Mental Health Among Spanish Doctoral Students: Relationship Between Anxiety, Depression, Life Satisfaction, and Mentoring

Abstract

Background: Mental health issues among PhD students are rising, a trend believed to bedriven by academic and social challenges. Method: A total of 1265 doctorate students froma large university in Barcelona, Spain (739 women; 414 men; 112 marked other options),with a mean age of 32.36 years (SD = 8.20, range: 23–67), were evaluated by means ofstandardized instruments. Results: Totals of 40.6% and 46.5% of the sample exceeded thecut-off point for anxiety and depression symptoms, and 57.7% for life satisfaction. Theproportion of females exceeding the cut-off point was significantly higher than that ofmales for both anxiety (women: 43.8%, men: 34.5%) and depression (women: 49.3%, men:39.8%), but not for life satisfaction (women: 57.6%, men: 58.4%). Arts and HumanitiesPhD students’ disciplines reported higher anxiety and depression scores than those inSocial Sciences, Experimental Sciences and Mathematics, and Health Sciences, respectively,while Social Sciences students showed higher life satisfaction and mentoring supportthan the other groups. Depression scores were significant predictors of life satisfactionacross all doctoral programs. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance ofmentoring in supporting doctoral students’ mental health and life satisfaction and canalso inform policies in educational institutions, given that PhD students experiencingpsychopathological disorders are at a higher risk of academic failure and dropout.