & Pande, D. (2021) · International journal of doctoral studies · doi:10.28945/4813 · Cited by 4
“While some of the contributory factors commonly reported in surveys, such as troubled relationships with supervisors, feeling unsupported by departments, or lack of funding from universities, are not found frequently in our data, others such as heavy workloads and the difficulty of maintaining work-life balance are co…”
BackgroundResultInfluentialEn quête de laboratoire : la place des doctorants en tension
Collectif, R. T. T. T., Gagneur, M. L., Leite, J. R., et al. (2022) · Nouvelle revue de psychosociologie · doi:10.3917/nrp.033.0151 · Cited by 4
Vulnérabilité sociale et santé mentale : quand les doctorants sont mis à mal
Boisselier, J., Lemèe, C., Flores, P., & Wagner, V. (2022) · Nouvelle revue de psychosociologie · doi:10.3917/nrp.033.0167 · Cited by 8
Anxiety Status of Female Chinese Ph.D. Candidates and Its Association with Sports
Mao, Y., Zhu, Y., Jia, C., Sun, F., Chen, S., & Liu, B. (2022) · Healthcare · doi:10.3390/healthcare10071203 · Cited by 4
Kunz, C., de Vries, L., & Siegrist, J. (2022) · ZeHf – Zeitschrift für empirische Hochschulforschung · doi:10.3224/zehf.v5i1.06 · Cited by 6
Alamu, R., Roy, Y., & Das, S. (2022) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-022-00927-4 · Cited by 4
“Doing a PhD is generally a stressful endeavour (Levecque et al., 2017).”
“Let’s Talk About Wellbeing!”: Fostering Interdependence in Doctoral Communities
Elliot, D. L., Swingler, M. V., Gardani, M., Pacheco, E.-M., & Boyle, J. (2022) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-19-7757-2_32 · Cited by 4
Community Design of a Knowledge Graph to Support Interdisciplinary PhD Students
Gardasevic, S., & Gazan, R. (2023) · Lecture notes in computer science · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-28032-0_36 · Cited by 4
Teepe, G. W., Lukic, Y. X., Kleim, B., Jacobson, N. C., Schneider, F., Santhanam, P., Fleisch, E., & Kowatsch, T. (2023) · BMC Psychology · doi:10.1186/s40359-023-01215-1 · Cited by 8
“A highly relevant group that shows alarming rates of symptoms of subclinical [80–83] and clinical depression are undergraduate [84], graduate [85], and Ph.D. students [86].”
BackgroundGanesh, P., Krishna, N. S., & Srivastava, K. B. L. (2023) · The Educational and Developmental Psychologist · doi:10.1080/20590776.2023.2277457 · Cited by 10
“Another comprehensive study which assessed the mental health of doctoral students in Belgium found that they were almost twice as likely to experience psychological distress compared to highly educated employees in other job contexts (Levecque et al., 2017).”
BackgroundLet’s talk about researchers’ mental well-being
Dall’Agnola, J. (2023) · Central Asian Survey · doi:10.1080/02634937.2023.2273354 · Cited by 4
“Although mental health concerns among university populations are on the rise, previous research on mental health in academia has been overwhelmingly student focused (Evans et al. 2018; Levecque et al. 2017; Naumann, Matyjek, and Bögl 2022).”
BackgroundMental Health in Malaysia: A Study of Gender Differences
Hassan, N. A., Abdullah, N. H., Ahmad, R. B., Majeed, H. A., & Tajuddin, J. M. (2023) · Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities (MJSSH) · doi:10.47405/mjssh.v8i12.2608 · Cited by 8
Parker, M. C., Stienhorst, K. L., Feil-Seifer, D., & Kirn, A. N. (2023) · IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE) · doi:10.1109/fie58773.2023.10342891 · Cited by 4
Transforming Postgraduate Education in Africa
Samuel, M. (2023) · Alternation eBooks · doi:10.29086/978-0-9869937-3-2/2023/aasbs14 · Cited by 5
User-driven efforts in creating knowledge graph information system
Gardasevic, S. (2020) · Digital Library Perspectives · doi:10.1108/dlp-12-2019-0043 · Cited by 7
Study-life integration and young adult students mental health
Badri, S. K. Z. (2020) · Journal of Public Mental Health · doi:10.1108/jpmh-06-2019-0069 · Cited by 4
‘Covid-19 has made a mess of things’: Experiencing the pandemic as a doctoral student
Brinkert, J., Kokosi, T., & Sideropoulos, V. (2020) · Developmental Psychology Forum · doi:10.53841/bpsdev.2020.1.92.15 · Cited by 4
Enlivening a Community of Authentic Scholarship
West, C., Rieger, K. L., Chooniedass, R., Adekoya, A., Isse, A. A. R., Karpa, J. V., Waldman, C., Peters-Watral, B., Chernomas, W. M., Scruby, L. S., et al. (2018) · International Journal of Qualitative Methods · doi:10.1177/1609406918808122 · Cited by 6
“Recently, the academic world has been alarmed by evidence that one in three doctoral students develops a psychiatric disorder, specifically depression (Levecque et al., 2017).”
BackgroundWalker, S. (2020) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/978-1-83909-964-920201007 · Cited by 4
The Enduring Interest Trap in Debating the State of a Field
Schwarz, G. M. (2020) · Academy of Management Learning and Education · doi:10.5465/amle.2020.0122 · Cited by 4
Suñé-Soler, N., & Font, C. M. I. (2020) · Quaderns de Psicologia · doi:10.5565/rev/qpsicologia.1576 · Cited by 6
Hughes, G. (2021) · University development and administration · doi:10.1007/978-981-13-3364-4_6-2 · Cited by 4
Did Not Finish: Doctoral Attrition in Higher Education and Student Affairs
Maddox, S. (2017) · Scholarship & Creative Works - Digital UNC a service of University Libraries (University of Northern Colorado) · Cited by 4
Ejim, O. C., Livanou, M., Khan, H., Lindenmeyer, A., Uwom, C., & Manaseki‐Holland, S. (2021) · Research Square · doi:10.21203/rs.3.rs-287018/v1 · Cited by 4
“One possible explanation could be that these are nal year PhD students with greater stress while completing their thesis (49).”
BackgroundHaven, T. L., de Goede, M., Tijdink, J. K., & Oort, F. J. (2018) · PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) · doi:10.31234/osf.io/r5hn7 · Cited by 3
Rhythm as Form and Forms of Doctoral Education
Dakka, F. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-981-97-3418-4_10 · Cited by 3
Torales, J. C., Torres-Romero, A. D., Barrios, I., O’Higgins, M. G., Caycho‐Rodríguez, T., Castaldelli-Maia, J. M., & Ventriglio, A. (2025) · Brain Sciences · doi:10.3390/brainsci15010065 · Cited by 3
“By contrast, researchers without doctoral degrees faced greater uncertainty regarding career progression and resource access, increasing their vulnerability to anxiety [38,39].”
The Mental Well-Being of Graduate Students in Canada: A Scoping Review
Javadizadeh, E., Oudshoorn, A., Letts, L. J., Barbic, S. P., & Marshall, C. A. (2025) · American Journal of Health Promotion · doi:10.1177/08901171251326308 · Cited by 3
Implementing peer support in graduate nursing education: A quality improvement initiative
Ryer, J., & Birriel, B. (2025) · Journal of Professional Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.profnurs.2025.04.014 · Cited by 3
A semantic network analysis of doctoral well-being among Chinese PhD students
Chen, H. (2025) · Cogent Education · doi:10.1080/2331186x.2025.2553005 · Cited by 5
“This confirms previous research on the buffering role of supervisory style and academic integration in enhancing doctoral well-being (Levecque et al., 2017; Peltonen et al., 2020; Pyh € alt € o et al., 2015).”
He, A., & Mu, W. (2025) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-025-01539-4 · Cited by 5
“A developing body of global research suggests that PhD students are facing serious physical and mental health issues (Haag et al., 2018; Keloharju et al., 2024; Levecque et al., 2017).”
Artificial intelligence in doctoral training: Bridging gaps, easing burdens
Rodríguez, G. A., Chiappe, A., & Durand, J. C. (2026) · Social Sciences & Humanities Open · doi:10.1016/j.ssaho.2026.102744 · Cited by 4
Understanding the Burnout Experiences of Female PhD Students: A Qualitative Phenomenological Study
Xiaoyi, B., & Cai, J. (2026) · SAGE Open · doi:10.1177/21582440261442285 · Cited by 3
“The mental health of PhD candidates has raised increasing international alarm, as this population increasingly struggles with anxiety, depression, and burnout world-wide (Evans et al., 2018; Forrester, 2021; Keloharju et al., 2024; Levecque et al. 2017).”
Starting a PhD and becoming a parent: Gendered life-course trajectories in academic careers
Zhao, X., Derrick, G., Sugimoto, C. R., et al. (2026) · Higher Education · doi:10.1007/s10734-026-01668-4 · Cited by 3
Le doctorat, aventure de (trans)formation singulière et sociale
Niclasse, C. (2022) · Peter Lang eBooks · doi:10.3726/b19953 · Cited by 3
A Mental Health Self-Screening Tool for Graduate Students
Tucker, S., Ohr, S., & Roberts, H. (2023) · Building Healthy Academic Communities Journal · doi:10.18061/bhac.v7i1.9332 · Cited by 3
“Strong predictors of psychological distress and increased risk included family-work conflict, job demands, and job control (Levecque et al., 2017).”
BackgroundChen, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1173734 · Cited by 7
Doctoral induction: Sociocultural context and the transition to the research degree
Bastalich, W., & McCulloch, A. (2024) · Innovations in Education and Teaching International · doi:10.1080/14703297.2024.2357374 · Cited by 3
“A slew of research has come out in the past decade documenting the poor mental health of research students relative to the wider population (Barry et al., 2018; Casey et al., 2022; Crook et al., 2021; Evans et al., 2018; Levecque et al., 2017; Milicev et al., 2021).”
Gardasevic, S., & Lamba, M. (2024) · Digital Library Perspectives · doi:10.1108/dlp-02-2024-0025 · Cited by 3
Investigating the Mental Health, Wellbeing, and Resilience of Postgraduate Researchers
Casey, C., Trenoweth, S., Knight, F., Taylor, J., & Harvey, O. (2024) · Psychology International · doi:10.3390/psycholint6040057 · Cited by 3
Anantharaman, A., Farra, A., Chang, E., & Wilkins‐Yel, K. G. (2024) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.24-02-0069 · Cited by 3
Matuz, A., Gács, B., & Birkás, B. (2024) · Psychology and Health · doi:10.1080/08870446.2024.2427654 · Cited by 5
“…2020; Sahu, 2020; Son et al., 2020; Zhou & yao, 2020) as well as feelings of disconnection, decreased motivation and an increase of burnout rates (Chenneville et al., 2023; Firth et al., 2019; Gualano et al., 2020; levecque et al., 2020; Marelli et al., 2021; Van Der Feltz-Cornelis et al., 2020).”
Heming, M., Angerer, P., & Diebig, M. (2024) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0311610 · Cited by 3
Grignoli, D., D’Ambrosio, M., & Pierzchalski, F. (2024) · European Journal of Education · doi:10.1111/ejed.12869 · Cited by 3
Prieto, L. P., Alfredo, R., Díaz-Chavarría, H. B., Martínez‐Maldonado, R., & Echeverría, V. (2025) · International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge (LAK) · doi:10.1145/3706468.3706553 · Cited by 5
Experiencing the Journey Together: The Role of Social Support During the Doctorate
Machin, T. M., & Parsons-Smith, R. L. (2019) · Palgrave studies in education research methods · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-23731-8_15 · Cited by 3
Strecker, C., Höge, T., Brenner, M., Huber, A., Häusler, M., & Höfer, S. (2020) · Work · doi:10.3233/wor-203317 · Cited by 4
“Work-family conflict and job demands were the most important predictors of psychological distress and risk of a psychiatric disorder in PhD students in Flanders [46].”
BackgroundVivências de assédio moral na Pós-Graduação: relatos de docentes e discentes
Nunes, T. S. (2020) · Revista de Gestão e Secretariado (Management and Administrative Professional Review) · doi:10.7769/gesec.v11i3.1101 · Cited by 3
Seizing balance and success during your PhD experience
Rodrigues, R. S. (2021) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.15410 · Cited by 3
Meurer, A. M., & Costa, F. (2021) · Revista de Educação e Pesquisa em Contabilidade (REPeC) · doi:10.17524/repec.v15i4.2818 · Cited by 12
Sintomatologia depressiva em estudantes brasileiros de pós-graduação stricto sensu
Barros, L. D. O., Ambiel, R. A. M., & Baptista, M. N. (2021) · Psico · doi:10.15448/1980-8623.2021.4.36161 · Cited by 4
Cognitive Reappraisal Experimental Task: Replica in Mexican University Student
Soto, S. N. V., Corral-Frías, N. S., Amaya, M. Y. C., & McRae, K. (2021) · Ansiedad y Estrés · doi:10.5093/anyes2022a3 · Cited by 4
“As well, one in two PhD students experience psychological distress and one in three is at risk of a common psychiatric disorder (Levecque et al., 2017).”
BackgroundUsman, M., Anand, E., Akhtar, S. N., Reddy, U. S., Anwar, T., & Unisa, S. (2022) · Drugs Habits and Social Policy · doi:10.1108/dhs-09-2021-0053 · Cited by 3
Researchers’ strategies to cope with the covid-19 impact on their activity
Sala‐Bubaré, A., Castelló, M., Corcelles, M., et al. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04601-5 · Cited by 3
“Evidence is also accumulating about the mental health problems among junior researchers (Levecque et al., 2017) and more established academics (Kinman & Wray, 2013).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Levecque, K., Anseel, F., De Beuckelaer, A., Van der Heyden, J., & Gisle, L.
- Affiliations
- Ghent University (BE)
- Institut Scientifique de Santé Publique (BE)
- Corresponding author
- Levecque, Katia
- Venue
- Research Policy
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-05
- Volume
- 46
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 868-879
- ISSN
- 0048-7333 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2595745805
- Cited by
- 1,182
- References
- 80
- Citations by year
- 2026: 141 · 2025: 120 · 2024: 166 · 2023: 153 · 2022: 163 · 2021: 141 · 2020: 131 · 2019: 93 · 2018: 58 · 2017: 16
- FWCI
- 131.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Research Policy (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Research Portal (King's College London) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Rare & Special e-Zone (The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Radboud Repository (Radboud University) (submittedVersion)
- SocArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- SocArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Funders
- Ministry of Work, Economy, Innovation and Sports
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Doctoral Education Challenges and Solutions
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Student Stress and Coping
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Keywords
- doctoral students, mental health, work organization, academic working conditions, depression, job demands, job control, supervisor leadership, work-family interface, university students, highly educated employees
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