Psychometrische Eigenschaften und Faktorenstruktur des 1991 von Hodapp vorgestellten Prüfungsängstlichkeitsinventars TAI-G wurden an einer Stichprobe von N = 720 Studierenden verschiedener Studiengänge überprüft. Die bekannte faktorielle Struktur der Skala konnte repliziert werden. Gesamtskala und die vier Subskalen Aufgeregtheit, Besorgtheit, Mangel an Zuversicht und Interferenz weisen eine hohe interne Konsistenz auf. Auf Grundlage der item- und skalenanalytischen Befunde wird eine TAI-G-Kurzskala mit 15 Items vorgeschlagen. Diese weist eine klarere Faktorenstruktur ohne Doppelladungen auf und besitzt eine hohe interne Konsistenz. Die Kurzskala korreliert zu r = .98 mit der Originalversion. Zusammenhänge zwischen den vier Subskalen und den soziodemographischen Angaben entsprechen den aus der Prüfungsängstlichkeitsforschung bekannten Mustern.

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Despite the benefits of a PhD for degree-holders as well for society as a whole, doctoral student attrition is a common phenomenon. Unfortunately, the empirical literature on dropout from doctoral education is scant, especially for non-US countries—an omission we address in the current study. Building on Tinto’s model of student attrition and rational choice theory, the study empirically assesses the association of different individual, institutional, and external factors with the propensity to leave doctoral studies. Unlike most studies in the field, it draws on longitudinal data using event history modelling, observing doctoral students in multiple disciplines and a wide range of universities. The key results can be summarized as follows: In Germany, women are more likely to dropout than men. The probability of dropping out strongly depends on the discipline and the availability of a scholarship. A close contact with the supervisor and exchange with other PhDs are associated with a lower dropout probability. Moreover, having children increases dropout rates. The study findings provide first empirical guidance for interventions that can possibly help reducing dropout.

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Previous research has shown that temporary employment is negatively associated with many psychological and job-related outcomes, such as well-being, health, wages, organisational commitment, and job satisfaction. Among recent doctoral graduates, the proportion of temporary contracts is particularly high. However, research on the association between contract type and job satisfaction specifically among doctoral graduates is scarce. Therefore, whether and how obtaining permanent employment affects doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction remains a notable research gap that we intend to narrow by using panel data from a recent doctoral graduation cohort and by adopting a panel research design. We examine what effect obtaining permanent employment has on doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction and whether this effect differs by labour market sector. We use panel data that are representative of the 2014 doctoral graduation cohort in Germany and their career trajectories up to five years after graduation. We apply fixed-effects regression to approximate the within-effect of obtaining a permanent employment contract on job satisfaction. The analyses indicate that obtaining permanent employment increases doctoral graduates’ job satisfaction and that this increase is not driven by time-varying confounders. We also find that doctoral graduates’ labour market sector moderates the effect: the increase in job satisfaction is highest in the academic sector and statistically significantly different from that in the private sector. Overall, this paper offers new insights into the effect of obtaining a permanent contract on the job satisfaction of recent doctoral graduates throughout their first years after graduation, when they are often employed on temporary contracts.