ABSTRACT

Emerging studies indicate a dangerous trend regarding high levels of stress, depression, and burnout among graduate students across all disciplines. This study focuses on public administration doctoral students specifically and probes this issue further by asking how stress and sources of social and institutional support affect students’ perceptions of stress and balance in their lives. To address this, we surveyed students about their experiences navigating and managing stress in their respective doctoral programs and found that four sources of support were critical in decreasing students’ stress and perceptions of conflict between their academic and non-academic lives. Our results help to understand the complex experiences of public administration doctoral students and offer insight into how sources of support can help mitigate stress and improve the lives of students. We conclude with recommendations for how doctoral programs can encourage and provide these critical supports and begin to institutionalize student well-being.

摘要

新兴研究表明，所有学科的研究生都存在高度压力、抑郁和倦怠的危险趋势。本研究专门针对公共管理博士生，并通过询问压力以及社会和制度支持的来源如何影响学生对压力和生活平衡的感知来进一步探讨这个问题。为了解决这个问题，我们调查了学生在各自的博士课程中应对和管理压力的经验，发现四种支持来源对于减轻学生的压力以及对学术和非学术生活之间冲突的看法至关重要。我们的结果有助于了解公共管理博士生的复杂经历，并深入了解支持来源如何帮助减轻压力并改善学生的生活。最后，我们就博士课程如何鼓励和提供这些关键支持并开始使学生福祉制度化提出建议。