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ABSTRACT
Purpose: A review of literature reveals that stress is prevalent among PhD students who are experiencing higher levels of stress than age-matched general population normative data, and has drawn attention worldwide. However, few studies have examined the factors influencing the psychological well-being of Chinese PhD students and the type of supports most needed.
Method: This study was conducted by a qualitative method employing the Grounded Theory. Through purposive sampling, 10 Chinese PhD students were selected on the basis of theoretical sampling, and data were collected through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with the participants.
Results: Chinese PhD students experienced stress of nuanced nature at their varied years of PhD study. The obtained codes were categorized under four themes, including graduation, job prospects, relationship and other factors.
Conclusion: Chinese PhD students experienced stress from a variety of sources, corroborating with and reinforcing previous research findings. By exposing the explanations of the factors for stress confronting Chinese PhD students, this study compels us rethink the relationship between the widely existing stress and relevant policy or regulations, and proposes suggestions for counselling and policy reform.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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Notes on contributors
Xueyu Wang
Xueyu Wang is an Associate Professor at Huaqiao University. Her research interests are pragmatics and translation. Her recent publications include the article in Chinese academic newspaper “The Study of Counterfactual Expressions from Pragmatic Perspective” (Chinese Journal of Social Science, 17/10/2017) and the translation works “The Art of Understanding Art (from English into Chinese)” (Beijing: Publishing House of Electronics Industry, 2015). She has a BA degree in English language and literature (Huaqiao University, 1999) and an MA degree in English language and literature (Fujian Normal University, 2005).
Chun Wang
Chun Wang is currently a postgraduate student of 2017, School of Civil & Commercial Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law, China.
Jian Wang
Jian Wang is a Professor at Southwest University of Political Science and Law (SWUPL). His research interests are divorce mediation, critical discourse analysis, forensic linguistics and translation. His publications have appeared in local and international referred journals, including “Till Death, Purchase of Another House, or Occurrence of Other Events Do Us Part: Interests-Oriented Fake Divorce Cases in China (Journal of Divorce and Remarriage, published on line: 6 July 2018), “Neutral, Biased, or Both? Discursive Construction of a Mediator’s Dual Role” (Negotiation Journal 31(1), 2015:47–63), and “To Divorce or not to Divorce: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Court-ordered Divorce Mediation in China” (International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family 27(1), 2013: 74–96). He has a BA degree in English language and literature (Southwest University, 1993) and an LLM in jurisprudence (Southwest University of Political Science and Law, 2001).