Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine for the very first time the mental health and general
satisfaction of doctoral students during their doctorate at the University of Cologne (UoC) at
the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences MNF (N=216). The objective of this study is
to classify doctoral students in the field of chemistry (N=49) in relation to the entire faculty.
The results of the 12-item General Health Questions (GHQ) indicated that 52% of the doctoral
students surveyed were at a risk of having or developing a common psychiatric disorder. PhD
students in chemistry reported lower levels of happiness than those in the MNF as a whole.
Financial concerns, the quality of supervision, and the workload were identified to correlate
with the mental health problems.

Keywords: Mental health, GHQ12, doctoral students, work organization

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