The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Personal, social and relational predictors of UK postgraduate researcher mental health problems
Abstract
Background: Emerging evidence demonstrates that postgraduate researchers have high rates of mental health problems. These problems are distressing, affect PhD studies, and have longer-term potential effects beyond the duration of the PhD. Yet large-scale studies of multiple risk and protective factors are rare. Aims: We aimed to test the predictive validity of a comprehensive set of potential determinants of mental health symptoms (depression, anxiety and suicidality) among postgraduate researchers in the UK, including personal, study-related, and supervision characteristics. Method: We used regression models applied to data obtained from a national online survey of UK postgraduate researchers (Understanding DOCtoral researcher mental health; U-DOC, 2018–2019) to test predictors of mental health symptoms. Results: These models show that postgraduate researchers' mental health symptoms are predicted by demographic, occupational, psychological, social and supervisory relationship factors. Greater perfectionism, more impostor thoughts and reduced supervisory communion most strongly and consistently predict mental health symptoms. Conclusions: Institutions training postgraduate researchers should focus interventions intended to improve depression, anxiety, suicidality, on self-beliefs and social connectedness. Moreover, supervisors should be provided with training that improves the degree of agency, and especially communion, in the relationships they form with postgraduate researchers.
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“Using hierarchical regression, they found that low communion was associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety, whereas agency only predicted depression.”
From The supervisory relationship as a predictor of mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the United Kingdom (2024) · cites this paper as Berry et al. (2021)
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“This is in line with previous literature demonstrating that supervisory relationship is a significant predictor, but not the only important factor influencing doctoral students’ mental health (e.g., Berry et al., 2021, 2023).”
From The supervisory relationship as a predictor of mental health outcomes in doctoral students in the United Kingdom (2024) · cites this paper as Berry et al., 2021
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“Loneliness was captured using the 20-item UCLA Loneliness Scale (35).”
MethodA Meta-Analysis of Interventions to Reduce Loneliness
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mavrogalou-Foti, A. P., Kambouri, M. A., & Çili, S. (2024) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1437819 · Cited by 34
Metadata
- Authors
- Berry, C., Niven, J. E., & Hazell, C. M.
- ORCID
- Berry, Clio
- Venue
- BJPsych Open
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2021-11
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 6
- ISSN
- 2056-4724
- PMC
- PMC8612019
- Cited by
- 32
- References
- 15
- Language
- en
- Funders
- Office for Students and Research England (Supporting postgraduate researcher mental health a)
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