There is a growing body of international research examining psychological distress in law students. Generally, the studies have tended to be either very narrow, focussing on a single law school, or very broad, targeting all law students regardless of their institutional affiliation. This study adds to the existing literature by examining the levels of psychological distress of law students at two quite different law schools in Australia. An online survey was used to assess self-reported emotional well-being, university appraisal, university belongingness, perceptions of competitiveness and supportiveness, perceived sources of pressure, and motivations for studying law in 225 law students. Consistent with prior research, the data reflect lower levels of well-being in law student participants compared to the general public. However, the factors that appear to affect the students' well-being differed slightly between the two participant cohorts. For the law school that caters more to mature age and online students, the students' perception of their overall law school experience, belongingness, and support are important factors. Whereas for the law school that caters more to high achieving younger students, the competitiveness and perceived lack of support within the law school environment appear to have a greater influence on the students' self-reported well-being. In addition, across both participant cohorts, self-imposed pressure was notably high. Overall, the results of the study reported in this article provide valuable insights into the external and internal factors underpinning the well-established heightened levels of psychological distress in Australian law students.

越来越多的国际研究机构研究法学学生的心理困扰。通常，研究倾向于范围很狭窄，只针对一所法学院，或者范围很广，针对所有法学学生，无论其所属机构如何。通过研究澳大利亚两所完全不同的法学院的法律学生的心理困扰程度，本研究增加了现有文献。在线调查被用来评估自我报告的情绪健康，大学评估，大学归属感，对竞争力和支持性的看法，压力的感知来源以及对225名法学院学生学习法律的动机。与先前的研究一致，该数据反映出与普通大众相比，法学院学生的幸福感较低。然而，在两个参与研究的人群中，影响学生幸福感的因素略有不同。对于更适合成熟年龄的法学院和网络学生而言，学生对其法学院整体经验，归属感和支持的感知是重要因素。对于法学院而言，更多地迎合高成就的年轻学生，在法学院环境中的竞争能力和缺乏支持似乎对学生的自我报告的幸福感产生了更大的影响。此外，在这两个参与者队列中，自我施加的压力明显很高。总体，