1. Student Stress and Well-Being: The First Five Years of Doctoral Studies

Student Stress and Well-Being: The First Five Years of Doctoral Studies

2021 | Summary Report

Doctoral student mental health and well-being are a growing concern among higher education scholars and administrators. Several studies suggest that graduate students are at greater risk for mental health issues than those in the general population. In this report, we draw on data from the Michigan Doctoral Experience Study. The findings cover five years of quantitative and qualitative data collection on stress and mental health levels provided by the cohort that began in Fall 2017.

Stress levels were measured annually in the fall using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4), which captures the degree to which individuals believe their life has been unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloaded during the previous month on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (very often). Respondents were also asked to assess their physical and mental well-being on a scale from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent).